News Round-Up

• “Labour’s great pretenders: Starmer’s government frozen in the headlights as plots to topple him burst into open” – Keir Starmer’s Government was frozen in the headlights last night as the plots to topple him finally burst into the open, reports the Mail.
• “Wes Streeting quits Starmer’s cabinet but holds off challenging PM” – Wes Streeting has declared he has “lost confidence” in the Prime Minister and resigned from the Cabinet while stopping short of formally launching a leadership challenge, says the Mail.
• “If someone fires the starting gun, he isn’t afraid of gunfire… Labour’s highly decorated vet Al Carns readies himself for tilt at leadership” – A former Special Forces officer who entered Parliament less than two years ago intends to parachute into Downing Street as Britain’s next Prime Minister, according to the Mail.
• “Burnham launches bid for No 10” – Andy Burnham has made his opening move to replace Sir Keir Starmer within weeks by launching a campaign to return to Westminster, writes Tony Diver in the Telegraph.
• “Nigel Farage vows to ‘throw everything’ at Andy Burnham by-election as figures suggest Reform could win the seat and cause a Labour meltdown” – Nigel Farage has vowed to ‘throw absolutely everything’ at the Makerfield by-election, in what will be the most dramatic and consequential race in over half a century, says the Mail.
• “‘Exonerated’ Rayner says Starmer should reflect on stepping down” – Angela Rayner says she has settled £40,000 in unpaid stamp duty, paving the way for a Labour leadership challenge, according to the Telegraph.
• “Angela Rayner’s ‘exoneration’ is a slap in the face of ordinary taxpayers” – HMRC’s conclusion that Angela Rayner did not “deliberately” underpay stamp duty sets a troublingly low bar for politicians and will strike ordinary taxpayers who face full penalties for any mistake as deeply unfair, writes James Baxter-Derrington in the Telegraph.
• “Why Angela Rayner’s tax deal doesn’t stack up” – Angela Rayner may have paid the £40,000 she owed, but its baffling she escaped any penalty at all, says Madeleine Ross the Telegraph.
• “Nicki Minaj backs Kemi Badenoch” – In the Spectator, Steerpike reacts to news that Trinidadian ‘Queen of Rap’ Nicki Minaj is Kemi’s number one fan.
• “Rejoin the EU single market, says Labour’s favourite think tank” – Labour’s favourite think tank has called for Britain to negotiate access to Brussels’ single market, as Sir Keir Starmer fights for political survival by promising closer EU ties, reports the Telegraph.
• “Council jobsworths tyrannise ordinary people – while lawless thugs roam free” – While a mother was fined for trying to give away her child’s toy kitchen, those who pose an actual threat to society get off scot-free, writes Michael Deacon in the Telegraph.
• “Why we should let the police scan your face” – A six-month Met Police facial recognition pilot in Croydon led to 170 arrests and a 10% fall in crime, making the civil liberties case against the tech look increasingly threadbare, says David Shipley in the Spectator.
• “It’s time to uncancel Enoch Powell” – Despite a half-century career in public life, Enoch Powell is now remembered only for a single speech. In the Spectator, Simon Heffer argues that his rehabilitation is long overdue.
• “Zack Polanski admits he did not vote in local elections” – Zack Polanski has admitted he did not vote in last week’s local elections, despite previous claims he had voted in Hackney by post, reports the Times.
• “Right-wing One Nation Party ahead of both major parties in new poll” – In Dystopian Down Under, Rebekah Barnett reveals that a new snap poll has placed Pauline Hanson’s One Nation on 32% – ahead of both Labor and the Coalition – in the first time a minor party has topped both majors in an Australian national poll.
• “We have learnt nothing from the economic disaster of lockdown” – Britain is still paying a terrible price for its largesse during Covid, writes Jeremy Warner in the Telegraph.
• “The peoples of the Global South don’t need health security: they need health sovereignty” – Treating public health as a security issue hands more power to the state and unaccountable global bodies at the expense of individual rights and national sovereignty, warn Ramesh Thakur and Reginald M.J. Oduor for ACCORD.
• “Wasted wind threatens to cost Britain £12bn, warns National Grid” – Wasted wind will add up to £12 billion to energy bills unless the National Grid is allowed to build hundreds of miles of new pylon lines, its new chief executive has warned, according to the Telegraph.
• “Germany’s nuclear confession is a crack in Net Zero pretence” – Germany’s public regret over its nuclear phaseout signals a widening crack in the Net Zero consensus, writes Vijay Jayaraj in PJ Media.
• “Microsoft pauses its carbon indulgence spending. The usual suspects are upset” – Microsoft accounted for 78.5% of the entire durable carbon removal market – meaning its “pause” has not disrupted a market so much as switched off a corporate subsidy scheme, says Charles Rotter in Watts Up With That?
• “Study posits how carbon dioxide cools the upper atmosphere and warms earth below” – Researchers claim to have solved a long-standing atmospheric puzzle by explaining how rising carbon dioxide simultaneously cools the stratosphere and warms Earth’s surface – a finding that raises as many questions as it answers, writes Anthony Watts in Watts Up With That?
• “Over $1 billion per year spent on Endangered Species Act” – Federal spending on the Endangered Species Act now tops $1 billion a year, and it’s built an entire industry whose beneficiaries and purpose really ought to be looked at much more closely, says David Wojick on CFACT.
• “The King’s Speech” – The Government’s legislative programme contains commitments so recklessly misaligned with economic and energy reality that they are more alarming than laughable, writes Mark Hodgson in Climate Scepticism.
• “Labour’s recycling zealots impose eight separate bins on households” – Labour councils have imposed “overwhelming” recycling schemes on thousands of households, requiring as many as eight bins, says the Telegraph.
• “First farmer protests against fuel prices break out in France” – French farmers have once again taken to their tractors – this time in Lyon – to protest soaring fuel costs that are devastating rural livelihoods, according to Breitbart.
• “Muslim woman in line for payout over NHS trans toilets policy” – A Muslim NHS worker could receive a £25,000 payout after biologically male trans women were allowed into single-sex toilets at her workplace, reports GB News.
• “The return of gay conversion therapy” – In his Substack, Andrew Doyle says the Government’s draft bill on banning conversion practices will, if it ever becomes law, usher in a new era of transing away the gay.
• “The far-Right has got a new weapon: glamorous young women” – Photogenic influencers with growing online reach are changing the face of a movement once considered the preserve of angry, bald men, writes Leaf Arbuthnot in the Telegraph.
• “Misan Harriman’s crass opinions harm the institution he is meant to lead” – The chair of Southbank Centre’s statements about Reform voters are a clanging reminder that he should not have been appointed in the first place, says Richard Harriman in the Times.
• “It’s not socialism. But it’s not capitalism either” – On X, the IEA’s Chris Snowdon breaks down Britain’s capitalist command economy.

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