News Round-Up

• “Streeting ‘jokes’ at Justice Secretary wanting to ‘let prisoners out’” – The new Prime Minister has slammed Wes Streeting and Shabana Mahmood after they were caught on camera sharing a joke about releasing prisoners, reports the BBC.
• “Streeting says sorry for joking about early prisoner releases” – New Defence Secretary Wes Streeting has apologised for making a joke about the early release of prisoners, says Sky News.
• “Burnham must stop early release of PC Harper’s killers” – The Chief Constable of PC Andrew Harper’s police force has attacked the Labour Party’s early release of prisoners after the Telegraph revealed two of his killers could soon be freed.
• “If Burnham wants justice for PC Harper, he must recall Parliament” – Our new Prime Minister has an opportunity to show he is serious about securing justice for PC Harper, says the Telegraph in a leading article. He must recall the Commons and table emergency legislation to right this imminent wrong.
• “Freeing killers is Labour’s idea of justice” – Ministers promised the most serious offenders would be unaffected by the Sentencing Act, but that pledge has proved to be false, writes Nick Timothy in the Telegraph.
• “How the early release crisis engulfed Labour” – What started as an emergency response to overcrowded prisons has spiralled into a major political crisis for Andy Burnham’s new Government, says Danny Shaw in the Telegraph.
• “Andy Burnham’s spending blitz ‘means taxes must rise’” – John Healey faces the prospect of a significant “revenue-raising Budget” to fund the PM’s spending pledges, according to the Telegraph.
• “Burnham backs down on income tax giveaway” – The Prime Minister has pulled back from raising the personal allowance after previously flagging it as a key economic priority, reports GB News.
• “Minister admits £450 million funding for £2 bus fare cap ‘not worked out yet’” – A Cabinet minister has conceded that the funding behind Andy Burnham’s flagship £2 bus fare cap has yet to be properly costed, says the Mail.
• “Burnham is a financial arsonist who will torch the public purse” – The Prime Minister’s Jekyll-and-Hyde personality masks a ruinous socialism that threatens to bankrupt the country, warns Allister Heath in the Telegraph.
• “Bringing back Angela Rayner is Andy Burnham’s first mistake” – Angela Rayner’s return as Housing Secretary – less than a year after she resigned over an unpaid stamp duty bill – signals a troubling early misstep for the new PM, warns Matt Coulson in the Telegraph.
• “Spelling tests are ‘draconian’, new Education Secretary said” – The new Education Secretary previously opposed “draconian” spelling tests for primary school pupils, arguing teachers should focus on “creativity” instead, says the Express.
• “Reform has just called Andy Burnham’s bluff on our immigration crisis” – With Burnham pledging to return power to local communities, Reform is now demanding that those communities be allowed to decide whether to house asylum seekers – putting his rhetoric to the test, writes Michael Deacon in the Telegraph.
• “Al Carns refuses to join Burnham’s Government over defence spending” – Ex-Armed Forces minister Al Carns has refused a job in Burnham’s new Government over an ongoing row about defence spending, reports the Express.
• “‘Neoliberalism’ was good enough for Tony Blair” – Before Andy Burnham dismisses the neoliberal economic model he seems to despise, he would do well to examine why the Left was once so eager to embrace it, says Daniel Finkelstein in the Times.
• “Kemi Badenoch blasts Andy Burnham over his unravelling policies” – In her first intervention since Burnham moved into Downing Street, Kemi Badenoch has accused him of “still thinking like the Mayor of Manchester”, reports the Mail.
• “Labour should reveal how many serious crimes are committed by migrants” – Immigration is one of the issues voters care about most. So why won’t the Government release data on serious crimes committed by migrants? asks Robert Bates in the Mail.
• “Beardy McBeardface” – On his Substack, Dr David McGrogan examines how beards, bullshit and bias play out in immigration and asylum cases.
• “Islamist thugs are firebombing politicians into compliance in the US and UK” – With Mike Freer’s firebombed office standing less than 200 yards from a mosque, Danny Cohen in the Telegraph reports on how Islamist thugs are coercing politicians through violence on both sides of the Atlantic.
• “They’re not rape gangs…” – On X, Jordan B. Peterson takes aim at Britain’s rape gang scandal, arguing authorities ignored uncomfortable questions for too long – and warning that trust in society is at risk.
• “UK-Israel relations ‘likely to worsen’ under Burnham” – Diplomatic relations between Britain and Israel are “frozen” after two years of Labour government, officials have told the Telegraph.
• “This failed civil service chief does not deserve a peerage” – Former Cabinet Secretary Chris Wormald’s record of failure makes him wholly unworthy of a peerage, argues Arthur Reynolds in the Telegraph.
• “Grant Shapps misses out on Tory selection” – Grant Shapps has reportedly failed the Tories’ new candidate test, leaving the former minister out in the cold, according to James Heale in the Spectator.
• “Has London fallen? Hollywood, investors and professionals say no” – Top talent, investors and film industry figures are continuing to choose London over rival global cities, pushing back against reports of the capital’s decline, says Andrew Ellson in the Times.
• “For every ship attacked by Iran, we will blow up a bridge or power plant” – Donald Trump has warned Iran that for every ship attacked in the Strait of Hormuz, US forces will destroy a bridge or power plant in retaliation, according to Forbes.
