News Round-Up

• “Met to end all non-crime hate investigations” – Britain’s biggest police force has announced it will no longer investigate non-crime hate incidents, reports the Telegraph (and the Free Speech Union deserves much of the credit).
• “Met Police to stop investigating non-crime hate after Linehan case” – The Metropolitan Police have said they will no longer investigate non-crime hate incidents to end the practice of officers having to police “toxic culture war debates”, says the Times.
• “Met Police says it will no longer investigate non-crime hate incidents” – The Metropolitan Police says it will no longer investigate non-crime hate incidents to allow officers to “focus on matters that meet the threshold for criminal investigations”, according to BBC News.
• “Met to stop investigating non-crime hate incidents after Graham Linehan probe dropped” – The Met Police will stop investigating “non-crime hate incidents” after prosecutors dropped a case against Graham Linehan, who, with the Free Speech Union, plans to sue the force for wrongful arrest, reports the Independent.
• “Two grooming gang victims quit inquiry panel over cover-up fears” – Two grooming gang victims have walked away from a Home Office panel set up to look into a national inquiry over fears of being “silenced”, reports GB News.
• “Labour ‘sabotaging grooming gangs inquiry’” – Labour has been accused by victims and campaigners of sabotaging the national grooming gangs inquiry, says the Telegraph.
• “Manchester terrorist complained wife’s children were ‘too Westernised’” – The Manchester synagogue terrorist’s wife has waived her right to anonymity to claim the vile misogynist raped her, reports the Standard.
• “Police urged to reveal how they define Islamophobia” – Police and prosecutors have been told to drop the term ‘Islamophobia’ amid a row over what it actually means, says the Telegraph.
• “Islamophobia definition ‘risks undermining terrorism laws’” – The Policy Exchange think tank says a state-backed definition of ‘Islamophobia’ would undermine Britain’s counterterrorism and immigration laws, according to the Sun.
• “King warns ‘ghastly’ social media is radicalising people” – The King has spoken of the need to “deradicalise” people from what they see on the “ghastliness of social media” while visiting survivors of the Manchester synagogue attack, reports the Telegraph. Shades of Gary Neville blaming the attack on flagshaggers?
• “Why does the Met think the Star of David is offensive?” – It has long been clear that the mantra “antisemitism has no place on the streets of London” is nonsense, says Stephen Pollard in the Spectator.
• “Islam has been a problem in Britain for a long time. It’s time to face up to that” – It is late in the day: Westminster must shake off its complacency, urges Paul Goodman in the Telegraph.
• “The real reason Birmingham isn’t safe for Jews” – Birmingham’s Maccabi fan ban exposes “two-tier” policing and decades of multicultural tension, writes our own Laurie Wastell in the Spectator.
• “How did Birmingham succumb to ethnic strife?” – I grew up in a mostly mixed, tolerant Birmingham, but what I once saw as minor cracks in our community turned out to run far deeper than I realised, says Druin Burch in the Spectator.
• “Killer who strangled girlfriend to receive thousands in benefits from behind bars” – Gogoa Lois Tape, a convicted killer who strangled his girlfriend and then drove her body around in her car, stands to receive thousands of pounds in state benefits from behind bars, reveals the Mail.
• “Asylum seekers baptised in migrant hotel bathtubs” – Migrants are being baptised in British taxpayer-funded asylum hotels by a Christian charity to “boost chances of staying in the UK”, according to the Express.
• “The legal problems with remaining in the ECHR” – In order to secure our borders and implement justice at home, we must leave the ECHR, says David Wolfson in the Telegraph.
• “How the EU halved illegal migration – while Britain got ‘taken for mugs’” – While the EU has slashed illegal migration with tough policies, Britain’s small-boat crossings have hit record highs, writes Iain Hollingshead in the Telegraph.
• “Oxford Union confidence vote halted after intimidation claims” – A vote to decide the future of the Oxford Union President-Elect who celebrated Charlie Kirk’s shooting has been suspended due to “intimidation” of officials by supporters of the President-Elect, says the Mail.
• “Oxford Union prepares to ‘eject aggressive George Abaraonye supporters’ in confidence vote after Charlie Kirk fury” – The Oxford Union is willing to “eject aggressive representatives” supporting George Abaraonye in order to push ahead with a no-confidence vote, reveals GB News.
• “Charlie Kirk allies threaten to boycott Oxford Union unless president quits” – Charlie Kirk’s allies have threatened to lead a boycott of the Oxford Union unless its president-elect resigns, reports the Telegraph. 
• “The Oxford Union has always been full of idiots, but this one might sink it” – In the Telegraph, Rowan Pelling argues George Abaraonye is a disgrace but cancellation isn’t the answer.
• “Cancel culture lives on if ‘problematic’ voices are excluded” – Informal censorship means that voices dissenting from progressive orthodoxies are denied a public airing on political grounds, warns Nigel Biggar in the Times.
• “Ofcom backs down in row over politicians presenting news” – Ofcom has dropped plans to block politicians from acting as news presenters following a backlash from broadcasters, reports Deadline.
• “Pizza Hut set to close 68 restaurants with 1,200 jobs lost” – Pizza Hut has announced it will close 68 eat-in restaurants and 11 delivery sites in the UK after the firm operating them fell into administration, according to the Mail.
