News Round-Up

• “No, the media isn’t responsible for Jason Arday’s suicide” – Writing in Quillette, Jonathan Kay says Jason Arday was a pathological liar and lifelong con artist protected for years by self-serving academic administrators, and that exposing such rot is precisely the media’s job.
• “The media didn’t kill Jason Arday” – The Arday vigil on Monday felt less like a quiet tribute to a late professor than a mass screech of rage against the “vicious” media, writes Brendan O’Neill in the Spectator.
• “Rowling: Cambridge could have spared Arday public shaming” – J.K. Rowling has compared the furore surrounding Arday to her own experiences and suggested Cambridge could have handled the matter more humanely by refusing to appoint him and gently pointing out his shortcomings, reports the Telegraph.
• “Channel migrant tried to kill asylum hotel’s welfare officer” – A Somali small boat migrant attacked a welfare officer with a large kitchen knife at a hotel housing asylum seekers, a court hears, says the Telegraph.
• “Pakistan threatens to stop taking back migrants over Rochdale rapist row” – Pakistan has warned it could halt the return of illegal migrants if Britain attempts to force it to accept a grooming gang ringleader, notes the Telegraph.
• “Hotel migrants must be taught about British culture, says Afghan refugee” – Dr Feroz Ferozuddin, a former Afghan health official now living in the UK, argues that asylum seekers housed in hotels should receive mandatory cultural integration instruction, reports the Telegraph.
• “Housing asylum seekers at RAF base ‘to cost £500 a night’” – A campaign group claims that housing asylum seekers at a former RAF base in Yorkshire could cost taxpayers more than £500 per migrant per night, according to the Telegraph.
• “Green members propose ‘state regulation of journalists’ consciences’” – Green Party activists have put forward proposals to grant a statutory press regulator sweeping powers to police journalists’ consciences, reports the Times.
• “The Green plot for a free speech crackdown” – In the Spectator, Noa Hoffman says the Green Party is pursuing draconian new restrictions on both the press and social media that amount to a co-ordinated assault on free speech.
• “Andy Burnham received £345,000 of donations ahead of becoming PM” – The Prime Minister has listed his financial interests for the first time since returning to Parliament, revealing he accepted £345,000 in donations just before becoming Prime Minister, reports BBC News.
• “Police Federation chairman arrested on suspicion of fraud” – The Chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales has been arrested on suspicion of bribery, fraud by abuse of position of trust, and fraud by failing to disclose information, says the Telegraph.
• “Revealed: ‘The new Post Office scandal’” – The Child Maintenance Service’s Chief Executive told a Lords committee he was “hugely proud” of his agency’s “modernisation journey”, but fathers accuse it of catastrophic failures that echo the Post Office scandal, writes Tom Kelly in the Mail.
• “Britain must pop the welfare balloon or face ruin” – In the Telegraph, Allison Pearson argues that runaway welfare spending is an economic time bomb that politicians can no longer afford to ignore.
• “Borrowing costs surge in ‘perfect storm’ for bonds: budget headache for Healey as investors fret over UK debt” – Yields on 30-year UK gilts have soared above 5.85% – just short of 28-year highs – as a spike in oil prices compounds pressure on the Chancellor ahead of the Budget, reports the Mail.
• “From this week on, all your earnings will go to the taxman” – Britons are now surrendering a record share of their income to HMRC while receiving ever less in return, says the Telegraph.
• “Reform UK suspends top supporter Tim Montgomerie after Zia Yusuf row” – Reform UK has suspended political commentator Tim Montgomerie ahead of the release of an episode of a Telegraph podcast in which he reportedly criticised party chairman Zia Yusuf, according to the Mail.
• “Penny Mordaunt has no place in the Conservative Party” – In the Telegraph, Daniel Johnson argues that anyone seeking to represent the Conservatives must fully embrace the party’s new policy direction – and Mordaunt falls well short of that test.
• “Our universities cost us more than they’re worth – literally” – Far from driving economic growth, British universities are marginally limiting per-capita output and failing to justify their enormous cost to the taxpayer, reports the Telegraph.
