News Round-Up

• “Zelensky slams EU’s ‘lack of will’ to tackle Putin but says deal to end Ukraine war is ‘nearly, nearly ready’ after ‘very good’ meeting with Trump” – Volodymyr Zelensky has hailed talks with Donald Trump as progress towards an endgame for Ukraine but slammed Europe’s “weak and indecisive” leaders, says the Mail.
• “Rutte confronts Trump over dead Nato soldiers” – Mark Rutte has challenged Donald Trump over remarks on Nato solidarity, reports the Telegraph.
• “Monarchs and pariahs join Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ parade” – President Trump has hailed a motley collection of world leaders in Davos but with major powers absent, not even he seems to know its purpose, says the Telegraph.
• “Trump sues ‘woke’ JP Morgan for $5 billion over debanking” – Donald Trump has launched a $5 billion lawsuit over alleged “debanking” as corporate America braces for political payback, reports the Telegraph.
• “Inside Trump’s mother of all climbdowns” – The Telegraph speculates on why Trump suddenly backed down on Greenland.
• “Trump has ended the Chagos deal, regardless of what Starmer says” – The US President was right to kibosh the PM’s sell-out treaty and now it looks dead in the water, says Ross Kempsell in the Telegraph.
• “Starmer’s security chief says Hamas should keep some guns during peace process” – Keir Starmer’s Security Adviser Jonathan Powell has floated Hamas retaining personal weapons to break a negotiation deadlock, says the Telegraph.
• “Days after October 7, NEU teachers shared lesson plan asking pupils if they would ‘fight back’ if they lived in Gaza” – Members of Britain’s biggest teachers’ union have circulated Gaza lesson materials that excuse Hamas, reveal Nicole Lampert and Jane Prinsley in the Jewish Chronicle.
• “Labour scraps more local elections… after pleas from Tories” – Labour has postponed another tranche of local elections including at the behest of Conservative councils as Ministers push reorganisation plans, reports the Times.
• “4.5 million people denied vote as more polls axed” – Millions have been left without a ballot as more councils delay elections and accusations of democratic gaming spread, according to the Telegraph.
• “Lammy’s plans to curb jury trials will save 2% of court time” – David Lammy’s plans to scale back jury trials will save less than 2% of time in Crown Courts, research by the Institute for Government has found, reports the Telegraph.
• “Starmer forced to back down to rebels over social media ban” – Sir Keir Starmer is to hand Labour MPs the power to fast-track a social media ban for teenagers in an attempt to stave off a rebellion in the Commons, says the Telegraph.
• “Reform is pushing the Tories towards the Left – and electoral annihilation” – Reform’s rise has forced Conservative strategists into awkward positioning as the party’s coalition fractures, says Sam Ashworth-Hayes in the Telegraph.
• “We should strive to be America’s new Israel” – Britain must find a new national strategy and reinvigorate its relationship with the economic and defence superpower, urges David Frost in the Telegraph.
• “Let’s not create thoughtcrimes via the backdoor” – The wretched legislation that is the Online Safety Act is simply the thin end of the wedge to creating thoughtcrimes, argues Charles Amos in ConservativeHome.
• “Britain Has Forgotten How to Be Free” – Britain has drifted into treating free speech as a dangerous indulgence as official intolerance hardens, says Leonora Barclay in Persuasion.
• “Medical Groups Are Suing the HHS Over Vaccine Policies – and It’s a Good Thing” – After decades of escalation, the US Government is reducing the number of vaccines recommended for American children, and predictably the Medical-Industrial Complex is not taking it well, says Dr Simone Gold in Malone News.
• “Trans patient nearly headbutted me, says nurse in misgendering row” – Jennifer Melle, who was suspended and investigated for nearly nine months, has been left “traumatised” by her ordeal, reveals the Times.
• “Ed Miliband admits we’ll buy slave products for his solar panel splurge – despite saying UK must ‘diversify’ supply chains away from China” – Ed Miliband has refused to rule out sourcing solar panels made with slave labour in his latest controversial green scheme, says the Mail.
• “Labour donor Dale Vince pulls plug on Net Zero airline” – Dale Vince has withdrawn funding from an electric aircraft venture as Net Zero hype collides with reality, reports the Telegraph.
• “Trump is right: denying ourselves North Sea oil makes no sense” – Trump may have exaggerated the numbers, but he’s right that Britain is denying itself valuable energy resources to the detriment of the economy and national resilience, says Ross Clark in the Spectator.
• “For The Future Of EVs, What Policy Is ‘Stupid’?” – Electric vehicle evangelism has collided with weak demand and brutal overcapacity as policymakers double down anyway, says Francis Menton in the Manhattan Contrarian.
• “North America’s first lithium refinery built and completed in Texas” – Texas has completed a major lithium refinery aimed at cutting reliance on China as the US supply-chain race accelerates, notes Bethany Blankley in the Just the News.
• “‘Pray your boilers don’t fail’: the Church of England is in the grip of eco-zealots” – The Church of England is making life hell for struggling parishes as it imposes Net Zero restrictions on replacing gas boilers, says Ysenda Maxtone Graham in the Spectator.
• “The poisonous truth about British universities” – British universities have kept indulging gender ideology and cancel culture and the much-needed free speech complaints system is stuck in Bridget Phillipson’s long grass, says Mary Wakefield in the Spectator.
• “The Chinese takeover of Britain’s public schools” – Elite boarding schools have become reliant on Chinese pupils and money as English families get priced out, writes Lara Brown in the Spectator.
• “Surrogacy isn’t something to celebrate” – Cultural cheerleading for surrogacy has curdled into unease as the human cost becomes harder to ignore, says Lois McLatchie Miller in the Spectator.
• “Failed asylum seeker who subjected woman to ‘animalistic’ rape while he was staying at taxpayer-funded hotel is jailed for seven years” – A failed asylum seeker has been jailed after a serious sexual assault committed while housed in a taxpayer-funded hotel, reports the Mail.
• “Am I a libertarian after all?” – In the Spectator, Douglas Murray wonders whether he is libertarian or just has an instinct born out of basic understanding of the utter incompetence and indolence of the state.
• “This John Bew interview is essential viewing” – In this new world order, productive force will prove to be decisive, argues the former adviser to four successive UK Prime Ministers.

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