• “Britain needs reliable and affordable energy to achieve its growth ambitions” – US firms are ready to invest if the UK unlocks nuclear and North Sea resources, says US Ambassador Warren A. Stephens in the Telegraph.
• “Why a cold snap could spell disaster” – NESO is ignoring low-probability but high-impact events, and that failure could spell disaster, warns Andrew Montford on Net Zero Watch.
• “On being challenged” – Even the Guardian has spotted that Net Zero is making electricity bills unaffordable, says Mark Hodgson in Climate Scepticism.
• “The hurricane season that still isn’t” – The superstorms that weren’t, serve as a stark reminder: the climate agenda thrives on fear, writes Steve Milloy in Daily Caller.
• “More is less with wind and solar” – The more wind and solar are added, the less valuable every additional MW becomes to the grid, explain the Energy Bad Boys on Substack.
• “US energy shift offers economic hope to Global South” – For the first time in years, a major Western power has acknowledged that imposing ‘green’ energy preferences on developing nations is economic sabotage, says Vijay Jayaraj in WUWT?
• “Big fight coming over UN global shipping tax” – The potential for disruption from the ill-conceived UN global shipping tax is enormous, and the fight is just beginning, writes David Wojick on CFACT.
• “How leftists puppet children for climate lawfare schemes” – An enviro group is fighting against fossil fuels using tactics some argue borders on child abuse, reports Daily Caller.
• “Kamala Harris claims Gen Z afraid to have children because of ‘climate anxiety’ her party created” – Failed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris claims young Americans are afraid to have children because of “climate anxiety”, writes Katherine Hamilton in Breitbart.
• “What Trump’s victory taught Democrats about climate change” – After Trump’s win, Democrats are ditching climate slogans and talking about saving money, not the planet, notes Debra Kahn in Politico.
• “Avian mortality: industrial wind in ecological trouble” – Secretary Burgum has ordered action against wind turbines killing Bald and Golden Eagles, reports Sherri Lange on the Master Resource blog.
• “State of the Climate 2024: ‘no runaway warming, no climate crisis’” – Observational data shows global temperatures, sea levels and other climate trends remain within normal ranges, with no sign of an emergency, says the Global Warming Policy Foundation in Climate Change Dispatch.
• “Beyond Meat’s stock collapses after debt deal” – Beyond Meat, the El Segundo pioneer of plant-based hamburger patties, has seen its stock collapse after it finalised a deal to reduce its debt, reports the LA Times.
• “Giant transport airplane to be developed for wind turbine components” – Humans might face future air travel restrictions, but wind turbines could get a free pass if inventor Mark Lundstrom has his way, says Eric Worrall in WUWT?
• “Louvre security chief accused of being ‘diversity hire’” – The Louvre’s head of security has been accused of being a diversity hire who endangered France’s national treasures, reports the Telegraph.
• “Trump denies forcing Zelensky to accept Putin demands” – The Kremlin has rejected Trump’s latest effort to end the war in Ukraine, after he floated the idea of freezing the front lines as the country’s new borders, says the Mail.
• “Trump doesn’t understand what Putin wants” – Land – or “property”, as Trump puts it – is not what Putin really wants, writes Owen Matthews in the Spectator.
• “Poilievre pushes to end government DEI programs” – Pierre Poilievre is going after DEI programs with a petition to “restore merit”, reports the Toronto Star.
• “China faces nationalist backlash as it turns to migration for growth” – China’s bid to lure foreign tech talent with a new ‘K Visa’ has sparked fury among jobless young citizens, who say Beijing is “repeating the West’s mistakes”, writes Hans van Leeuwen in the Telegraph.
• “Mid-air emergency as fire erupts in plane’s overhead cabin” – An overhead luggage compartment caught fire mid-flight on a plane from China to South Korea, reports the Sun.
• “Wedding dress of daughter of Iranian supreme leader’s aide sparks fury” – An advisor to Iran’s Ayatollah who helped organise a crackdown on anti-hijab protestors has sparked outcry in Iran after letting his daughter marry in a ‘revealing’ dress, says the Mail.
• “Covid rules were too strict, Whitty suggests” – Sir Chris Whitty says that people were forced to spend too much time indoors during the pandemic, according to the Mirror.
• “Was SARS2 a planned mistake or an honest academic crime?” – On Substack, Jim Haslam argues SARS2 was a lab-born bat vaccine gone wrong.
• “Brits accuse Pegasos of killing ‘without medical justification’” – British families have accused a Swiss euthanasia clinic of helping their loved ones die without any medical justification, reports the Mail.
• “Blindness cured with ‘revolutionary’ bionic chip” – Blind patients can now read and recognise faces again thanks to a “revolutionary” bionic chip, in what experts are calling a “new era” for artificial vision, says the Coventry Observer.
• “Legalise cocaine, says the Economist” – The Economist says bringing cocaine production and usage above board would be the most effective way of tackling mounting violence and death, according to the Telegraph.
• “What on earth are the ‘Ethnicity Awards’?” – On Substack, Charlotte Gill takes a deep dive into the UK’s ‘Ethnicity Awards’.
• “The police are spending 60,000 hours every year on this nonsense” – On GB News, Toby reacts to the announcement that the police will no longer investigate non-crime hate incidents.

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