• “A sudden outbreak of free speech in Canada” – In World, Craig A. Carter reports that a Canadian court has fined a former Quebec official personally for cancelling a pro-life event, marking a remarkable blow for free speech.
• “NHS patients die after hospital referrals ‘rationed’” – A safety watchdog is urging a pause to the NHS advice and guidance scheme after uncovering evidence of missed diagnoses and patient deaths linked to rationed hospital referrals, says the Telegraph.
• “Ebola kills 2,300 in three months with no vaccine available” – The outbreak tearing through one of Congo’s most vulnerable regions is the fastest-growing in Ebola’s history, with no vaccine available to stem the devastating toll, notes the Mail.
• “Top GP: ‘I would ban the label ADHD’” – Dr Iona Heath, former President of the Royal College of General Practitioners, argues that ADHD “is certainly not a medical condition” and calls for the label to be scrapped, reports the Telegraph.
• “Wind farm boss caught with child porn after trying to wipe hard drives” – Alexander Hensher, 48, the director of a renewables firm, was exposed after attempting to have his hard drives wiped at a computer shop in Bournemouth while under active police investigation, says the Mail.
• “What hope is there for farming when the man in charge faints?” – Farming Minister Stephen Morgan’s funny turn at a meat-processing plant has done little to convince Britain’s beleaguered farmers that Labour understands them, writes William Sitwell in the Telegraph.
• “Labour plans multi-billion-pound gas subsidies to keep lights on” – Taxpayers face a double burden of funding both renewables and fossil fuel backup as Labour’s plans for multi-billion-pound gas subsidies are exposed, says the Telegraph.
• “Labour’s Net Zero dogma is costing cash-strapped families £540 a year” – A major analysis finds that pursuing Net Zero will cost the country £320 billion by 2050, with families bearing a £540-a-year burden that would vanish if Ed Miliband’s plans were scrapped, reports the Mail.
• “No, Climate Central, warmer summer proves urban heat islands, not climate change” – In ClimateRealism, Anthony Watts argues that Climate Central’s claim that human-caused climate change is driving warmer summer nights in U.S. cities is “highly misleading if not outright false”, pointing instead to urban heat island effects that the analysis ignores.
• “Wind and solar’s dirty secret: mountains of waste with nowhere to go” – Ageing turbine blades and solar panels are piling up in landfills, with costly recycling challenges exposing a growing environmental crisis at the heart of the green energy transition, writes Thomas Richard in Climate Change Dispatch.
• “NY Dem wants to keep energy bills high to push green energy hoax” – Democrat Cait Conley, running to unseat New York Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, has offered no real solutions to soaring energy costs while backing policies that keep bills high, says Thomas Richard in Climate Change Dispatch.
• “Thom Yorke, Romy and Brian Eno among 200 musicians urging PM to reject new North Sea drilling” – Over 200 musicians, including Robert Smith, Olly Alexander and Paris Paloma, have signed a letter insisting that exploitation of the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields defies climate reality, notes the Guardian.
• “First the fires, now prepare for floods as torrential rain forecast” – Forecasters warn that flash flooding is likely as thundery downpours sweep south across a parched Britain, with ground too hard to absorb the water, says the Mail.
• “Bond should always be white, says black British actor” – Nicholas Pinnock, star of Fightland, says James Bond should not be played by a black actor for the sake of diversity, reports the Telegraph.
• “Seven ways Britain chose to become ugly” – From schools to drinking fountains, beauty and civic pride have been sacrificed by those designing the nation, writes Melissa Twigg in the Telegraph.
• “Free speech is universal or it’s worth nothing” – In the Times, Alex Massie argues that those who seek to police the press want freedom of expression for themselves but not for others.
• “Free speech in Britain is under attack” – A new compilation of personal testimonials from people the Free Speech Union has helped brings home the scale of Britain’s free speech problem.

If you have any tips for inclusion in the round-up, email us here.