News Round-Up

• “Starmer forced to drop Chagos bill after Trump opposition” – Sir Keir Starmer has been compelled to withdraw his Chagos Island bill amid fierce American opposition, reports GB News.
• “Britain condemns Israeli strikes on Lebanon in split from Trump” – Sir Keir Starmer has denied Iranian claims that attacks on its civilians are being launched from RAF bases, says the Mail.
• “Trump to ‘audit’ Britain and other NATO allies over their ‘failure’ to support his Iran war” – Sir Keir Starmer is warning Trump not to lash out at Britain and other NATO allies for staying out of the Iran war, stressing the alliance still matters to the US, according to the Mail. 
• “Starmer has just showed the world what a truly pathetic leader he is” – Sir Keir Starmer is a feeble, reactive leader, says Jake Wallis Simons in the Telegraph. At least Neville Chamberlain possessed eloquence. 
• “Trump’s calamities are no excuse for Britain’s refusal to stand up for itself” – This American administration is an impossible ally but it would be wrong to give up on the world’s top nation, argues Charles Moore in the Telegraph.
• “The ONS should not work from home” – Our invertebrate government has struck again, sighs Ross Clark in the Spectator. This time backing down in the face of union demands allowing Office for National Statistics staff to work from home indefinitely.
• “Leon boss opens books to show pain of taxes under Labour” – The boss of Leon has opened the company’s books to the Times to reveal the impact of higher taxes under Labour.
• “Starmer is crushing the most resilient people in Britain” – If the PM claims he wants Britain to stand on its own two feet, says Camilla Tominey in the Telegraph, then he needs to prioritise people who work, not freeloaders.
• “Ex-Tory MPs line up for Reform” – A number of former Tory MPs have lined up to join Reform ahead of the local elections, according to the Spectator’s Steerpike.
• “Students who support Reform UK ‘neglected by universities’” – Students who support Reform UK have often been neglected or censored by universities, reveals the Times.
• “Zack Polanski’s Green Party bubble won’t last forever” – The Greens are built on an unlikely coalition of nature lovers, Islamists and unreformed trots, notes Ross Clark in the Spectator. It won’t last long.
• “How the Greens split into warring factions” – Disenfranchised Left-wing voters are fuelling the Green Party’s growth, but it’s an increasingly fragile coalition, writs Genevieve Holl-Allen in the Telegraph.
• “Polanski’s barmy army are marching at full speed towards migration lunacy” – Zack Polanski’s Greens are pushing forward with migration policies that would effectively open Britain’s borders to all, warns Brendan O’Neill in the Telegraph.
• “Kanye is awful but so is meddling in private enterprise” – Kanye West’s actions are deplorable, but if Wireless wanted to platform him that’s their business risk to take, says Joseph Dinnage in City AM.
• “No 10 prepares for mass protests over Iran war cost of living crisis” – No 10 has begun preparing for potential mass protests over the cost of living crisis they blame on the Iran war, reports the Sun.
• “Labour’s deputy leader warns against ‘messy, bloody’ ousting of Starmer” – Manchester Central MP Lucy Powell has warned that any attempt to oust Starmer would prove messy, even after expected heavy losses in the local elections, according to GB News.
• “Victims pay the price for our toxic obsession with rehabilitation” – Victims continue to pay the price for Britain’s strong emphasis on criminal rehabilitation over punishment, laments Ian Acheson in the Telegraph.
• “Hold migrant drivers to same standard as Britons, coroner urges after pensioner killed” – A loophole that allows foreign nationals to drive on British roads for up to a year without having to pass a driving test is costing lives, warns a coroner in the Telegraph.
• “‘My terror tormentor is running for office in Britain, he is unfit’” – A victim says her former terror tormentor Shahid Butt is unfit to run for office in Britain after serving jail time for conspiring to bomb a British consulate, reports the Telegraph.
• “I’m very worried about my children growing up in England” – BBC broadcaster Amol Rajan has expressed concern about his children growing up in England and is encouraging them to consider opportunities in India, says the Mail.
• “France’s migration hypocrisy” – Four more migrants have drowned in the Channel after their overloaded boat foundered off the coast of Boulogne, writes Gavin Mortimer in the Spectator.
• “EU holds Starmer hostage over gene-edited crops” – The European Union has warned Sir Keir Starmer that he risks derailing the Brexit reset deal unless he drops demands for exemptions on gene-edited crops, according to the Telegraph.
• “Putin’s sailors can claim asylum, ministers fear” – Ministers have expressed concern that crews from Putin’s shadow fleet could claim asylum if Britain seizes their ships, says the Telegraph.
• “Jordan Bardella’s relationship with Italian princess revealed” – France’s Right-wing presidential hopeful Jordan Bardella is in a relationship with Italian socialite Princess Maria Carolina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, according to the BBC.
• “Trump issues chilling new ultimatum for Iran to make a peace deal as talks on brink of collapse” – Donald Trump has issued a strong new ultimatum to Iran to reach a peace deal within 24 hours or face further military action, says the Mail.
• “War shattered Dubai’s safe-haven image. Yet Britons are flocking back” – Britons have continued returning to Dubai in significant numbers despite the recent war damaging its image as a safe haven, writes Samer Al-Atrush in the Times.
