News Round-Up

• “The bungled briefings that sowed confusion over Ann Widdecombe’s killing” – Police are facing questions over why they repeatedly talked down the possibility that Ann Widecombe’s death was terror-related, writes Martin Evans in the Telegraph.
• “Bluesky users relishing in Ann Widdecombe’s death have shown their true colours” – The reaction of Bluesky users to Ann Widdecombe’s death has laid bare the nastier side of a platform that prides itself on being a haven from online toxicity, according to Stephen Pollard in the Telegraph.
• “Here’s why the Left revel in the deaths of political opponents in a way Right-wing people never would” – In the Mail, Daniel Hannan says that the gleeful response of some on the Left to Ann Widdecombe’s death reveals a nastiness largely absent from the Right.
• “Ann Widdecombe showed more tolerance than her vilifiers ever did” – On his Substack, Andrew Doyle argues that those celebrating Ann Widdecombe’s death have exposed a vindictiveness she herself never showed towards her opponents.
• “What Ann Widdecombe revealed about post-Christian Britain” – The public reaction to Ann Widdecombe’s death says far less about her devout faith than it does about a Britain increasingly unable to engage with Christianity on its own terms, says C.J. Strachan on his Substack.
• “Labour’s women’s safety minister sorry for Widdecombe attack on Reform” – Natalie Fleet, the Labour minister responsible for reducing violence against women, has apologised to Nigel Farage and Reform after accusing them of “faux outrage” over Ann Widdecombe’s death, reports the Mail.
• “Count Binface: a gimmick so funny it requires a Labour donor” – The revelation that Count Binface’s political antics are being bankrolled by Labour donor Dale Vince raises questions about just how spontaneous the joke really is, says Sean Walsh in Country Squire.
• “Calls grow for Commons to delay summer break so MPs can grill Burnham” – Pressure is mounting for the Commons to sit an extra day on Monday so the new Prime Minister can face questions on his plans before Parliament rises for the summer, according to the Mail.
• “Wealthy planning to emigrate if Miliband becomes chancellor” – Wealthy Britons are preparing to leave the country if Ed Miliband becomes chancellor and launches a new tax raid on the rich, reveals the Telegraph.
• “Why every sensible chancellor has rejected a capital gains tax grab” – The history of capital gains tax is clear: push rates too high and revenues collapse as investors simply stop selling assets, says Jeremy Hunt in the Telegraph.
• “Labour plots monthly tax bills for self-employed workers” – HMRC could force self-employed workers and landlords to pay tax monthly on income they have not yet earned, reports GB News.
• “Mahmood will change law to deport Rochdale rapist” – The Home Secretary plans to close a legal loophole to allow the removal of Commonwealth citizens “in cases of exceptional public interest”, reports ITV News.
• “Afghan migrant admits ‘frenzied’ killing of dog walker” – Prosecutors have accepted an Afghan migrant’s guilty plea to manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility over the fatal stabbing of a dog walker during a knife rampage, says the Mail.
• “Afghan who raped teen freed early from prison and allowed to remain in UK” – An Afghan national who raped a teenager has been released early from prison and permitted to remain in the UK, according to the Sun.
• “Migration Watch, the think tank that has never taken its eye off the ball” – In the Conservative Woman, Kathy Gyngell pays tribute to Migration Watch for maintaining an unflinching focus on immigration long after other voices fell silent.
• “Kemi Badenoch launches ‘purge of the Tory wets’” – Theresa May’s former Chief of Staff Gavin Barwell has been told he will not get the Tory whip back in what looks like the start of a purge of the party’s ‘wets’ under Kemi Badenoch, notes Jason Groves in the Mail.
• “Kemi Badenoch is making Tories conservative again” – Kemi Badenoch’s hardline stance on Net Zero and the ECHR represents an overdue purge of progressive ideology from the Conservative Party, says Melanie Phillips in the Times.
• “Olly Robbins to sue over Mandelson scandal sacking” – Sir Olly Robbins is bringing a judicial review against the Prime Minister over his dismissal for his alleged role in the Lord Mandelson scandal, reports the BBC.
