News Round-Up
- “Reform’s biggest scalp” – Nadim Zahawi, a former Conservative chancellor of the exchequer, has defected to Reform, making him their biggest scalp to date, reports the Mail.
- “Nadhim Zahawi ‘begged for peerage’ before defecting to Reform, claim Tories” – The former Conservative chancellor Nadhim Zahawi defected to Reform UK after unsuccessfully “begging” Kemi Badenoch for a peerage, senior Tories have claimed, says the Times.
- “Farmers threaten weekly supermarket protests over inheritance tax raid” – Angry farmers have threatened rolling protests at supermarkets as anger over inheritance tax grows, according to the Express.
- “Reeves ‘did not realise impact of pub tax’” – Rachel Reeves has been accused of misleading the public over her tax raid on pubs, reports the Telegraph.
- “The Bulgarian migrant who stole more than £54 million in UK’s biggest benefit fraud is back claiming Universal Credit with her ‘depressed’ husband after being freed from jail early” – A Bulgarian woman who took part in Britain’s biggest ever benefits fraud has made a mockery of taxpayers by claiming Universal Credit after being released from jail – while moaning that the court case left her “depressed”, says the Mail.
- “Kemi Badenoch’s poll bounce puts her neck-and-neck with Keir Starmer in search for best PM – while Tory leader surges into lead over Nigel Farage” – A poll bounce for Kemi Badenoch has put her neck-and-neck with Sir Keir Starmer when Britons are asked who would be the better prime minister, according to the Mail.
- “How Whitehall created a skills crisis by discriminating against nerds” – Whitehall has sidelined analytical minds and is now paying the price, writes Andrew Orlowski in the Telegraph.
- “Why are teachers so obsessed with the ‘far-Right’?” – Schools have become fixated on hunting extremism while ignoring their own failures, says Patrick West in the Spectator.
- “Jewish Labour MP Damien Egan is ‘banned’ from visiting local school over fears it would ‘inflame teachers’ because of his links to ‘Friends of Israel’ group” – A Jewish MP was ‘banned’ from visiting a school in his constituency amid fears his presence would ‘inflame’ pro-Palestinian teachers, reports the Mail.
- “Judge names activist allegedly linked to ‘militant’ trans group” – Trans activist Autumn Redpath, 22, is allegedly the trans activist that hacked the website of the Free Speech Union and passed confidential information about the FSU’s donors to Bash Back, a militant pro-trans group, says the Times.
- “Sexual AI images to be criminalised in crackdown on Musk’s Grok” – According to ITV News, the UK will make it illegal to create non-consensual intimate images with AI, following concerns about their spread on social media – particularly on Elon Musk’s X.
- “Fury as Labour approves ‘substantial’ payout to Guantanamo Bay terror suspect once represented by their own Attorney General Lord Hermer: Tories criticise ‘disgraceful capitulation’” – A terror suspect who was represented by Keir Starmer’s law chief has been handed a “substantial” payout by the UK, reports the Mail.
- “Uncovered: secret room beneath Chinese embassy that poses threat to City” – China is to build a hidden chamber alongside Britain’s most sensitive communication cables as part of a network of 208 secret rooms beneath its new London ‘super-embassy’, reveals the Telegraph.
- “Trump warns Greenland to make a deal with US before Russia or China takes over: ‘Their defense is two dogsleds’” – Donald Trump has brushed off NATO sensitivities and warned Greenland it should cut a deal with Washington before Beijing or Moscow moves in, reports the Mail.
- “On the dangers of cosplay” – Protesting ICE was all a game to Renee Nicole Good, until it wasn’t, says Alex Berenson on Substack.
- “Trump slaps 25% tariffs on countries trading with Iran” – Donald Trump has said he is imposing a 25% tariff on goods from countries “doing business” with Iran as he steps up pressure on the regime amid mass protests, reports the Telegraph.
- “Hollywood is all but silent on Iran” – While Iranians risk their lives in revolt, Hollywood’s loudest voices have largely gone quiet, notes Philip Patrick in the Spectator.
- “Iran’s uprising and the moral bewilderment of Western youth” – The bravery of young Iranians has thrown the West’s moral confusion into stark relief, says Brendan O’Neill in the Spectator.
- “New study: Greenland was 3–7°C warmer and far less glaciated than today 6000–8000 years ago” – New evidence shows Greenland was once far warmer and less icy than today, writes Kenneth Richard on NoTricksZone.
- “The UN’s great betrayal: from World Peace to global bureaucracy” – On Clintel, Dr Matthew Wielicki argues that the UN’s original mission has been replaced by a permanent crisis machine built around climate, equity and control.
- “Californian teemin’” – Torrential rain has flipped California’s drought story on its head, says Mark Hodgson on Cliscep.
- “As gas supplies in California dwindle, Newsom works to secure imports with ‘Big Oil’ he once fought” – In the face of fuel shortages, California’s Governor has turned to the very oil firms he once vowed to destroy, writes Kevin Killough in Just the News.
- “Ocean heat content and the art of climate alarm” – On Substack, Dr Matthew Wielicki explains why a calculated metric, aggressive smoothing and selective storytelling are driving the latest wave of climate fear.
