News Round-Up

• “Drains running crimson with blood, body bags covering the ground, and frantic loved ones unaware of their loss: Horrifying vignettes from Iran’s monstrous slaughter as death toll reaches 16,500” – A grisly new account has detailed the regime’s crackdown and the thousands killed, reports the Mail.
• “Iran kills protesters then forces families to say they were pro-regime” – The Islamist regime has killed protesters and then cruelly coerced families into rewriting their loved ones as loyalists, says the Telegraph.
• “Kristi Noem attacks ICE shooting victim Alex Jeffrey Pretti and asks why he was carrying legally-held gun instead of protest sign” – Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has questioned why a protester was carrying a loaded gun rather than a sign, reports the Mail.
• “New angles emerge of fatal Minneapolis shooting showing victim being pepper sprayed after confronting agents” – New footage has surfaced of the Minneapolis confrontation and is fuelling claims the situation spiralled out of control, according to the Mail.
• “‘Rioters bite off’ law enforcement officer’s finger as protests erupt after deadly Minneapolis shooting by border patrol” – Violent protests after the Minneapolis killing have left an officer seriously injured, reports the Mail.
• “Badenoch begins purge of suspected Tory traitors” – Kemi Badenoch has started secretly “purging” Conservative Party members for alleged “affiliation and support of the Reform Party”, according to the Telegraph.
• “Kemi’s been tough and Jenrick is a bit of a bounder, say Tory voters – but plenty of them agree that Britain is ‘broken’” – Tory voters have delivered bruising verdicts on the leadership and are warning the party the public mood is souring fast, says the Mail.
• “Ruth Davidson, Andy Street and their bold new project to save the Tories” – Baroness Davidson and Sir Andy Street are set to launch a new political movement, likely called ‘Prosper’, aimed at persuading Kemi Badenoch to reclaim the centre ground for the Conservative Party instead of “lurching to the Right” and win the support of about seven million “politically homeless” voters, reveals the Times.
• “Starmer facing Labour civil war over Burnham” – Keir Starmer has been warned a revolt is brewing over Andy Burnham’s return bid, reports the Telegraph.
• “Sadiq Khan says Andy Burnham should be allowed to stand as an MP if he ‘wants to’ as decision deadline looms for Manchester Mayor” – Sadiq Khan has publicly backed Burnham’s right to run and is tightening the pressure on Labour’s leadership as the deadline nears, according to the Mail.
• “Andy Burnham confirms he is standing for Parliament : Keir Starmer faces civil war in the Labour party as he considers whether to block Mayor’s bid to rejoin Commons” – Andy Burnham has confirmed he will fight a by-election and is daring Labour’s high command to try to stop him as the showdown looms, reports the Mail.
• “The Force is definitely with Andy Burnham… and there’s nothing Darth Vader Starmer can do to change it” – In the Mail, Dan Hodges claims Burnham holds the momentum and Starmer is powerless to halt the comeback bid.
• “Starmer’s Chagos fanatics are determined to ensure the surrender goes ahead” – Starmer and his human rights lawyer chums must never again be allowed near the levers of power, says Daniel Hannan in the Telegraph.
• “Stop Chagos deal, White House officials tell Trump” – White House officials have urged Trump to block the Chagos deal and are signalling the administration is resisting the plan, reveals the Telegraph.
• “British soldiers are ‘great and brave’: Trump backtracks on Afghanistan slur” – Trump has issued a warm tribute to British troops after backlash over his claim Brits didn’t fight on the Afghan frontline as he tries to cool the diplomatic row, notes the Telegraph.
• “Trump backtracks on his claims British troops dodged Afghanistan front line after sparking fury from veterans and Starmer: Calls soldiers ‘second to none’” – Trump has praised British forces as “second to none” after anger over his Afghanistan comments and is insisting he respects them, says the Mail.
