News Round-Up

• “US bombers take off from UK base on ‘most intense’ day of Iran war” – Three B1-B Lancer aircraft have departed RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire after Keir Starmer allowed UK bases to be used for “defensive” operations, reports the Times.
• “Has Iran’s drone threat peaked?” – Tehran has unleashed more than 1,500 drones on countries across the region since the US and Israeli strikes began, yet interception rates have now risen to 97%, suggesting Iran’s aerial campaign has already reached its high-water mark, says Seth J. Frantzman in the Spectator.
• “Pro-Iran Al-Quds Day march in London cancelled after police intervention” – The Met Police commissioner has approached the Home Secretary urging that Sunday’s hate march not be permitted, and the event has now been cancelled, notes the Jewish News.
• “New ayatollah owns luxury flats next to Israeli embassy in London” – Iran’s new supreme leader has bought two luxury flats costing £35 million yards from the Israeli embassy in London, reports the Telegraph.
• “HMS Dragon deploys to Middle East” – The Royal Navy destroyer has departed for the Mediterranean 10 days after the Iran war began, as Britain steps up its military presence in the region, says the Telegraph.
• “Iran footballer ‘forced onto bus’ after others escape Australian hotel” – An Iranian footballer has appeared to be forced onto a bus by team-mates as the national women’s squad prepared to fly out of Australia, after five members were granted humanitarian visas, reports the Times.
• “Chaos as protesters try to stop Iranian soccer team leaving Australia” – Protesters have rammed the bus and temporarily prevented the Iranian women’s squad from leaving their Gold Coast hotel, reveals the Mail.
• “Fears over free speech as Labour gives definition to Islamophobia and announces its first ‘anti-Muslim hostility’ tsar” – The Government has announced an official definition of “anti-Muslim hostility’ and the country’s first tsar to tackle it in a £4 million drive, says the Mail.
• “This ‘anti-Muslim hostility’ definition is truly sinister” – The Government’s new 144-word definition has been accompanied by 1,400 words of agonised qualifying text – a sign that ministers already know what a mess they have made – and the only purpose is to create special protections for one faith that no other religion enjoys, writes Andrew Gilligan in the Spectator.
• “Forget ‘Islamophobia’ – it’s Islamism the West should be fighting” – The Iran war has provided a violent reminder of how widespread Islamism is in the West, and yet the Government’s response has been to appoint an ‘Islamophobia tsar’ rather than confront the actual threat, says Brendan O’Neill in Spiked.
• “I’ve seen first-hand the chilling effect of speech codes that protect Islam” – The Government’s new definition of “anti-Muslim hostility” risks penalising legitimate critics of Islamists and will make community relations worse rather than better, warns Ian Austin in the Telegraph.
• “Special protection for Muslims means a two-tier system” – Defining “anti-Muslim hostility” damages equality and social cohesion and represents a step on the road to a blasphemy law the country does not want, says Kishwer Falkner in the Times.
• “Islamophobia definition ‘likely to cause self-censorship’” – The reviewer of terrorism law has warned that the new Islamophobia definition risks creating confusion and deterring legitimate comment, and that the Government’s guidance fails to protect free expression as robustly as ministers claim, reports the Times.
• “Ex-Muslims will be the conscience of the Islamophobia debate, just as detransitioners were to trans ideology” – Apostates have the potential to disrupt the Government’s new anti-Muslim hostility guidelines in ways that cannot easily be dismissed, since they cannot be accused of bigotry by those who have never lived inside the belief system, writes Laura Dodsworth on the Free Mind Substack.
• “Debating Islam cannot be taboo” – The Government has insisted its new policy will not restrict the right to criticise Islam, but critics argue that a state-backed definition of “anti-Muslim hostility” will inevitably have a chilling effect on open debate, says the Telegraph View.
• “MPs urge Keir Starmer to adopt extremism laws for protest groups” – Labour MPs have called on Sir Keir Starmer to adopt new Australian-style extremism laws which would see a crackdown on protest groups without labelling them terrorists, reports the Times.
• “Labour scrambles to save digital ID plans with ‘people’s panel’” – The Government is setting up a “people’s panel” on digital ID in a last-ditch attempt to turn public opinion, reveals the Telegraph.
• “Lords plot to thwart Labour’s plan to control pension investments” – Peers have launched a bid to block Government plans that would require workplace pension funds to direct 10% of assets into economy-boosting infrastructure and property, says the Telegraph.
• “Thousands of lawyers oppose jury restriction plan” – Top barristers and retired judges have urged the Government to drop plans to abolish some jury trials, warning that the reforms pose a serious threat to justice, reports the BBC.
• “Labour lawyers ‘blocked’ from briefing MPs on jury trials overhaul before vote” – Deep concern within the Society of Labour Lawyers about the Courts and Tribunals Bill has been suppressed, with members said to have been prevented from briefing MPs ahead of the vote, says the Guardian.
• “‘Lammy’s jury trial cuts risk worsening racial bias in justice system’” – Juries have been found to be one of the few parts of the criminal justice system consistently free from racial bias, and plans to almost halve their use will leave ethnic minority defendants far more vulnerable to miscarriages of justice, warns Kim Johnson MP in LabourList.
