News Round-Up

• “Exclusive: David Walliams dropped by publisher over inappropriate behaviour towards women” – David Walliams has been dropped by his publisher after claims of inappropriate behaviour towards women, reports the Telegraph.
• “BBC cuts ties with Walliams following Telegraph investigation” – The BBC has cut ties with David Walliams following a Telegraph investigation, according to the Telegraph.
• “David Walliams: From king of comedy to toxic brand” – Years of controversy have turned David Walliams into an increasingly toxic brand in entertainment and publishing, notes the Telegraph.
• “BBC to review Middle East coverage in wake of bias scandal” – The BBC has launched a review of its Middle East coverage after a leaked memo highlighted alleged flaws, reveals the Telegraph.
• “Keir Starmer just declared war on the lobby” – Yesterday, Downing Street announced a major overhaul of the ‘lobby’ briefing system, says James Heale in the Spectator.
• “The lobby uncovers Labour sleaze – which is why Starmer wants it muzzled” – Downing Street’s reforms are an attempt to muzzle scrutiny of Government scandal, argues the Telegraph.
• “Labour plans to delay local elections illegitimate, says Electoral Commission” – Labour’s plan to postpone ballots in 63 areas has been branded illegitimate by the Electoral Commission, reports the Telegraph.
• “UK borrowing rises to second-highest level ever” – UK borrowing has risen to its second-highest level on record, with the Government having borrowed £132.3 billion since April, reports the Times.
• “Government says trans rules must have commonsense exemptions” – Ministers have said new trans guidance will need “commonsense” exemptions as public bodies wait for clarity on single-sex spaces, says the Times.
• “Stand aside, Phillipson. The law is clear” – The Government must follow the Supreme Court’s ruling on biological sex rather than delay guidance on single-sex spaces, writes Camilla Tominey in the Telegraph.
• “JK Rowling condemns Labour for blocking new trans guidance protecting women’s rights to female-only safe spaces” – JK Rowling has attacked Labour for blocking the new trans guidance, reports the Mail.
• “Labour’s plan to lecture schoolboys will not protect women and girls” – Labour should abandon its plan to give schoolboys anti-misogyny lessons and do more to protect women and girls from migrants instead, says Kemi Badenoch in the Telegraph.
• “David Lammy claimed almost £7,000 on expenses for tax returns” – David Lammy claimed almost £7,000 in expenses for accountancy bills, reveals the Telegraph.
• “Labour exempts west African prison officers from deportation” – Labour has granted a visa reprieve to west African prison officers to help prevent staff shortages in jails, reports the Telegraph.
• “Green Party councillor arrested over modern slavery” – A Green Party councillor has been arrested over slavery and assault allegations, says the Telegraph.
• “Gut Angela Rayner’s workers’ rights bill, urges group that backed Keir Starmer” – A group that backed Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership bid has urged Labour to gut the terrible workers’ rights bill, according to the Times.
• “The fiscal case for mass migration is being demolished” – Perhaps because it’s the week before Christmas, the Migration Advisory Committee’s (MAC) latest annual report has attracted little attention, observes David Shipley in the Spectator. But it’s important.
• “One in eight Britons on disability benefits by end of the decade” – One in eight Britons will be on disability benefits by 2030, with the welfare bill rising sharply, reports the Telegraph.
• “Why is the Motability boss getting a bumper pay rise?” – Motability’s chief has been awarded a large pay rise in spite of the taxpayer-funded scheme coming under scrutiny for extravagance, writes Ross Clark in the Spectator.
• “Foreign dictators cancel elections but now thanks to Labour it’s a feature of UK” – Labour’s plan to delay local elections is reminiscent of a tinpot dictatorship, says the Sun.
• “The sinister censoring of Substack wrongthink” – Substack has begun imposing age and ID checks on some writers in an effort to comply with the Online Safety Act, prompting fears of creeping censorship, writes Niall McCrae in the Conservative Woman.
• “England’s free speech rules need a complaints scheme urgently” – On August 1st, the main duties of the UK’s Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act will finally come into force, writes Abhishek Saha in the Times Higher Education. But they will be more honoured in the breach than the observance without a workable complaints scheme, which the Government still hasn’t said when it will bring in.
• “There’s some corner of a foreign field that is for ever the UK” – Britain’s slide into calling itself ‘the UK’ is a disastrous national rebrand that has dulled our identity, says Ed West in his Substack.
• “Farmers dump manure outside Macron’s holiday home” – French farmers have dumped manure outside Emmanuel Macron’s holiday home in protest over an EU trade deal, says the Telegraph.
• “MAGA civil war erupts at Turning Point USA event” – A recent Turning Point USA event erupted into public infighting among MAGA figures, reports the Mail.
• “Bill Clinton relaxes in hot tub and swims with woman in latest Epstein files release” – Newly released Epstein files include photos of Bill Clinton socialising with Jeffrey Epstein and various unidentified women, reports the Sun.
• “Norman Podhoretz obituary: Magazine editor and father of ‘neocon’” – Norman Podhoretz, the legendary neoconservative, has died aged 95. Read his obituary in the Times.
• “Third of Britons using AI for ‘emotional support’” – A study has found that chatbots have become a common source of comfort, friendship and romance for some Britons, finds the Telegraph.
• “AI will make our children stupid” – Artificial intelligence has been blamed for hastening cognitive decline as concerns grow about its impact on children’s learning, warn David James and Carl Hendrick in the Critic.
• “FGM victims’ fury as academics compare practice to cosmetic surgery” – FGM survivors have condemned academics for likening the practice to cosmetic surgery, reports the Times.
• “There’s no silver lining to FGM – Cultural relativism is an ethical abyss” – In UnHerd, Kathleen Stock says attempts to justify FGM by invoking cultural relativism are morally bankrupt.
• “‘I think I will mask forever’: The ‘zero Covid’ zealots refusing to re-enter society” – A minority of ‘zero Covid’ zealots are still fanatical mask-wearers, reveals the Telegraph, in a feature about some very disturbed individuals.
• “Silenced, smeared and still speaking” – In Laura Dodsworth’s Free Mind Substack, Dr Clare Craig describes being silenced and smeared in an extract from her new book on Covid.
• “How BP’s disastrous embrace of net zero cost it yet another boss” – BP’s embrace of Net Zero has cost it yet another CEO as the company tries to do a reverse ferret, says the Telegraph.
• “BP is drinking in the last-chance saloon” – The departure of BP’s CEO is emblematic of deeper dysfunction, according to Ben Marlow in the Telegraph.
• “Ed ‘Net Zero’ Miliband set to miss clean energy target by three years” – Ed Miliband is on track to miss the UK’s 2030 clean energy target, reports the Climate Change Dispatch.
• “Quit lying, the New Republic, climate change isn’t threatening ‘favourite holiday foods’” – A recent story published in the New Republic claimed that various ‘holiday foods’ are vanishing due to climate change. But it’s nonsense, says H. Sterling Burnett in ClimateRealism.
• “Wild geese ‘butchered for Christmas dinners’” – Dozens of wild geese have been shot and de-breasted with their remains dumped by roadsides in eastern England, reports the Telegraph.
• “Working class populists at a Christmas carol service? Pass the smelling salts!” – The arrogance of the Church of England hierarchy in pontificating against the Unite the Kingdom carol service, aided and abetted by the lefty media, comes as no surprise to Julian Mann in the Anglican Mainstream.
• “In Australia, people are being told ‘Islamophobia’ was responsible for the Bondi Beach massacre, not radical Islamists” – Basil the Great discovers a truly appalling bit of regime propaganda doing the rounds in Australia.

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