News Round-Up

• “Coronation looms for Burnham as Streeting drops out of leadership race” – A glum-looking Rachel Reeves struggled to hide her dismay as Andy Burnham appears to be heading for a ‘coronation’ as Prime Minister, reports James Tapsfield in the Mail.
• “Why are we having to wait so long for Andy Burnham to replace Starmer as PM?” – With the Makerfield MP said to want time to prepare before entering Downing Street, questions are mounting over why the country must wait for its next Prime Minister, says the Telegraph in a leading article.
• “89% of Mail readers polled say Burnham should call election” – With the self-styled ‘King of the North’ heading for a ‘coronation’ next month after Sir Keir Starmer’s dramatic resignation, an overwhelming majority of Mail readers say the public should have its say at the ballot box.
• “An effective PM needs three qualities, and I’m not sure Andy Burnham has them” – As Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership demonstrated, the biggest cause of voter dissatisfaction is a mismatch between reality and expectations – and Andy Burnham may be about to repeat the same mistake, writes Jeremy Hunt in the Telegraph.
• “We will miss Keir Starmer” – In CapX, Maxwell Marlow warns that with Sir Keir Starmer gone and the bond vigilantes circling, the chaos ahead should give us all pause for thought.
• “Delusional to the end: Starmer’s resignation speech proved why he had to go” – In the Conservative Woman, Danny Lockwood argues that Sir Keir Starmer’s resignation speech laid bare the self-delusion that defined his tenure as Prime Minister.
• “The tears of Keir’s” – Sir Keir Starmer’s departure as Prime Minister was, characteristically, anticlimactic, says Robert Hutton in the Critic.
• “Labour is dangerously deluded if it thinks Andy Burnham can save Britain” – Until Labour confronts the reality that its core beliefs have failed the country, no change of leader – however popular – will be enough to turn Britain around, writes David Frost in the Telegraph.
• “Labour Left tells Andy Burnham to rip up tax pledges” – Andy Burnham made a series of expensive commitments during his by-election campaign but has yet to explain how he will fund them – and now the Labour Left is demanding he abandon them altogether, says Sam Merriman in the Mail.
• “Starmer won the landslide Labour dreamt of, but had no idea what to do with it” – Writing in the Telegraph, Patrick Kidd suggests that less than two years after Sir Keir Starmer’s “Change” landslide, Labour has squandered a historic majority it never had a clear plan to use.
• “Labour’s botched Brexit reset ‘will add just 0.5% to GDP’” – MPs have warned that Labour’s much-touted EU reset will deliver almost nothing for the British economy, says the Telegraph.
• “I have no Brexit regrets, and nor should you” – Ten years on, the facts suggest voters would not choose to rejoin the EU if confronted with an honest reckoning of the past decade, writes Robert Tombs in the Telegraph.
• “Record number of ex-council workers on £100,000 pensions” – A record 245 former council workers across Britain now receive six-figure retirement payouts – nearly triple the 94 who did so in 2021–22, according to GB News.
• “The Government has grown too comfortable with censorship” – Sir Keir Starmer’s expanding raft of online ‘safety’ policies threatens to make the UK’s internet one of the most heavily restricted in the democratic world, warns Silkie Carlo in the Telegraph.
• “Donaldson’s apology to abuse victims sealed his fate” – A letter of apology Sir Jeffrey Donaldson wrote to a woman he sexually abused as a child unravelled his claims of innocence in court, says the Telegraph.
• “Britain’s ‘first gay dad’ and partner charged with child sex offences” – Barrie Drewitt-Barlow, 57, faces charges including sexual activity with a child and paying for sexual services of a child, while his husband Scott, 32, faces additional charges including rape, according to the Mail.
• “‘Coward’ who fled to Pakistan after raping girls jailed in his absence” – Amar Ilyas, 41, has been convicted of 19 offences including five counts of rape of a child under 13 and jailed in his absence after fleeing to Pakistan, reports the Telegraph.
• “Hard-Right millionaire lawyer wins Colombia’s presidential election” – Trump-backed Abelardo de la Espriella, nicknamed ‘The Tiger’, has won Colombia’s presidential election on a platform of tackling the country’s armed conflict and violence with an iron fist, says the Telegraph.
• “Schools shut as heatwave sends UK into meltdown” – Dozens of schools will shut early this week as Brits brace themselves for 40°C temperatures, reports the Sun.
• “World facing a glut of oil after Iran peace deal” – Donald Trump’s peace deal with Iran could leave the world with more oil than it needs, according to the Telegraph.
• “Climate change charities lobbied the Archers” – Two Left-wing charities pressured the BBC’s long-running radio drama the Archers to feature more climate change storylines, reveals the Telegraph.
• “Turning a deaf ear” – At Climate Scepticism, Mark Hodgson argues the Government has quietly watered down noise protections for people living near wind farms to avoid putting the brakes on Net Zero.
• “Three new studies find increasing trends in solar radiation since the 1980s” – Three new studies identifying rising solar radiation trends since the 1980s could account for global warming, says Kenneth Richard at NoTricksZone.
• “Yahoo Sports claims climate change is the ‘silent referee’ of the World Cup” – In ClimateRealism, Anthony Watts argues that Yahoo Sports’ claim that the 2026 World Cup could be the “most polluting in history” is a misleading attempt to transform one of the world’s greatest sporting celebrations into a climate morality tale.
• “Solar doesn’t use much farmland – until you define what ‘much’ really means” – The true scale of farmland consumed by solar development may surprise the Solar Energy Industries Association, says David Blackmon in the Daily Caller.
• “What climate crisis? Indonesia taps fossil fuels” – Indonesia is pressing ahead with fossil fuel development despite global Net Zero pressure, reports Vijay Jayaraj in the California Globe.
• “Energy realism: the foundation and future of human progress” – Choosing facts over slogans and practical solutions over wishful thinking is the only path to genuine human progress, says Scott W. Tinker in Watts Up With That?.
• “Why does the Left think it owns gay people?” – There is a vital distinction between the LGBTQ+ political complex and homosexual men as individuals – and the Left’s assumption that it speaks for all gay people deserves serious challenge, argues Gareth Roberts in the Telegraph.
• “Should public institutions display the LGBT+ flag?” – The question of why public institutions fly the LGBT+ flag rather than others is raised by Séamus Clarke in Gript.
• “J.K. Rowling deserves to be given the ultimate British honour” – With a place newly opened in the Order of Merit following the death of David Hockney, the case for J.K. Rowling to receive Britain’s most prestigious honour is made by Lara Brown in the Telegraph.
• “The black World Cup” – Russell David writes in the New Conservative that tuning into the World Cup has become a “confusing experience”, with team identities increasingly hard to distinguish on the pitch.
• “The film that will make you believe in God” – Prime Video’s ambitious documentary the Story of Everything takes on the question of whether science can explain everything – and its conclusions may shake even the most committed sceptic, says Peter Stanford in the Telegraph.
• “Never forget” – On Question Time, Andrew Marr confidently declares that under Labour, Britain will become a “haven of peace and stability” that draws in a massive wave of investment.

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