News Round-Up

• “Andy Burnham is warned ‘the honeymoon’s over’ ahead of huge week” – Kemi Badenoch has warned Andy Burnham that “the honeymoon is over” as the Prime Minister braces for his toughest week yet, reports the Mail.
• “Burnham to free criminals deemed danger to society” – MPs and former justice secretaries warn that Andy Burnham’s early release plans will put dangerous offenders back on the streets, says the Telegraph.
• “Andy Burnham agrees pay deal for train drivers on No 10 North line” – Andy Burnham has handed train drivers a lucrative pay rise to head off strikes on the flagship London-Manchester line, reports the Sunday Times.
• “My top 10 tips to avoid paying Burnham’s spiteful mansion tax” – From filling your front garden with used mattresses to more creative legal stratagems, Allison Pearson in the Telegraph offers homeowners a tongue-in-cheek guide to sidestepping Burnham’s controversial new property levy.
• “Ex-defence ministers savage John Healey over his military funds U-turn” – Chancellor John Healey has been accused of endangering the country’s security after he shelved plans to raise defence spending, reports the Mail.
• “British Army is rejecting 200 would-be applicants every single day” – Almost 74,000 applicants were rejected by the British Army in 2024–25, up 20,000 on the previous year, according to the Mail.
• “A Reform-Conservative coalition? No. Just no” – Suella Braverman has flatly ruled out any coalition between Reform UK and the Conservative Party, says the Sunday Times.
• “Reform pledges to prosecute firms that house migrants” – Reform UK has pledged to prosecute chief executives of companies if migrants they house go on to commit violence against women and girls, reports the Telegraph.
• “How chicken shops and nail bars milked Britain’s skilled visa scheme” – Boris Johnson’s immigration rules were designed to create a high-wage economy, but low-skilled businesses have systematically exploited the skilled visa scheme, reveals Eir Nolsøe in the Telegraph.
• “Boy, 13, stabbed at Taco Bell ‘after 25 youths ran in with knives’” – Witnesses have described the terrifying moment a mob of 25 knife-wielding youths broke into a Rochdale Taco Bell, seriously injuring a 13 year-old, reports the Mail.
• “Carnage is a symptom of lawless Britain, warns mayor of Tees Valley” – The burning vehicles that have come to define the streets of Middlesbrough are a shameful picture of lawlessness that demands urgent action, writes Ben Houchen in the Mail.
• “‘Golden goodbyes’ for civil servants double to over £300 million” – An audit of Government accounts found that 6,000 former civil servants received exit packages worth £336 million last year, according to the Mail.
• “Justice Minister spent £34,000 of taxpayer cash on trip to USA during World Cup” – Justice Minister Jake Richards billed taxpayers a whopping £34,230 for a trip to the US between July 12th and July 16th, reveals Guido Fawkes.
• “Iceland votes to stay out of European Union” – Icelandic voters have rejected closer ties with Brussels, with the ‘No’ camp securing 52.5% of the vote, according to the Mail.
• “Ceuta interview: ‘it’s normal that they’re going to rape her’” – Gript’s Niamh Uí Bhriain reports on a deeply disturbing video featuring an interview with migrants in Ceuta, in which rape is described as normal.
• “Russia is poised to attack a British drone factory and missile company” – A senior adviser to Vladimir Putin has warned that the highest levels of the Russian Government are considering a “hybrid attack” – such as sabotage or arson – on a British drone factory and missile company, says the Mail.
• “Private jets, Putin and the Pope: Infantino’s incredible largesse laid bare” – FIFA President Gianni Infantino accepted seats on private jets from Putin and the Emir of Qatar, with the Telegraph laying bare the extraordinary extent of the largesse lavished on him.
• “The prince and the villagers battling over relic of British empire” – A mountain prince and lowland villagers in Pakistan are locked in a bitter dispute over a 30ft-tall Victorian monument, reports Craig Simpson in the Telegraph.
• “The American chapter of COVID-19” – America’s role in the Covid origins saga deserves far more scrutiny, argues Jim Haslam, whose Substack details unanswered questions about UNC, Duke and the US research network.
• “Interactive tool reveals just how likely you are to be replaced by AI” – In the Mail, a new interactive tool reveals the growing threat AI poses to jobs across every sector, from document summarising to holiday planning.
• “Drive to turn the UK into an AI superpower could leave us waterless” – In the Mail, Ross Clark shows that AI data centres consume as much water as thousands of homes – and their thirst peaks during the very summer months when supplies are already under the greatest strain.
• “Healey tax grab ‘would inflict lasting damage on North Sea’” – Industry bosses are warning that a fresh Labour tax raid on North Sea oil and gas would cause “lasting damage” to Britain’s energy sector, says the Telegraph.
• “The church with 20 worshippers and an eye-watering bill to go green” – A rural Cambridgeshire church with a congregation of just 20 faces a £400,000 Net Zero bill that threatens its very survival, writes Mary Downer in the Sunday Times.
• “Ed Miliband just slapped us all round the face – he’ll cost us billions” – Ed Miliband made two grandstanding Net Zero pledges during the last election that don’t add up, and British households are set to pay the price, warns Harvey Jones in the Express.
• “We don’t need to be afraid of the Greens any more” – From newly elected local councillors yelling “Allahu Akbar!” to a parade of ideological grotesques, Julie Burchill argues in the Spectator that the Green Party has become too absurd to fear.
• “Wrong, Reuters, an early Champagne harvest isn’t proof of climate change” – Reuters’ claim that this year’s record-early Champagne grape harvest proves the impact of climate change on French vineyards mistakes one season’s unusual weather for a long-term trend, says Anthony Watts in Climate Realism.
• “Nemo Nemo Nemo” – Cliscep’s Jit looks back at how claims that acidification sent fish haywire unravelled after dodgy data led to a string of retractions.
• “‘King of Cap Ferret’: how I beat the bureaucrats and saved my estate from fire” – In the Telegraph, Henry Samuel tells the story of how one man took matters into his own hands, defied the bureaucrats and built a firebreak that saved his £21 million estate from devastating wildfires.
• “In defence of small freedoms” – As governments intrude ever further into private life and laws grow ever more preposterous, the public’s curious failure to revolt is examined by Christopher Snowdon in the Critic.
• “Socialists deserve to be laughed at” – Underground humour from the Soviet era offers a potent reminder of collectivism’s true nature – and why the Left should never be allowed to forget it, says David Harris in the Telegraph.
• “Historians should stop to reflect. Why won’t Anthony Seldon?” – Anthony Seldon’s new book Sunak at 10 is an overstuffed, under-digested rush to judgement on events still too raw for serious historical reckoning, writes Simon Heffer in the Telegraph.
• “Sound up” – On X, Dominic Frisby treats us to an AI fever dream of the kids’ TV show Rainbow theme tune, fronted by Andy Burnham on bass and Shabana Mahmood on flute.

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