News Round-Up

• “Starmer gives Earl life peerage so he can avoid Labour cull” – The Prime Minister has protected a hereditary peer and ally of Labour in the Lords by giving him a life peerage, says the Telegraph.
• “‘I’ve silently prayed outside abortion clinics for 20 years. Now, I face criminal charges’” – Isabel Vaughan-Spruce challenges her arrest for silently breaching a buffer zone outside an abortion clinic, raising questions about freedom of conscience, reports the Telegraph.
• “The trans lobby are determined not to obey the law” – Trans rights activists are becoming more and more unhinged in their condemnation of legal judgements finding for gender critical feminists, according to the Telegraph.
• “Reform becomes Britain’s largest political party” – Nigel Farage’s party claims a membership surge that now eclipses Labour’s for the first time, notes the Telegraph.
• “Judges turn on Lammy plans to scrap jury trials” – Senior judges warn that proposals to limit jury trials would not solve court backlogs and risk serious harm, reports the Telegraph.
• “Green Party tearing itself apart over trans rights, leaked dossier reveals” – Internal documents suggest deep divisions and potential discrimination within the party over gender ideology, says the Telegraph.
• “The twelve lies of Keir Starmer” – In the Telegraph, Camilla Tominey documents the 12 lies of the Prime Minister.
• “Assisted dying bill ‘may pressure homeless people to kill themselves’” – Peers caution that vulnerable groups could be coerced by proposed legislation, says the Telegraph.
• “The warning signs that Britain is heading for recession” – Flat growth and weakening indicators undermine Labour’s economic promises, reports the Telegraph.
• “How Javier Milei could embolden the British Right” – The Argentinian president’s visit will energise the British conservative movement, writes Tom Scotson in the Telegraph.
• “Kemi Badenoch: Why I chose champions of Conservatism to join the House of Lords” – The Conservative leader compares her three life peers with the 25 mediocrities enobled by Sir Keir Starmer in ConservativeHome.
• “Trump wants to push Austria into Auxit” – A leaked document reportedly outlines plans to pull EU states closer to Washington’s orbit, reports the Mail.
• “Trump’s National Security Strategy and the European Union” – The latest U.S. security strategy is going to complicate the lives of Brussels bureaucrats, says Eugyppius in his Substack.
• “Stanford scientists discover how Covid shots cause deadly heart damage” – Researchers outline a proposed biological mechanism linking mRNA vaccines to heart inflammation, reports the Mail.
• “Is the superflu really ‘unprecedented’?” – Reports of winter flu pressures on the NHS are exaggerated, writes Michael Simmons in the Spectator.
• “Fresh calls to scrap puberty blocker trial ‘based on happiness survey’” – Critics of the NHS puberty trial have warned that subjective wellbeing measures are being used to measure its success in place of hard clinical outcomes, warns the Mail.
• “Bad weather saves Labour from breaking Channel migrants record” – A prolonged pause in small-boat crossings is due to poor weather and not because the Government is getting on top of the issue, according to the Telegraph.
• “EU poised to reverse ban on petrol cars” – Brussels is said to be reconsidering green rules amid pressure from struggling manufacturers, reports the Telegraph.
• “Europe’s EV market is rolling backwards” – Chinese dominance is growing as Europe’s electric vehicle push falters, according to the Spectator.
• “Satan in the City” – In his Uncibal Substack, David McGrogan gets to grips with the enshitification of Britain’s urban environment.
• “Iraq vet’s coaching ban after calling Southport killer a ‘creature’” – More detail on the punishment of Jamie Michael by a Welsh safeguarding board, as reported in the Mail.
• “NHS chief orders WFH crackdown – but still allowed to work from garden” – The head of NHS England has told NHS staff to stop working from home, even though he spends several days a week working from his garden shed in Northumberland, says the Mail.
• “How wearing masks became a hostile act” – Once a public health norm, face coverings are now a sign of anti-social hostility, writes Janice Turner in the  Times.
• “In God’s name: the rise of weaponised Christianity” – Western politics is increasingly infused with overt religious symbolism, says Fraser Nelson in the Times.
• “The real ‘authoritarian threat’ is already in Downing Street” – Labour’s approach to power is a greater danger to liberty than fringe political movements, writes Patrick West in Spiked.
• “It is not racist to tell the truth about Britain’s rape gangs” – No, Owen Jones and Zach Polanski. It’s not “racist” to point out the over-representation of Muslim men in Britain’s rape gangs, says Brendan O’Neill in Spiked.
• “The thought police are losing power” – The would-be culture cops trying to cancel people for not thinking like them are finally losing their authority, writes Ben Sixsmith in the Critic.
• “Billionaires? Nope, the power’s all with the authoritariat” – Political influence now rests more with bureaucratic elites than with billionaires, argues Isabel Paterson on her Substack.
• “How Rachel Reeves shrank the economy” – Weak growth figures are an indictment of Labour’s writes Michael Simmons in the Spectator.
• “Trial by jury is a right that dates back to Henry II” – A video for the Free Speech Union featuring yours truly urging people to sign our Save Our Juries petition.