News Round-Up

• “A tragedy that should force everyone to pause for reflection” – In the Mail, Sarah Vine writes that the death of Professor Jason Arday is an absolute tragedy regardless of his CV embellishments, but insists his case should prompt wider reflection on the culture that enabled him.
• “Investigate media onslaught against Jason Arday” – Lord Woolley, who signed Jolyon Maughan’s open letter accusing anyone questioning Jason Arday’s credentials of ‘racism’, is now calling for an investigation into the media coverage surrounding the academic’s death, reports the Telegraph.
• “Jason Arday’s death is dreadful – and enraging” – In the Spectator, Brendan O’Neill argues that it was the academy and Arday’s own colleagues – not the journalists who reported the story – who truly failed him.
• “The most unfortunate thing” – On her Substack, Sarah Ditum argues that exploiting Jason Arday’s tragic death to attack journalism is a cynical response to events.
• “Paedophiles avoid jail under Labour’s sentencing law change” – Child abusers are among criminals walking free with 12-month suspended sentences as Labour attempts to ease prison overcrowding, reports the Telegraph.
• “Louise Haigh signed off on ‘needless’ emergency wildfire alert” – The Cabinet Office minister is understood to have approved the nationwide alert that led to panicked Britons jamming 999 lines and startled drivers swerving across motorways, according to the Mail.
• “UK wildfires: Labour ‘must publish emergency alert criteria’” – Pressure is mounting on the Government to publish the criteria used to trigger the widely criticised nationwide wildfire alert approved by Louise Haigh, says the Telegraph.
• “Even Labour admits that they’re the welfare party now” – With Labour MPs blocking both Starmer and Burnham from cutting welfare spending, the party has surrendered any pretence of fiscal discipline on benefits, writes Kemi Badenoch in the Telegraph.
• “Taliban brandish spoils of war as Afghanistan celebrates ‘Freedom Day’” – Five years on from the fall of Kabul, the Taliban parade billions of dollars’ worth of Western military hardware as a monument to the ignominious collapse of a twenty-year mission, notes the Mail.
• “UK urged to fight back over Taliban’s purge on women’s rights” – As the Taliban marks its fifth year in power, pressure is mounting on the UK Government to take a stronger stand against the regime’s systematic erasure of women from public life, writes Nick Constable in the Mail.
• “Close associate of Farage hired investigators to spy on Tory chair” – Arron Banks is understood to have instructed a private investigations firm he once owned to probe Conservative Party Chairman Kevin Hollinrake, reveals Glen Owen in the Mail.
• “David Lammy keeps grace-and-favour home over summer despite sacking” – The former Foreign Secretary has been permitted to continue occupying One Carlton Gardens – a prestigious grace and favour residence – after his dismissal from Government, reports the Times.
• “Hundreds of cells empty in Britain’s newest ‘super-prison’” – HMP Millsike, built at a cost of £400 million, is sitting largely vacant because the Government has been unable to recruit sufficient staff to operate it, says the Telegraph.
• “Rich America mocks Britain for becoming a ‘Europoor’ country” – Wealthy Americans are increasingly deriding Britain as a “Europoor” nation as the gap between US and British living standards continues to widen, notes the Telegraph.
• “This notorious London council is blatantly taking on the middle class” – A London council is openly targeting middle-class residents with discriminatory council tax policies that go far beyond standard means-tested reductions, writes Michael Mosbacher in the Telegraph.
• “Moroccan police block second Ceuta migrant rush” – Moroccan police have blocked a second attempt by migrants to cross the border into Ceuta en masse, reports the Telegraph.
• “Iran tells Trump to ‘accept the reality of defeat’” – Iran’s judiciary chief brands Trump a “fully fledged loser” as Tehran insists the Strait of Hormuz will remain under Iranian control, says the Telegraph.
• “Iran ridicules Trump’s claim on Strait of Hormuz” – In the Mail, Caroline Graham reports on Tehran’s mockery of Trump’s assertion – made during a speech at a Long Island police academy – that the US controls the Strait of Hormuz.
• “Mass shootings erupt in US as victims in three states run for cover” – Three separate mass shootings struck Virginia, Kentucky and Chicago simultaneously on Saturday, leaving dozens in danger, according to the Mail.
• “Apocalyptic fire engulfs ‘Russian Amazon’ hub after Ukrainian attack” – A massive inferno has destroyed the Wildberries online marketplace complex at Koledino, just 25 miles south of the Kremlin, following a Ukrainian strike in the early hours, says the Mail.
• “California is an American nightmare – and the future of the US Left” – In the Telegraph, Joel Kotkin argues that under Governor Newsom the Californian state budget has ballooned by 40% and faces large multibillion-dollar deficits, making California a dire warning about the trajectory of the American Left.
• “Mathematicians despair as AI achieves jaw-dropping breakthroughs” – An AI system was directed to “take a real stab” at solving the Riemann hypothesis – a 167-year-old puzzle that has eluded the greatest mathematical minds – and produced results that are leaving mathameticians fearing they will soon be redundant, reports the Telegraph.
• “‘Appalling’ wildfire rages near people’s homes in Wales” – South Wales Fire and Rescue has declared a major incident after receiving 736 calls – more than double its average – as 200 soldiers are deployed to assist firefighters battling the blaze, says Robert Folker in the Mail.
• “Former Tory MPs left waiting for approval after Net Zero and ECHR quiz” – Dame Penny Mordaunt is among a cohort of former Conservative MPs facing weeks-long delays to learn whether they’ve been added to the candidates’ list after being quizzed on Net Zero and the ECHR, notes the Times.
• “How UK’s searing summers will change the way we farm (and eat)” – Prolonged heatwaves are causing crops to ripen too quickly and stunt growth, while parched soils struggle to absorb water, raising serious questions about the future of British food production, reports the Times.
• “Rural Green councillors debate pigeon contraception and arm rests” – Newly elected Green councillors are spending their time on pigeon contraception and river rights while ignoring the issues that actually matter to residents, says the Times.
• “Sixth heatwave set to grip Britain next month” – Britain faces a sixth heatwave as autumn approaches, with the Met Office warning of a “late-season hot spell” that could extend the record-breaking summer still further, reports the Telegraph.
• “Co-op scraps policy allowing transwomen to use female toilets” – The Co-op has quietly reversed its policy of permitting transwomen staff to use female toilets, according to the Telegraph.
• “Opinion: I teach calculus at Berkeley. Some of my students can’t do middle school maths” – Since the University of California abandoned standardised testing, thousands of faculty say it is admitting students wholly unprepared for university-level coursework, writes Zvezdelina Stankova in the SF Standard.
• “Influencers attacked by sharks while trying to take selfies” – At least three influencers have been bitten in less than a year after trying to take selfies with sharks, reports the Telegraph.
• “Row over plan to turn listed pub into a mosque” – A Muslim association in Norwich hopes to convert a Grade II-listed 1930s pub into a mosque, sparking a heated local dispute, says the Telegraph.
• “It was one joke, not targeted at anybody, pointing out certain parts of Islam” – On Free Speech Nation, former police officer Stephen Gray recounts his experience of being convicted for sending a “grossly offensive” message after he shared a joke about Islam on Facebook. To contribute to the crowdfunder the FSU has set up to pay for his appeal, click here.

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