- ““Pope Leo’s Orwellian moment”” – The Church has drawn a sharp line between truth and ideas of freedom, says Gavin Ashenden on his Substack.
- “JK Rowling is saving our children from puberty blockers as we sleepwalk into disaster” – J.K. Rowling’s latest intervention is proof that Britain has completely lost its moral compass, writes Celia Walden in the Telegraph.
- “Barbie launches autistic doll in diversity drive” – Mattel has rolled out a new Barbie meant to reflect autism, with a gaze slightly off-centre and bendy wrists for hand-flapping, according to the Telegraph.
- “How Adolescence became the toast of Hollywood by ‘demonising’ Britain’s boys” – Golden Globes glory aside, has Netflix’s Adolescence done more harm than good? wonders Chris Harvey in the Telegraph.
- “When a government threatens to remove access to a major platform used daily by millions of people, it is not enforcing the law, but controlling debate!” – On GB News, Jacob Rees-Mogg blasts Labour’s threats against social media giant X over the creation of sexual imagery by the AI tool Grok.
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“How Whitehall created a skills crisis by discriminating against nerds”
Well, I guess… but, on the other hand, it’s at least arguable that these are the people who got us where we are today, surely?
Or, perhaps there are other factors still work here, like the politicisation of the Civil Service, post Blair?
Saturday Three Legged Cross Warfield
This government is making me depressed. What benefits am I entitled to?
Dear 2026, my 14 day free trial expires on Wednesday, please may I cancel my subscription?
“Uncovered: secret room beneath Chinese embassy that poses threat to City”
Excellent,… and just to help with the construction, Britain will supply the crane to lower your nuclear war head into your secret basement… should you ever need to detonate from Beijing!
The Daily Mail reports that after a poll bounce, Kemi Badenoch is now neck-and-neck with 2 Tier in a survey of who would be the best PM? Really?
If so, we are screwed – and deservedly so.
Yes – you’re 100% correct. The right wing vote at the next election could be split right down the middle allowing Labour to either win outright or form a coalition with other leftist parties – such as the Greens, Liberal Democrats, Independent Muslims and the Scottish and Welsh Nationalists.
I fear that Reform – and particularly Nigel Farage – will prove to be useless, but I can’t forgive or vote Conservative (or any other socialist-leaning party). Nor could I support a party making an alliance with The Conservatives. It would appear that millions on the right are either oblivious to the treachery of the Conservatives since Thatcher stood down, or think that the same characters will be completely different next time. How can they be made to see sense?
Isn’t the convention for the monarch to ask the largest party to try and form a government? That could still well be Reform who would then presumably try to form a coalition with the Tories, who would have to choose between a share of power immediately with the possibility of more power if Reform are frozen out by a Far Left coalition, leaving the Tories with the chance to regroup and reassert themselves because Reform have not managed to win outright.
Yes – that is a possibility. My concern would be that the “right of centre” vote would be split on a constituency by constituency basis meaning that left wing parties could take constituencies with a small percentage of the vote. For example, a constituency with a 25.1% vote for Reform and a 25.1% vote for Conservative – a majority of right of centre voters (50.2%) would lose to a left of centre party with barely a quarter of the votes (26%) – assuming the “others” vote was split amongst several candidates.
I appreciate that the example above is extreme, but the point still stands. People on the left have already set up sites monitoring voting intentions in each constituency so that they can advise which party left wing voters should tactically vote for to keep out Reform & The Conservatives.
Yes, those are all good points. I have mixed feelings about tactical voting. All votes are tactical to an extent as who is it that unconditionally agrees with everything a specific candidate and their party is saying they will do, let alone what they end up doing. But I think it’s not good to vote for parties because they are the least bad. That’s how we ended up with a Fake Conservative Party. For me I will vote for least bad if certain red lines are not crossed OR the alternative is catastrophic. Reform are teetering on the brink of crossing red lines (Zahawi FFS!) but the alternative – another 5 years of Uniparty – is potentially catastrophic.
I don’t understand why anyone still intends to vote Tory – just be honest and vote Lib Dem instead, or suck it up and vote for the vulgar Farage.
Your thinking above matches mine. A reform vote whilst holding my nose.
I have always understood the current PM advises the Sovereign on who to call but that ought to be the MP most likely to be able to form a government.
Ah, thanks. And I see the existing PM can try to form a coalition…
From: The UN’s great betrayal: from World Peace to global bureaucracy
Yeah. About that. How’s it going?
https://alexberenson.substack.com/p/on-the-dangers-of-cosplay
An excellent short article. Case well made.
Well done to Chris Harvey for calling out this nauseating elevation of that awful film! However, one word must be added to his title in order to be completely correct:
“How “Adolescence” became the toast of Hollywood by demonising Britain’s WHITE boys”
Since the real-life crime depicted was actually committed by an Ethnic African, the film is a Bog-Standard example of “MARXIST HISTORICAL REVISIONISM”.
LBC Watch. James O’Brien (who else?) from around 11:50 this morning pouring scorn on the Mail article (featured on this site a couple of days ago) exposing the true cost of Milliband’s Net Zero, aided and abetted by someone from an organisation called Carbon Brief. As to expected from this innumerate presenter, short on hard facts but plenty of sneering.