• “Trump ‘backing Gianni Infantino for UN boss’” – President Trump is said to be considering throwing his weight behind FIFA President Gianni Infantino to lead the UN on the grounds that he is “respected by everyone”, says the NY Post.
• “NHS trust to be investigated for corporate manslaughter” – The Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which discharged Nottingham killer Valdo Calocane despite his history of violence, faces a corporate manslaughter investigation, according to GB News.
• “Letby baby died from birth trauma, medical expert claims” – A medical expert claims that Baby O’s fatal injury may have resulted from an emergency caesarean section rather than any act by Lucy Letby, says the Telegraph.
• “The way we run vaccine clinical trials is bizarre, unethical and must change” – On his Substack, Alex Berenson argues that vaccine clinical trials rely on active comparators rather than true placebos – a standard applied to no other drugs – and that despite an FDA promise of new rules, nothing has changed.
• “Folic acid and cancer: the safety studies do not show what is claimed” – On Substack, HART challenges the claimed safety evidence for folic acid, arguing that analysis based on dosage and long follow-up all points in one direction.
• “Petition: end the mandatory fortification of white flour with folic acid immediately” – A parliamentary petition calls on the Government to halt the fortification of flour with synthetic folic acid, arguing it is unethical to mass-medicate the entire population without their knowledge or consent.
• “ChatGPT maker OpenAI says AI model went rogue during testing” – OpenAI has revealed that one of its advanced AI models went rogue during a security test and hacked into a start-up company, says the Mail.
• “Bloomsbury gets payout in $1.5 billion Anthropic copyright case” – Publisher Bloomsbury has secured a payout after Anthropic was accused in a US class-action lawsuit of using books to train its AI models without purchasing the content, reports ITV News.
• “New Energy Secretary opposed Rosebank oil field in previous job” – Miatta Fahnbulleh, who previously led the New Economics Foundation, attacked new fossil fuel projects as “irresponsible and shortsighted” before taking charge of the nation’s energy policy, says GB News.
• “Heatwaves caused by fall in pollution” – Met Office and Spanish researchers have concluded that Britain’s scorching heatwaves are being driven by cleaner skies after pollution was stripped from the atmosphere, according to the Telegraph.
• “The European Climate Foundation: the dark green lobby shaping EU climate policy” – In Clintel, Marcel Crok examines how the European Climate Foundation has become one of Europe’s most powerful climate lobbying organisations.
• “Soros-funded group E3G crows over dystopian ‘climate security’ subterfuge it helped build” – The Soros-funded eco-extremist group E3G is boasting about its role in reshaping the global regulatory framework around so-called climate security, writes Joseph Vazquez at Newsbusters.
• “Want a free $20,000 luxury holiday in Fiji or Turkey? You also have to show your face at a climate conference” – Australian taxpayers are funding luxury $20,000 trips to Fiji and Turkey for representatives of “underrepresented groups” – provided they agree to attend a climate conference while there, writes Eric Worrall in Watts Up With That?
• “Energy security and climate realism usher in coal’s rise” – Global energy realism is driving a resurgence in coal demand as the limitations of solar and wind power continue to undermine claims that fossil fuels are on their way out, writes Vijay Jayaraj for CO2 Coalition.
• “Blue states join lawsuit against Trump’s wind energy freeze” – Oregon and Washington have joined a legal challenge to the Trump administration’s freeze on wind energy development, reports the Daily Caller.
• “Civil servants face sanctions if they misgender trans colleagues” – Leaked Whitehall guidance reveals that staff could be disciplined for calling colleagues by incorrect pronouns, according to GB News.
• “Amnesty questioned after it blacklisted JK Rowling’s women’s charity” – Amnesty trustees are being questioned by the charity regulator after it blacklisted J.K. Rowling’s women-only charity in a row over trans rights, says the Mail.
• “The Sarah Morse dismissal: another case of employers apparently breaking the law” – On his Substack, C.J. Strachan examines the dismissal of Sarah Morse as yet another case in which a British employer appears to have broken equality law.
• “I watched in disbelief as universities turned on black academics in the name of diversity” – I’ve made films about Ebola and human trafficking, but nothing prepared me for what I found on campuses, says Ric Bienstock in the Telegraph.
• “Slay it loud: checking in on the sex and gender deviants” – On Substack, Eugyppius heads to a German Pride march and finds a tired, awkward spectacle rather than a radical uprising.
• “Did girls win the gender reveal wars?” – In the Spectator, Kristina Murkett writes that across the developed world, more and more parents are coming to see girls as a boon and boys as a burden.
• “Jameela Jamil says ‘British people are most evil people in history’” – Actress Jameela Jamil has sparked outrage after branding Britons “the most evil people in history” in an anti-colonial podcast rant, reports the Mail.
• “Labour MP Stella Creasy mocked for mistaking a parakeet for a lost pet” – Labour MP Stella Creasy has been ridiculed after mistaking one of London’s famous parakeets for a lost pet parrot, says the Mail.
• “Matt Damon reveals why he had a female stunt double in the Odyssey” – Matt Damon reveals his epic Odysseus transformation for Christopher Nolan’s the Odyssey involved a surprising assist from a female stunt double with “the greatest arms” he’s ever seen, according to the Mail.
• “Bridget Phillipson’s hubris has cost taxpayers over £500,000” – On X, Toby explains how former Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson tried to block key parts of the 2023 Higher Education Freedom of Speech Act by using her ministerial powers instead of going through Parliament.

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