• “Union strike threat over proposed University of Lincoln job cuts” – The University of Lincoln is facing strike action from unions after announcing planned job cuts, with the institution citing a “shift in student demand” as one of the reasons, according to the BBC.
• “Northumbria University staff ‘outraged’ at job cuts after pension row strikes” – After lecturers staged weeks of strike action over a pension dispute earlier this year, a fresh row over job losses at Northumbria University has now broken out, says Chronicle Live.
• “Benefits claimants can ignore hosepipe ban” – Benefit claimants have been given permission to ignore the hosepipe bans, reveals the Telegraph.
• “Harry is using Doreen Lawrence as a human shield in his fit of princely pique” – In the Telegraph, Charles Moore argues that Prince Harry used Doreen Lawrence as a “human shield” after losing his case against the Daily Mail.
• “The Twelfth has never been more relevant to modern UK” – As tens of thousands take to the streets of Northern Ireland for the Twelfth celebrations, Owen Polley argues in the Belfast Newsletter that the tradition has never been more important.
• “Starmer proscribes Iran’s IRGC” – Sir Keir Starmer will ban Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a national security threat under powers fast-tracked through Parliament, according to GB News.
• “New front opens in Iran war as US is dragged into ‘crisis phase’” – Donald Trump has reinstated his naval blockade of Iran, barring ships from entering or leaving their ports, days after Tehran attacked another commercial vessel and declared the Strait of Hormuz closed, reports the Mail.
• “People’s Vaccine Inquiry: Witness Statement 5” – On Substack, HART publishes a fifth witness statement submitted to the People’s Vaccine Inquiry, including testimony gathered from Doctors for Patients UK.
• “10 questions for Linfa Wang” – On his Substack, Jim Haslam argues that the WHO’s new Covid origins panel has a big credibility problem if Linfa Wang is on it.
• “EU buys record amount of Russian gas” – Shipments from a key Siberian plant have surged 16% as Europe scrambles to beat a looming Brussels ban on Russian energy imports, reports the Telegraph.
• “Europe’s hypocrisy over Russian energy is shameful” – Despite EU energy chief Dan Jørgensen declaring that the bloc does not want to re-import Russian energy, record purchases of Russian gas expose a glaring contradiction at the heart of European policy, says Ben Marlow in the Telegraph.
• “Brussels is beating a retreat from Net Zero orthodoxy” – Brussels looks set to exempt an increasing number of industries from Net Zero rules, beginning with defence and extending to green energy and public infrastructure, writes Hans van Leeuwen in the Telegraph.
• “What is the European Climate Foundation?” – On Substack, Charlotte Gill investigates the extraordinarily well-funded European Climate Foundation and its mission to “broaden political and public support for Net Zero”.
• “Net Zero isn’t conservatism. It has more in common with communism” – Net Zero shares far more with collectivist ideology than with genuine conservatism, and Conservative candidates must make their opposition clear, says David Frost in the Telegraph.
• “Grid operator to investigate claims of ‘cover-up’ amid blackout fears” – Britain’s grid operator has launched an independent investigation into claims that staff covered up system failures that could have led to blackouts, reports the Telegraph.
• “EV owners taxed for driving abroad under pay-per-mile plan” – Electric vehicle owners face being charged for miles driven on foreign roads under Labour’s proposed pay-per-mile scheme, according to This is Money.
• “No, USA Today, 4th of July heat was not ‘climate change’” – At ClimateRealism, Linnea Lueken argues that the Washington DC heatwave over the July 4th holiday was just a spell of hot weather, not the sign of runaway climate change that USA Today claimed.
• “Church of England’s £100 million slave reparations fund faces legal challenge” – The Church of England is pressing ahead with its controversial £100 million slavery reparations fund despite a legal challenge seeking to block it, says the Times.
• “Cancel culture nearly ended my legal career, but I fought back” – In the Telegraph, lawyer Jon Holbrook describes how refusing to allow his workplace to police his private views made him a target for cancellation – and how he survived it.
• “This ban is going to be selective” – On the Free Speech Union Podcast, Toby calls out the UK Government’s under-16s social media ban as suspiciously selective.

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