News Round-Up

• “Lords pile pressure on Starmer with vote to scrap non-crime hate incidents” – The House of Lords has voted to scrap non-crime hate incidents, putting serious pressure on Keir Starmer to finally end their use, reports the Telegraph.
• “Reeves ‘risks market chaos’ with household energy bailout” – The OBR is warning that Rachel Reeves could spark market mayhem if she pushes through a household energy bailout, especially with the Iran crisis threatening to push inflation over 5%, according to the Telegraph.
• “Peter Mandelson asked for a £500,000 payout after being sacked as US ambassador” – Documents reveal that Lord Mandelson demanded more than £500,000 as a pay-off for being sacked as Britain’s ambassador to the US over his links to Jeffrey Epstein, reports LBC.
• “Starmer appointed Lord Mandelson despite ‘string of warnings’” – Government files reveal that Jonathan Powell, the national security adviser, raised concerns about the reputational risk of Mandelson’s appointment, warning that it had been “weirdly rushed”, says the Times.
• “Mandelson files expose Keir Starmer – and it’s just the beginning” – How much did Sir Keir Starmer know about Lord Mandelson and his links to the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein when he appointed him as US ambassador? An awful lot, as it turns out, writes Steven Swinford in the Times.
• “Why the state wants to clamp down on homeschooling” – The Government’s shiny new cohesion plan has quietly cranked up the pressure on homeschooling families, says David Shipley in the Spectator.
• “Migrant thought to be 25, is actually a child of 17, British asylum court rules” – A Sudanese migrant who rocked up with deep forehead wrinkles, a full beard and a prominent Adam’s apple has been officially declared 17 by a British asylum court, reports the Mail.
• “Why do Britain’s councils hate patriotism so much?” – Britain’s councils keep finding new ways to stamp out anything that smells like patriotism, says Patrick West in the Spectator.
• “Multicultural Britain is becoming harder to defend” – Multicultural Britain has got a lot tougher to defend lately – the old “diverse and cohesive” line is starting to wear thin, writes our own Laurie Wastell in the Spectator.
• “The Al-Quds march should have been banned years ago” – The Al-Quds Day march in London has finally been banned to avoid major disorder, but let’s be honest – it should’ve been shut down years back given what usually goes on, says Jonathan Sacerdoti in the Spectator.
• “Putin in ‘constant’ contact with wounded Iranian supreme leader” – Vladimir Putin has been keeping in constant touch with Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who’s apparently taken a light injury, according to the Telegraph.
• “Where is the new Supreme Leader of Iran?” – Mojtaba Khamenei has been named Iran’s new Supreme Leader but has anyone seen him? asks Jonathan Sacerdoti in the Spectator.
• “Female Iranian footballers returning from Australia are led through Kuala Lumpur airport by ‘handlers’” – The Iranian women’s footballers who refused to sing the anthem in Australia have been marched back home under heavy escort, reports the Mail.
• “Slavery reparations will be the next Chagos betrayal” – Hot on the heels of the Chagos handover, the African Union is now gearing up to take Britain to the International Court of Justice over slavery reparations, warns Ross Clark in the Spectator.
• “Angela Merkel and Bono named in EU’s first honours list” – Angela Merkel and Bono have both picked up shiny new honours in the very first EU gongs list, reports the Mail. 
• “Trump says Iran war will end ‘soon’ as gas prices hit new high and Republicans fear midterm bloodbath” – Donald Trump insists the war with Iran will wrap up “soon” as petrol prices smash records and Republicans start sweating about a potential midterm wipeout, according to the Mail.
• “Saudi oil giant warns of ‘catastrophic consequences’ from Iran war” – Saudi Arabia’s Aramco has warned that if the Iran war keeps messing with oil exports, the global market could face absolutely catastrophic fallout, says the Mail.
• “I’m pro-choice, but I fear the Wild West future of abortion” – In the Telegraph, lifelong pro-choice campaigner Sharron Davies expresses growing concerns that unregulated access could lead to a chaotic “Wild West” scenario for abortion in the UK.
• “Net Zero to cost Britain more than £125 billion this decade” – Net Zero will land Britain with a bill topping £125 billion this decade alone, with real savings not showing up until around 2040, says GB News.
• “Thirty years of inept British energy policy have brought us to this” – Decades of poor investment in energy storage have left Britain dangerously exposed to fuel price shocks and supply vulnerabilities, warns Jeremy Warner in the Telegraph.
• “‘Misleading’ Met Office rain icons ‘costing businesses thousands’” – The Met Office is under fire over “misleading” weather warnings, which industry leaders claim are “costing businesses thousands”, according to GB News.
• “The Paris Agreement’s temperature goals: meaning, status, origins and reality” – The Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C and 2°C goals have essentially been impossible political targets from the start, shows Robin Guenier in Cliscep.
• “German energy and metal group warns of drastic crisis” – The German employer association has warned of a drastic crisis in the country’s metal and electrical industries, forecasting the loss of up to 150,000 jobs in 2026, according to P. Gosselin in the No Tricks Zone.
• “House hearing on bird killing ignores wind” – A US House hearing on the Migratory Bird Treaty Act has completely skipped over wind turbines as a major source of bird deaths, says CFACT.
• “Climate change – where the experts make fools of themselves” – Climate experts have repeatedly embarrassed themselves with bad predictions and unworkable policies, just adding to the broader meltdown in trust for expert opinion, argues Francis Menton on the Manhattan Contrarian.
• “New study documents a 20-year pause in Arctic sea ice decline – driven by internal variability” – A fresh study has confirmed that Arctic sea ice has shown virtually no net decline over the past 20 years, reports Kenneth Richard in the No Tricks Zone.
• “Sorry, the New Republic, climate change isn’t causing Somali migration” – The New Republic has tried linking Somali migration to climate change, but civil conflict, poverty and corruption have been the main drivers for decades, rebuts Linnea Lueken in Climate Realism.
• “The BBC is not living up to the ‘British’ part of its name” – The BBC has ditched coverage of Crufts and the Boat Race, which makes you wonder how much the broadcaster actually cares about classic British events these days, writes Allison Pearson in the Telegraph.
• “Replacing Churchill with wildlife on our banknotes is a mistake” – Swapping Churchill and other big historical figures for animals on our banknotes feels like a real misstep, says Matthew Lynn in the Spectator.
• “Louis Theroux: Inside The Manosphere probes into world of alpha males” – Louis Theroux’s latest Netflix dive into the manosphere has critics calling it his most chilling work yet, says the Mail.
• “Green leader Zack Polanski defended claim hypnosis can enlarge breast size” – A newly unearthed interview has cast doubt into Zack Polanski’s claim he immediately apologised for offering hypnotic therapy intended to increase a woman’s breast size, reports GB News.
• “Bye bye NCHIs” – A chance to watch again Toby’s rousing plea in the Lords during the Crime and Policing Bill debate, which helped secure his amendment to scrap non-crime hate incidents, wipe historic records and add safeguards – a narrow 227–221 victory.

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