News Round-Up

• “Judge ordered jury not be told that Pakistani national who raped a teenage girl in a park was an asylum seeker” – A judge’s decision to hide an attacker’s asylum status from a jury has sparked a furious political row, reports the Mail.
• “Met Police bans ‘Walk With Jesus’ march to avoid provoking local Muslim community” – Police have blocked a Christian march in East London over fears of a hostile local reaction, says GB News.
• “The Tories should not be anywhere near power again in my lifetime” – In the Telegraph, Annabell Denham sits down with Suella Braverman, who likens her jump to Reform to a messy divorce and explains why she thinks the Tories are finished.
• “Here’s the lesson of the Andy Burnham saga: Labour needs a new leader – fast” – The Andy Burnham saga has laid bare Labour’s leadership problems and Starmer’s shaky grip, says Polly Toynbee in the Guardian.
• “Yes! We have no banana republics” – On Substack, Dr David McGrogan argues Labour’s “postponed” local elections look like naked self-preservation, and a sign Britain has entered an era of lawfare and political knife-fights.
• “I have resigned as a councillor to fight against Labour’s attack on democracy” – In the Telegraph, councillor Simon Ring calls Labour’s decision to cancel local votes a quiet erosion of democracy.
• “Reform unveils commentator Matt Goodwin as Gorton by-election candidate” – Reform has picked Matt Goodwin to fight the Gorton and Denton by-election, reveals the Mail.
• “Labour caps ground rents as investors warn reforms ‘tear up’ property rights” – Labour has pushed ahead with a ground rent cap, leaving investors warning property rights are being shredded, reports the Telegraph.
• “Fury as Reeves sends junior minister to announce paltry 15% off business rates for pubs – but only for three years and wider hospitality sector gets nothing” – Rachel Reeves was accused of doing “far too little, far too late” for pubs after she sent a junior minister to unveil a meagre bailout for pubs, says the Mail.
• “Labour tax raids blamed as collapse of pub chain triggers 591 job losses” – A total of 591 jobs have been lost after a leading pub chain was plunged into administration, as insolvency experts blamed rising taxes under Labour, reports the Telegraph.
• “Police boss on £700,000 should go, says wrongly sacked union leader” – The boss of the Police Federation of England and Wales is facing calls to step down from his £700,000 a year job after his attempts to silence free speech were ruled “unlawful” by the High Court, says the Telegraph.
• “BBC accused of ‘ignoring Jews’ on Holocaust Memorial Day” – The BBC has apologised after repeatedly avoiding the word ‘Jews’ during Holocaust Memorial Day coverage, referring instead to six million ‘people’ killed, according to the Mail. 
• “Westminster’s legacy two-step: rights restored today, quietly revoked tomorrow” – A Commons vote promises justice for Troubles victims, but the Government is quietly preparing to shut the door again, warns the Rationals on Substack.
• “Starmer mocks Macron as he dons sunglasses at comedy show” – The Prime Minister has taken a playful swipe at Emmanuel Macron while hamming it up on stage at a London comedy show, according to Politico.
• “Nuclear weapon storage banned from Chagos base” – A ban on storing nuclear weapons at Chagos has added strain to already tense UK-US relations and makes it even more unlikely that the Chagos surrender deal will be ratified, reports GB News.
• “Outrage over Trump’s Afghanistan comments is hypocritical” – Failures on our end are far more in need of a reckoning than ill-thought comments of a brash US president, argues James Jeffrey in the Telegraph.
• “US accuses Starmer of being soft on China” – Washington has accused Starmer of going easy on Beijing after revelations that the CCP has been tapping the phones of senior Downing Street officials for years, reports the Telegraph.
• “My China trip will make Britons richer” – Starmer has insisted his China trip will boost British prosperity, according to the Telegraph.
• “Alex Pretti broke rib in violent confrontation with ICE just days before he was shot dead in Minneapolis” – Alex Pretti had been injured in a scuffle with federal agents in Minneapolis just one week before he was shot dead, reveals the Mail.
• “Ex-FIFA president Sepp Blatter joins those calling for boycott of World Cup in United States” – Sepp Blatter has backed calls to boycott the US World Cup over concerns about American politics, reports the Associated Press.
• “Narco sub bringing largest-ever shipment of cocaine valued at £520 million is intercepted en route to Europe” – Police have stopped a so-called narco-sub hauling a record cocaine load towards Europe, reveals the Mail.
• “Spain gives half a million migrants legal status to ‘defeat the far-Right’” – Spain has granted legal status to hundreds of thousands of migrants in a bid to blunt the far-Right, reports the Mail.
• “Iran’s ‘Baby Rider’ motorbike influencer shot dead” – A teenage influencer has been shot and killed by the security services amid Iran’s violent crackdown on protests, reports the Telegraph.
• “Man, 26, euthanised because he was diabetic and blind” – A young man’s assisted death has reignited bitter arguments over Canada’s euthanasia laws, says the Telegraph.
• “Humanity edges closer to annihilation as Doomsday Clock lurches forward because of new global threats” – The Doomsday Clock has ticked closer to midnight as global threats pile up, reports the Mail.
• ‘Insane’ AI breakthrough runs your work and finances via WhatsApp” – Experts warn that the new AI assistant known as Clawdbot is a security disaster in the making, according to the Telegraph. 
• “Monkeypox hysteria is on the horizon” – Another round of health panic is brewing as monkeypox coverage ramps up, notes Dr Roger Watson in TCW.
• “Deadly bat-borne virus sparks pandemic fears in Asia as countries bring back Covid-era border controls” – Fears of another pandemic have flared after a bat-borne virus outbreak prompted airport checks to return, reports the Mail.
• “UK loses measles elimination status” – Britain has slipped backwards on measles after outbreaks wiped out its elimination status, says the BBC.
• “Energy industry ‘faces collapse over Miliband’s delusional Net Zero plan’” – Britain’s energy sector has warned it’s heading for serious trouble as Labour presses ahead with Net Zero plans, reports the Telegraph.
• “Heat pumps have been mis-sold” – Dale Vince says households were oversold heat pumps that may not save them money, according to the Telegraph.
• “The grid will hold – maybe – but the bill will rise” – The grid has probably made it through the winter storm, but the cost is set to rise, warns Terry L. Headley in Watts Up With That?
• “New study affirms rising CO₂’s greening impact across India – a region with no net warming in 75 years” – A fresh study has backed the idea that rising CO₂ has been greening India without warming it, according to Kenneth Richard on NoTricksZone.
• “Why carbon dioxide does not cause warming” – New lab tests have found CO₂ cools quickly after heating, casting doubt on its role in trapping heat, reveals James T. Moodey in Climate Change Dispatch.
• “EHRC single-sex spaces guidance being adapted under ‘constructive’ new chair” – Guidance on how to implement the landmark supreme court ruling on gender is being watered down to kowtow to trans zealots, says the Guardian. Although, not in those words.
• “Agoraphobic scientist who claimed disability discrimination after she was not invited to Christmas party loses claim” – A tribunal has thrown out a claim after a socially anxious scientist said being snubbed from a Christmas party amounted to discrimination, reports the Mail.
• “Worker with ‘rejection sensitivity’ awarded £12,000 over remark by boss” – A woman with “rejection sensitivity” has pocketed a £12,000 after her manager reportedly told her to “stop thinking outside the box”, says the Sun.
• “Net Zero: the BBC won’t show you this!” – On X, a spoof news report lays bare the farcical pursuit of the Government’s Net Zero dogma.

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