• “Policing chief loses confidence vote after attending anti-migrant protest” – Katy Bourne, the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner, has been censured for joining a march at Crowborough in November, in a case that has inflamed debate over free speech for public officials, reports the Telegraph.
• “Zack Polanski says five Labour MPs could defect to Greens as he vows to ‘build relationship’ with Putin while giving up nukes” – The Green leader says he is speaking with a “handful” of Keir Starmer’s disaffected backbenchers in the wake of the Greens’ shock win in the Gorton & Denton by-election, reveals the Mail.
• “The Green Party is barking mad” – Zack Polanski is quite prepared to say anything, however nuts, to make his tribe happy, writes Gareth Roberts in the Spectator.
• “It’s time to rub the Left’s nose in diversity” – The Greens forever chant that “refugees are welcome here”, says Michael Deacon in the Telegraph. So let’s give them the chance to show they mean it.
• “Can you ‘identify’ as English?” – Shabana Mahmood’s claim to identify as English has reopened old arguments about what national identity means and whether it can simply be adopted by those with no ancestral connection, writes Brendan O’Neill in the Spectator.
• “Warwickshire County Council’s Reform leader faces no confidence vote” – George Finch has been accused of bringing the authority “into disrepute”, says the BBC.
• “Why the AfD has fallen out of love with Trump” – The AfD’s condemnation of the US and Israeli strikes on Iran has exposed the limits of its courtship of the American Right, revealing that its anti-Americanism is a deep-rooted feature rather than a tactical misstep, writes Henry Donovan in the Spectator.
• “Germany uses anti-Nazi law to investigate critic of, er, Hitler” – A law originally designed to prevent people from wearing swastika armbands has been applied against a critic of Hitler, in a case that has exposed the absurdities of Germany’s speech legislation, reports the Times.
• “A very brief interview with Klaus Schwab” – The founder of the World Economic Forum asked for a blurb, was offered a podcast interview instead, and cut it short after 20 minutes when the questioning proved uncomfortable, says Yascha Mounk on the Persuasion Substack.
• “Gulf states’ AI gamble goes up in smoke” – Drone attacks have raised serious concerns about the vulnerability of data centres in the Middle East, threatening the vast sums the Gulf states have staked on becoming global AI hubs, writes James Warrington in the Telegraph.
• “NHS to hire more foreign dentists to clear backlog” – New plans will increase the number of overseas dentist exam places tenfold in an attempt to combat a shortage that has left millions without access to NHS dental care, reveals the Telegraph.
• “No, Britain is not about to run out of gas” – Media claims that Britain has “just two days of gas” reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of how the UK energy system works, since the country runs on continuous flows from the North Sea and Norway rather than underground reserves, points out John Power in the Spectator.
• “Reform pledges to scrap heat-pump grants” – Reform UK has announced a pledge to abolish heat-pump subsidies in a drive to save billions of pounds for tax cuts, reports the Telegraph.
• “Britain’s households have been left defenceless” – Global tensions have exposed the dangerous shortsightedness of our leaders, says Dia Chakravarty in the Telegraph.
• “Ursula von der Leyen calls abandoning nuclear power ‘a strategic mistake’ – 15 years after supporting the nuclear phase-out” – Having defended Germany’s nuclear phase-out in 2011, the European Commission President now wants the EU to become a world-leading pioneer in nuclear technology, writes Eugyppius on Substack.
• “Volkswagen to cut 50,000 jobs as China offers cheaper electric cars” – Volkswagen has announced it will shed 50,000 jobs by the end of the decade after scaling back its electric car ambitions in the face of cheaper Chinese competition, reports the Telegraph.
• “BBC saw me as difficult because I’m a woman of colour” – The 2015 Great British Bake Off winner has accused the BBC of treating her as “difficult” because of her race and gender, says the Telegraph.
• “‘Netflix were not happy with Meghan Markle’s As Ever’, insiders say” – A Los Angeles insider has revealed that the Duchess of Sussex’s jam brand simply “didn’t fit” at Netflix, with customers showing “no appetite” for it, reports the Mail.
• “Trans woman jailed for grooming 13 year-old girl” – Skylar Savage, a 47 year-old trans woman born male, has been jailed for sending sexual messages to a 13 year-old girl, according to the Telegraph.
• “Hospital nurse is suspended for six months for repeating ‘deeply shocking’ Ricky Gervais joke” – A nurse of 20 years’ experience has been suspended after repeating a joke he attributed to Ricky Gervais to a colleague, says the Telegraph.
• “Calling colleague ‘potato’ in mock Irish accent is racist” – A judge has awarded £20,735 in compensation to an Irish bookkeeper after colleagues made a series of “offensive and humiliating” remarks, reports the Telegraph.
• “Woke California professor calls to abolish terms ‘gay’ and ‘lesbian’ to avoid offending the trans community” – An associate professor at UC Riverside has argued that removing gendered terms would free people from societal constraints, says the Mail.
• “OK. Maybe AI isn’t all bad” – Jeremy Clarkson approves of an AI video showing him throwing Sir Keir Starmer out of The Farmer’s Dog, his Diddly Squat pub.