News Round-Up

• “Trump blasts Starmer for making a ‘big mistake’ with Chagos deal” – Donald Trump has torn into Sir Keir Starmer’s Chagos deal as a “big mistake” and has urged him to stand firm against “wokeism”, report the Mail.
• “Why Trump turned on Starmer’s Chagos deal” – Katy Balls in the Times explains why Trump has changed his mind about the Chagos surrender treaty.
• “Why I helped invade the Chagos Islands” – In the Spectator, Adam Holloway updates on his secret five-day voyage with Chagossians in a bid to reclaim their islands.
• “Starmer blames councils for scrapping elections” – The Prime Minister has insisted that cancelling elections in 30 councils was their idea, not his, according to ITV News.
• “Thousands of defendants promised jury trials will now face lone judges” – Courts minister Sarah Sackman has told MPs that the Government’s proposed legislation scrapping thousands of jury trials will be applied retrospectively, says the Telegraph.
• “Rachel Reeves rules out immediate increase in defence spending” – Rachel Reeves has ruled out an immediate rise in defence spending despite mounting international pressure, reports GB News.
• “Badenoch: Parliament is being turned into ‘net zero Dubai hotel’” – Taxpayers are being asked to turn the Houses of Parliament into a “net zero Dubai hotel”, Kemi Badenoch has warned, according to the Telegraph.
• “Mood among employers is darkest I’ve ever seen” – Gail’s chief Luke Johnson has slammed Labour for making it “more expensive and more risky to employ people”, says the Telegraph.
• “Labour may drop minimum wage pledge over youth jobless fears” – Labour is wobbling on its minimum wage pledge as businesses warn that young people are being priced out of jobs, reports Sky News.
• “It’s time to abolish the minimum wage” – The minimum wage has ended up hurting the very people it was meant to help, argues Maxwell Marlow in the Spectator.
• “Britain’s special needs spending crisis will be Labour’s ruin” – Exploding special needs costs are threatening to blow a hole in the public finances, warns Jeremy Warner in the Telegraph.
• “Sadiq Khan to reap £1 million from London pubs tax raid” – London Mayor Sadiq Khan is set to pocket nearly £1 million thanks to Labour’s latest pub tax, reveals the Telegraph.
• “UCL agrees to pay Covid-disrupted students millions of pounds” – UCL has agreed a £21 million deal that has opened the door for thousands of graduates to seek Covid-era tuition refunds, reports the Telegraph.
• “Reform’s Robert Jenrick vows to restore two-child benefit cap in ‘Brits only’ system” – Reform UK has promised a sweeping benefits crackdown, including restoring the two-child cap and tougher mental health checks, says the Mail.
• “I’ll back OBR but no more cosy consensus” – Robert Jenrick says he will keep the OBR but has vowed to smash what he calls the Westminster “cosy consensus”, according to LBC.
• “Triple lock is up for debate, says Farage” – Nigel Farage has hinted that even the sacred pensions triple lock is up for debate as Reform sharpens its economic pitch, reports the Express.
• “Vast forces are mobilising to stop Britain’s only real chance of survival” – The plot to topple the next Right-wing government has already begun, warns Allister Heath in the Telegraph.
• “How many Right-wing parties do we really need?” – If everybody who finds Nigel Farage irritating starts up a party, we will end up with ballot papers a mile long, writes Gareth Roberts in the Spectator.
• “Palestine Action activists whose raid on Israeli defence firm left police officer with a fractured spine will face retrial” – Six Palestine Action activists have been told they will face a retrial over a raid that left a police officer with a fractured spine, reports the Mail.
• “Every day, we are reminded that the migration crisis is ruining Britain” – Britain’s migration crisis is crippling housing, schools and the NHS, warns Allison Pearson in the Telegraph.
• “A stolen phone was tracked in real time. The police still couldn’t help” – A Londoner tracked her stolen iPhone across the capital, only to find police powerless to act, reports the Telegraph.
• “Deporting censorship: US targets UK Government ally over free speech” – A little-noticed immigration case playing out in a NY federal court has significant implications for America’s relationship with Britain and the joint efforts of the Biden administration and the Labour Government to suppress free speech, writes Paul D. Thacker in Real Clear Investigations.
• “France can no longer ignore the menace of Left-wing violence” – An attack by a mob of Left-wing counter-protestors that killed a Right-wing student has reignited concerns about far-Left extremism and its political links, says Gavin Mortimer in the Spectator.
• “Morocco should be allowed to cull its stray dogs” – In the Spectator, Ross Clark argues that Morocco should be allowed to cull its stray dogs – and questions Western outrage, especially when millions of human abortions barely raise an eyebrow.
• “How Enfield became the epicentre of England’s measles outbreak” – In the North London borough of Enfield, low vaccination rates – particularly among ethnic minorities – have left thousands of children and babies at risk, writes Melissa Twigg in the Telegraph.
• “PM takes swipe at Reform and antivaxers after measles outbreak” – Sir Keir Starmer has accused Reform and anti-vaccine campaigners of fuelling falling jab rates as measles cases climb in London, reports the Times.
• “Firm assessing Covid vaccine harm replaced after costs spiral to £48 million” – The company hired to assess Covid vaccine injury claims has lost its government contract after its bill soared to £48 million due to the volume of claims, says the BBC.
• “NHS urges nine million people to get therapy” – The NHS has urged nine million people struggling with anxiety and other conditions to get therapy, reports theMail.
• “Reeves’s energy bill discount undercut by Miliband’s grid upgrades” – Rachel Reeves’s £150 energy bill cut has been quietly eaten up by the cost of Ed Miliband’s Net Zero grid upgrades, reports the Telegraph.
• “Taxpayers may be liable for millions as solar firm heads into administration” – British solar firm Hive Energy is preparing to appoint administrators just months after securing a £60 million taxpayer-backed loan, says Bitget.
• “Coal power back in trend as globe tries to keep pace with growing demand for power” – Coal is making a comeback as the world scrambles to meet rising energy demand, writes P. Gosselin on Notrickszone.
• “The case against Net Zero – a 14th update” – Net Zero imperils our national security and could result in Britain’s economic devastation, warns Robin Guenier in Cliscep.
• “A climatologist asks: What is the correct CO₂ concentration? ” – If carbon dioxide is truly a pollutant, then there must be a threshold, says Dr Matthew Wielicki on Climate Change Dispatch.
• “Wrong, Inside Climate News, climate change isn’t worsening wildlife viruses in New Jersey” – Claims that climate change is behind New Jersey wildlife viruses are way off base, writes Anthony Watts on Climate Realism.
• “The martyrdom of Chris Kaba” – The aftermath of Chris Kaba’s killing has shown how quickly activists can shape the narrative, says Ed West in the Spectator.
• “Good Law Project ‘sells hope on trans rights despite court defeats’” – More than 30 lawyers and academics have accused the Good Law Project of deliberately lying about a recent decision that went against it in court in an effort to keep donations flooding in, reports the Times.
• “TfL advert banned for stereotyping black men after just one complaint” – A TfL advert which showed a black man harassing a white woman on a bus has been pulled after a single complaint claimed it stereotyped black men, according to GB News.
• “This is why TV shows keep portraying white men as the bad guys” – A TfL advert is being banned for showing a black man as the aggressor – apparently only caucasian men get to be villains these days, says Michael Deacon in the Telegraph.
• “Hate crime laws should be wiped from the statute book” – After the Government’s announcement that it will amend the Crime and Policing Bill to create yet more “protected” characteristics, Toby argues in the Lords that the entire concept of hate crime should be stripped from British law.

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