News Round-Up

• “The Bondi Beach shooting was a pogrom” – In the Spectator, Brendan O’Neill tells it straight that what happened in Bondi in Sydney was an “act of fascist barbarism. It was a pogrom on a beach. It was a massacre of Jews that brought to mind the horrors of the mid-20th century.”
• “Chanting ‘globalise the intifada’ leads to Bondi Beach” – We need our leaders to understand that the demonisation of Israel leads to violence suffered by Jews living thousands of miles from Gaza, says Danny Cohen in the Telegraph.
• “Australia’s government has failed Jews” – Australia has allowed antisemitism to fester, writes Rocco Loiacono in UnHerd.
• “Patients ‘may die’ in Christmas NHS meltdown as militant junior doctors humiliate Streeting by pushing ahead with strikes – despite recent pay hikes” – Doctors will still strike this week despite a last ditch attempt by the Government to avoid bringing hospitals to a standstill amid the peak of the winter flu wave, says the Mail.
• “Starmer ‘aware farmers are considering suicide over IHT raid’” – Sir Keir Starmer has suggested he is aware that some farmers are considering taking their own lives to avoid his inheritance tax raid, but says the reforms are “sensible”, reports the Telegraph.
• “Labour’s watered-down ‘Islamophobia’ definition will still undermine free speech” – British Muslims are already protected under the law; virtue-signalling gestures will not tackle racial and religious hatred, says Toby in the Telegraph.
• “What Zack Polanski gets wrong about immigration” – In the Spectator, Patrick West takes head-on the common simple-minded arguments for immigration.
• “Donald Trump says he will sue the BBC in a matter of hours after it ‘put terrible words in my mouth’ in doctored Panorama speech” – The US President has said he will file a libel lawsuit “probably this afternoon or tomorrow evening” after the corporation doctored one of his speeches, according to the Mail.
• “US tells Ukraine: Take our ‘platinum’ security guarantees or lose them” – The United States has told Ukraine to accept its “platinum” offer of NATO-style security guarantees or risk losing them completely, reports the Telegraph.
• “Tories pledge to scrap Net Zero car subsidies” – The Conservatives will scrap millions of pounds of Net Zero car subsidies if they win the next election, Kemi Badenoch has said, according to the Telegraph.
• “Why Climate Change Took a Back Seat to The Cost of Living” – As inflation and energy costs surged, climate politics faded from the spotlight, with affordability overtaking alarm as voters’ top priority, says Climate Change Dispatch.
• “Eco zealots on Labour-run council are accused of ‘scaremongering’ over ‘killer’ wood-burning stoves” – Woke Brighton City Council has restarted a campaign warning residents that wood-burning stoves are “cosy killers” after receiving a warning from the advertising watchdog, reports the Mail.
• “‘Danger to life’ from heavy rain and flooding” – The Met Office has issued an amber rain warning for “danger to life” for parts of England and Wales, telling people to “keep yourself and others safe”, says the Telegraph.
• “Do NHS Grandees look at their own data before opening their mouths?” – ‘Super flu’ isn’t the problem; it’s super-incompetence, say Tom Jefferson and Carl Heneghan on the Trust the Evidence Substack.
• “Farage: Puberty blocker trial is state-sponsored child abuse” – Nigel Farage has demanded that Sir Keir Starmer stops a clinical trial of puberty blockers from going ahead, calling it “state-sponsored child abuse” and “ethically indefensible”, reports the Telegraph.
• “NHS Trust tells staff to recognise gender identity or be disciplined” – The NHS Trust embroiled in a transgender row with nurse Jennifer Melle has called on staff to recognise patients’ preferred gender identity or be disciplined, notes the Telegraph.
• “My son took gender-changing hormones behind my back, with the support of his boarding school” – A father writes in the Telegraph that teachers knew his 14 year-old son was buying cross-sex drugs but didn’t tell him or his wife because it was a “private medical matter”.
• “J.K. Rowling: Sandie Peggie judge behaved scandalously” – J.K. Rowling has criticised “absolutely scandalous” errors in the Sandie Peggie trans tribunal judgment, saying: “We’re supposed to be able to trust the judiciary.”
• “Why was this innocent doctor ever investigated for her ‘anti-trans’ posts?” – Dr Anne Woodhouse is a clinical psychologist in Inverness who has just been cleared of misconduct charges by her regulatory body. Why was she ever investigated in the first place, asks Stephen Daisley in the Spectator.
• “Male presenters consigned to history as big beasts at BBC Sport are all female” – There is just one route into camera-facing roles at BBC Sport in 2025, and that is to have been a female athlete, laments Simon Briggs in the Telegraph.
• “Chinese billionaires create ‘mega families’ through US breeding programme” – Inspired by Elon Musk, Chinese tycoons are exploiting America’s lax surrogacy laws and IVF to create “unstoppable family dynasties”, notes the Telegraph.
• “Why the state can police your tweets, but not your streets” – On the Academy of Ideas Substack, Jacob Reynolds introduces the Academy 2026 retreat and explains why we now have a “hostile state”, incapable of hitherto basic functions but resolutely focused on controlling us.
• “The travesty of justice that is the conviction of Jimmy Lai shames Britain” – The world now assumes our nation will make no serious protest against Chinese oppression, let alone act, says Charles Moore in the Telegraph.
• “The world is in the grip of AI mania. The consequences could be devastating” – The technology that we were promised would do everything can’t actually master anything, says Andrew Orlowski in the Telegraph.
• “MasterChef viewing figures plummet as new series begins without Gregg Wallace” – If Gregg Wallace is searching for consolation, the latest dire viewing figures for Celebrity Masterchef may offer it, says the Mail.
• “Safeguarding – another word for tyranny” – Authorities are abusing ‘safeguarding’ powers designed to prevent sexual predators accessing children to punish individuals with politically incorrect views, warns Bruce Newsome in TCW.
• “Will Lord Vallance guarantee that future science research funding be based on applicants’ intellectual merit, not the colour of their skin?” – Watch on X as, in the Lords, Toby asks Science Minister Patrick Vallance to confirm that research funding will be colourblind, only to receive a paean to positive action in reply.

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