• “The US and Israel have beaten Iran” – The US and Israel have beaten Iran, despite what the media is saying, according to Jeff Blacket in the Spectator.
• “Trump faces criticism from both sides of divided MAGA” – The US President’s latest attack on Right-wing figures such as Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly flag fractures in his core support, says Katy Balls in the Times.
• “Understanding MAGA” – On the Comment is Freed Substack, Sam Freedman takes a look at three new books on the new Right in the US, teasing out the roots of MAGA thinking and the contradictions along the way.
• “Radicals are plotting an ignorant and dangerous takeover of the LAPD” – The Defund the Police movement lives on in the LA City Council, only now it flies under the banner of democratic control, says Heather Mac Donald in the New York Post.
• “Why the ‘Tehran tollbooth’ will never work” – Experts say Teyran’s tollbooth plan risks a boycott from ship owners that could effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Telegraph.
• “The shameful lies about Israel’s attack on Hezbollah” – In the Spectator, Brendan O’Neil takes aim at the French President for spreading “shameful lies about Israel’s attack on Iran”.
• “Lebanon should be excluded from the Iran peace deal” – In the Spectator, Jonathan Brown makes the case for sidelining Lebanon from any broader Iran peace deal.
• “Fact or fiction? The CIA ‘Ghost Murmur’ tool that found US airman” – The CIA has used its advanced ‘Ghost Murmur’ technology to locate a US airman by detecting his heartbeat, reports Michael Evans in the Times.
• “Ten things we’ve learnt from Artemis II’s moon mission” – In the Times, Kaya Burgess lists the key takeaways from the recent Artemis II moon mission.
• “Continued increase in cardiac medication use also in 2025 among young people after the COVID-19 vaccine rollout” – Cardiac medication use among young people in Norway has continued to rise in 2025 following the jab, observes Jarle Aarstad on his Substack.
• “Blair urges Miliband to open North Sea to combat rising energy costs” – Tony Blair has urged Ed Miliband to open up the North Sea for drilling in order to tackle rising energy costs, says GB News.
• “Army called in as fuel protests cripple Ireland” – Ireland has called in the army to deal with farmers and truckers who have blocked major roads in protest at sky-high fuel prices, reports Sky News.
• “No, BBC, disaster losses can’t be tied to climate change” – Presenting trillion-dollar model outputs as settled economic fact is bad journalism, says Anthony Watts on ClimateRealism. The BBC is the true disaster for presenting such easily falsified rubbish.
• “I quit as a pilot because climate change gave me sleepless nights” – In the Times, Will Humphries profiles pilot Joel Walker, who spent years trying to square a cockpit career with environmental concerns, but in the end had no choice but to abandon the skies for good.
• “The climate change scientists racing to dim the sun” – In the Telegraph, Richard Godwin updates on scientists racing to develop geoengineering schemes to dim the sun in an effort to reverse global warming.
• “King Charles praises Territorians, warns of climate change dangers in open letter on ‘devastating’ NT wet season” – King Charles has told Australian flood victims they should have done more about climate change, according to ABC News.
• “Maasai worriers” – The Maasai’s drought worries are real, but historical records show equally severe or worse droughts in 19th-century East Africa, according to Mark Hodgson in Cliscep.
• “Don’t be ideological on Net Zero – drill” – Tony Blair has urged Ed Miliband not to be ideological on Net Zero and to accelerate domestic oil and gas production, reports the Express.
• “Volkswagen ends US production of its EV, citing market’s ‘unpredictability’” – Volkswagen is doubling down on gas-powered SUVs for the US and has pulled the plug on its EV production there, citing the market’s unpredictability, according to Business Insider.
• “Truth, history, the Church commissioners and reparative justice” – In Psephizo, Prof Richard Dale reveals how the Church commissioners relied on bogus history to denounce their predecessors and vilify their own Church.
• “High Court dismisses challenge to single-sex toilet guidance” – A High Court judge has dismissed the Good Law Project’s legal challenge to the equality watchdog’s guidance on which public or workplace toilets and changing rooms trans people should use.
• “This study shatters the trans myth about mental health” – In the Spectator, Joanna Williams welcomes a new study challenging the long-held claim that affirming trans identity improves mental health outcomes for young people.
• “Transgender neo-Nazi arrested” – A trans neo-Nazi has been arrested after eight months on the run, having switched genders to avoid serving a sentence for hate speech in an all-male prison, according to the Sun.
• “The alphabet soup gets thicker” – On his Substack, Andrew Doyle reacts to “MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+” – a new super-inclusive term coined by a Canadian politician.
• “Trainspotting The Musical slapped with ‘woke nonsense’ trigger warning” – The musical adaption of iconic movie Trainspotting, about Edinburgh heroin addicts, has reportedly been slapped with a trigger warning telling audiences the show features drug use, according to the Mail.
• “Prince Harry sued by charity he co-founded” – Prince Harry is being sued for libel by the charity he co-founded in honour of his late mother, says the Times.
• “Lord Mandelson to be fined for urinating against a wall” – Lord Mandelson is to receive a fine of up to £300 for marking his territory against a public wall, reports the Telegraph.
• “This is scary” – An alarming video on X shows Hamas supporters chasing senior British military personnel through the streets of London, screeching “Baby butchers” at them.

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