News Round-Up

• “Powell had access to classified documents on Chagos prior to announcement as Starmer’s envoy” – Jonathan Powell accessed classified Chagos documents before his formal appointment as Starmer’s envoy and now National Security Adviser, reveals Guido Fawkes.
• “First Chagos, now Gibraltar – fury at Labour’s deal to ‘hand Rock over’” – Reports have emerged that Keir Starmer has quietly agreed a draft treaty with Spain and the EU that could hand away control of Gibraltar, reports the Express.
• “Mandelson files may not be released until after Starmer leaves office” – Sensitive files relating to Lord Mandelson’s appointment have been scheduled for release only after Sir Keir Starmer leaves office, says the Telegraph.
• “The constitutional showdown that could finish Keir Starmer” – An extraordinary face-off over the release of the ‘Mandelson Files’ may prove fatal for a PM at his most vulnerable, writes Ed Cumming in the Telegraph.
• “Peter Mandelson says arrest based on ‘complete fiction’ that he was flight risk” – Lord Mandelson says he was arrested and bailed by police over his links to Jeffrey Epstein because of a “complete fiction” that he was a flight risk, according to the BBC.
• “Wes Streeting has shown he’s a coward” – The Health Secretary has exposed serious leadership shortcomings through his mishandling of the puberty-blockers trial, claims Suzanne Moore in the Telegraph.
• “Jenrick tried to ‘destroy’ Zia Yusuf by leaking private details” – Robert Jenrick and his team apparently went all out to trash Zia Yusuf – even nicknaming him “Zia Useless” – just six months before Jenrick himself jumped ship to Reform, says the Times.
• “Labour accuses Greens of ‘whipping up hatred’ among Muslim voters” – Labour has accused the Greens of “whipping up hatred” among Muslim voters before this week’s pivotal by-election after they called for Sir Keir Starmer’s party to be “punished for Gaza”, reports the Times.
• “By-election could herald sunset years of our party system” – Populist parties seem to be riding the wave of public anger that’s been building since the financial crash and expenses scandal, writes Vernon Bogdanor in the Times.
• “Now loony Greens call for free-for-all on prostitution and porn as by-election nears” – The Green Party has officially endorsed decriminalising consensual adult sex work and lifting most restrictions on sexually explicit material, reveals the Mail.
• “Greens want Britain to pay billions of pounds in slavery reparations over UK’s colonial past” – The Green Party is being accused of “virtue-signalling nonsense” for wanting Britain to potentially pay billions of pounds in compensation for the trans-Atlantic slave trade, reports the Mail.
• “Greens leader says Zionism is a form of racism” – Zack Polanski has declared he would “absolutely” back a Green Party motion classifying Zionism as a form of racism, says Politico.
• “How Britain learnt to turn a blind eye to shariah” – Britain has settled into a deeply worrying long-term pattern of appeasement on shariah-related matters, writes Patrick West in the Spectator.
• “How West Midlands Police became a tool of the anti-Jewish mob” – West Midlands Police has allowed itself to become the militant arm of Israelophobia by doing the bidding of the mob, says Brendan O’Neill in the Spectator.
• “Christian preacher is pushed and has equipment attacked by Muslim men” – A Christian street preacher was physically pushed and had his equipment damaged by a group of Muslim men on Whitechapel Road, reports the Mail.
• “Reform’s plan for mass deportations” – Reform’s plans for mass deportations will mean leaving the ECHR, repealing the Human Rights Act and derogating from the 1951 Refugee Convention, writes David Shipley in the Spectator.
• “Shamima Begum ‘plots return to Britain using people smugglers’” – Shamima Begum has reportedly been arranging her escape from Syria via people smugglers in an effort to force her deportation back to Britain, says the Mail.
• “Across the US, people are dismantling and destroying Flock surveillance cameras” – Vigilantes across America have taken to destroying Flock license-plate cameras amid outrage over privacy invasions and data-sharing with ICE, reports Brian Merchant for Blood in the Machine.
• “Autism, vaccines and the diagnostic empire” – Autism’s “explosion” may say more about changing definitions, incentives and labels than a sudden medical mystery, suggests Dr Randall Block on Substack.
• “Literary agents ban use of AI in book submissions” – A group of top literary agencies have flat-out said no to anything written or even polished by generative AI in submissions, according to the Times.
• “The age verification trap” – Online platforms have found themselves trapped between enforcing age checks and preserving user privacy, says Waydell D. Carvalho in IEEE Spectrum.
• “Two-speed rollout leaves poor behind in race for electric cars” – Electric cars have taken off like crazy in richer neighbourhoods but barely moved the needle in the most deprived areas, says the Times.
• “Abolish the altar: Miliband’s Net Zero fiefdom” – The Rationals Substack takes aim at Ed Miliband’s relentless Net Zero drive, claiming it is destroying farmland and driving soaring hidden costs.
• “Cuba becomes the first country to reach Net Zero. Shouldn’t we be celebrating?” – On the Manhattan Contrarian, Francis Menton celebrates Cuba reaching Net Zero emissions thanks to drastically reduced fossil-fuel use (with a helpful push from US sanctions).
• “Recognising failure, some liberals are reshaping their climate messaging” – A growing number of liberals have quietly started re-framing their climate rhetoric after realising the old hardline approach just isn’t landing anymore, notes Gary Abernathy in Empowering America.
• “Sahara is greening… billions of trees where once thought to be barren” – Huge swathes of the Sahara have turned greener in recent decades, with satellites spotting billions of new trees sprouting in places everyone assumed were dead, reports Kenneth Richard at No Tricks Zone.
• “The 1.5°C and ‘well below’ 2°C targets” – Pretty much everyone serious has long known that the world was never going to hit the Paris 1.5°C goal or even comfortably stay under 2°C, says Robin Guenier at Climate Scepticism.
• “BBC takes ‘full responsibility’ for broadcasting N-word at Baftas” – The BBC has accepted full responsibility after a racial slur was broadcast live during the Bafta Film Awards, reports the Telegraph.
• “The despicable rush to condemn John Davidson” – The furious pile-on against John Davidson during this year’s BAFTA row has shown just how much some people care more about signalling victimhood than showing real compassion, says Jason Osborne in Gript.
• “Netflix risks fines for offending British viewers” – Streaming giants risk fines of up to £250,000, or 5% of revenues, if they offend British viewers under new laws bringing platforms in line with traditional broadcasters, reports the GB News.
• “Russell Brand pleads not guilty to new rape and sexual assault charges” – Russell Brand has entered not-guilty pleas to fresh allegations of rape and sexual assault dating back to 2009, says the Mail.
• “The aristocratic third worldism of the British Museum” – The British Museum’s flashy new Kingdom of Hawaii exhibition leans heavily into fashionable decolonising gobbledegook and hierarchy-bashing, writes Matthew Petti in the Critic.
• “The thing I hate the most is hypocrisy and gaslighting” – On X, Konstantin Kisin takes aim at the Green Party’s Urdu-only campaign video, pointing out the hypocrisy: question integration in Britain, and you’re shouted down by the same people campaigning in another language.

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