News Round-Up

• “Burnham preparing for May election, claims Badenoch” – Kemi Badenoch is convinced that Prime Minister Andy Burnham is plotting to call an early election next May, reports the Telegraph.
• “Prisoners thank Andy Burnham for early release, but many wonder what now?” – Hundreds of offenders freed under the Government’s early release scheme to ease prison overcrowding have been spotted drinking beer and eating Greggs, raising urgent questions about what comes next, says the Times.
• “Thugs in every postcode! Labour frees first of 10 waves of convicts” – Up to 50,000 offenders a year are set to be freed early under Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s soft-justice programme, with the first of ten waves of releases now under way, according to the Mail.
• “Andy Burnham is criticised for another error in new Man City statement” – Burnham’s claim that he would be “really concerned” if Manchester City’s Abu Dhabi owners sold the club following a guilty verdict on financial charges has drawn widespread criticism as tone-deaf, reports the Mail.
• “UK becomes first major economy to pay 6% to borrow since eurozone crisis as bond market rout pushes yields to highest since 1998” – A rout in the gilt market has pushed yields on UK 30-year bonds to levels not seen since 1998, with investors now charging Britain as much to borrow as they charged beleaguered Italy at the height of the 2012 eurozone crisis, notes This is Money.
• “Three-quarters of the £12 billion rise in benefits in Labour seats” – Labour has been accused of being “trapped by its own welfare politics” after it emerged that £8.8 billion of a £12 billion increase in welfare spending has flooded into Labour-held constituencies, reports the Mail.
• “Labour making ‘catastrophic error’ over Chinese university cash” – Labour has been accused of making a “catastrophic” error by sparing universities from disclosing their Chinese funding to the Office for Students, says the Times.
• “Reform blacklisted me for doing my job as a local reporter” – A local democracy reporter covering Reform-led Derbyshire county council reveals he was told the authority would no longer engage with him after raising unspecified “concerns”, according to the Times.
• “Farage says outcome of probe into C4 sting announced ‘very soon’” – Nigel Farage says Reform’s internal investigation into the Channel 4 donations sting is “done” and indicates it will absolve the party’s two key aides who stood aside during the probe, notes the Mail.
• “Tories should seize the chance to defend free markets” – Andy Burnham’s war on privatisation has opened up an ideological space that Conservatives should urgently exploit by championing the many successes free markets have delivered, argues Sebastian Payne in the Times.
• “Black Labs Matter” – Labour’s nature minister Jenny Riddell-Carpenter has sparked controversy by dragging black labs into a culture war, reports the Telegraph.
• “DoJ reviews whether ‘deep state’ targeted Nixon over Watergate” – The US Department of Justice is reportedly considering an investigation into whether prosecutors mistreated Richard Nixon during the Watergate affair, says the Telegraph.
• “French Left releases guide on how to blockade schools…” – A French student union aligned with the Left has published an online guide advising pupils on “how to blockade your high school or university in five steps”, notes the Telegraph.
• “‘Student’ riots rock France as masked men torch schools and douse teachers in petrol” – Student protests have escalated into widespread riots in France with schools set on fire and teachers beaten and doused in petrol.
• “Britain in emergency diesel talks with Europe after Trump ultimatum” – With pump prices already above £2 a litre and fears of further sharp rises if Trump imposes an export ban, Britain is in emergency talks with European partners over diesel supplies, writes the Times.
• “UK population growth slumps to lowest in 30 years” – Official figures show that falling net migration and lower birth rates have pushed UK population growth to its slowest rate in nearly three decades, reveals the Telegraph.
• “Don’t call us nutters, say Greens as ‘mum and dad’ go on banned list” – The Green Party’s new ‘inclusive terminology guidance’ urges members to replace ‘parents and carers’ for ‘mum and dad’ to avoid upsetting those who do not fit gender norms, reports the Mail.
• “The Left doesn’t want to admit the damage cannabis can do” – Legalising cannabis would normalise its consumption and make psychotic violence more prevalent, yet the Left refuses to confront the consequences, writes Theodore Dalrymple in the Telegraph.
• “Flydubai and the heroism of ordinary Jews” – In the Spectator, Brendan O’Neill writes of his profound admiration for the resilience and valour displayed by Israeli passengers aboard the Flydubai flight.
• “Aunt Bessie is killed off in woke redesign – with much younger woman” – The beloved Aunt Bessie brand has been overhauled, replacing her famous apple cheeks and bowl of batter with a younger, open-armed figure described as more ‘contemporary’ and ‘welcoming’, reports the Mail.
• “The truth about Earl Spencer” – In the Spectator, Piers Morgan reveals his long and fractious history with Earl Spencer, who once called him to declare “I’ve got you now, you bastard” – and has now been forced to apologise publicly for getting his facts wrong about Morgan in his new book.
• “Britain is entering its Rococo period” – Drawing on John Ruskin’s contempt for decorative excess, Madeline Grant argues that Britain has entered a Rococo era of public life in which spectacle and ornamentation mask a deeper hollowness, writes Madeline Grant in the Spectator.
• “Outrage in France after Bally Bagayoko, the far-left mayor of the country’s most infamous no-go zone Saint-Denis joined student rioters who were attacking a high school in the area” – A French mayor has been filmed laughing with rioters, giving high fives and jumping up and down.

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