• “Pro-Gaza MP facing investigation over October 7th ‘atrocity denial’” – Pro-Gaza MP Iqbal Mohamed is accused of disinformation and victim-blaming in a social media post on the deaths of the hostage Bibas family, reports the Telegraph.
• “Police make arrests at Wormwood Scrubs after protesters ‘breached prison grounds’ in support of jailed pro-Palestine hunger striker” – Police have made “a number of arrests” after protesters “breached” Wormwood Scrubs in support of a jailed pro-Gaza hunger striker, reports the Mail.
• “Man is stabbed as cars and businesses are trashed when Kurd and Syrian factions battle each other on British streets” – A man was stabbed and cars and businesses were smashed up as fights broke out between groups of people of Syrian and Kurdish heritage in Manchester this week, reports the Mail.
• “‘More like Woke-ingham!’: Furious drivers say they are living under a ‘Lib Dem dictatorship’ after their council pushed through a new 20 mph limit after 69% of residents had already rejected it” – Local drivers have accused their council of ignoring residents over a 20 mph plan and the backlash is now boiling over, says the Mail.
• “Home Secretary warned plans to cut police forces across the country could be a ‘disaster’ and ‘will not guarantee better policing’” – Senior officers have warned that proposed force mergers risk gutting local policing, according to the Mail.
• “Devon and Cornwall’s economies falling off a cliff as Reeves hammers tourism” – Coastal economies have been hit by rising costs and tax pressures and businesses are warning the downturn is accelerating, says the Telegraph.
• “The mother of four – and force of nature – battling the politicians who think it’s okay to dump hundreds of young migrant men on her pretty little town in Sussex” – A local mother has launched a campaign against housing migrant men in her Sussex town and the fight is rapidly becoming a political flashpoint, reports the Mail.
• “Furious protesters hammer on gates of migrant processing centre in Dover chanting ‘send them back’” – Protesters have descended on Dover’s processing centre and the furious scenes are intensifying the migration row, notes the Mail.
• “How 7.1 million foreign-born people now call ‘The Lucky Country’ home – as Australia overtakes the UK and US as top immigration hotspot” – Australia has surged ahead as a migration magnet and the scale of its overseas-born population is reshaping national politics, reveals the Mail.
• “Why are doctors pushing contraception onto new mothers?” – Against the backdrop of a global birth dearth and looming demographic crisis, maybe women need less, not more, encouragement to use contraception, suggests Portia Berry-Kilby in the Spectator.
• “Scotland is veering towards abortion extremism” – Sex-selective abortion, as is now being recommended for Scotland, is barbaric not progressive, argues Miriam Cates in the Critic.
• “Miliband hits landlords with £10 billion Net Zero upgrade tax” – Ed Miliband has imposed a £10 billion Net Zero upgrade burden on landlords and the squeeze is threatening to drive up rents, reports the Telegraph.
• “Constraint Payments Soar To New Record” – Payments to renewables suppliers to stop generating power when it’s too windy have surged to a record high as the grid bottleneck problem is worsening, says Paul Homewood in Not a Lot of People Know That.
• “Red States Have Reliable Power Because They Embrace an All-of-the-Above Strategy” – Conservative-leaning states have built more reliable grids by diversifying energy sources and the approach is outperforming national averages, says Greg Brophy in Watts Up With That.
• “Texans told it may be five days until they can leave homes as deadly 2,000-mile ‘ice zone’ engulfs America” – A sprawling winter storm has paralysed huge swathes of the US and is leaving Texans trapped at home as conditions worsen, reports the Mail.
• “No, Shakespeare wasn’t a black woman. Why is this madness still being promoted?” – Like a zombie that won’t die, the notion that William Shakespeare was a front for someone else has popped up again, and this time he’s a “black woman”, says Philip Womack in the Telegraph.
• “Why Steve Coogan is so much worse than Alan Partridge” – Gareth Roberts in Spiked says Steve Coogan’s activist persona is more insufferable than Partridge and the sanctimony is now impossible to ignore.

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