News Round-Up

• “Burnham’s coup would make banana republic leaders blush” – In the Mail, Nigel Farage argues that Andy Burnham’s brazen political manoeuvring would shame even the most authoritarian Latin American regimes.
• “Burnham considering devolved income tax across Britain” – Lord O’Neill of Gatley, tipped to become Andy Burnham’s Chief Economic Adviser, is said to be considering variable income tax rates in different parts of England, according to the Telegraph.
• “Ed Miliband takes key economic role in Andy Burnham’s backroom team” – Ed Miliband is playing an integral role in developing economic policies for Andy Burnham’s government as part of his transition to No 10, reports the Times.
• “The radical Left-wing MP driving Burnham’s economic agenda” – Miatta Fahnbulleh is little known outside Westminster, but her far Left ideas could shape Andy Burnham’s premiership, says Tim Wallace in the Telegraph.
• “Andy Burnham will soon be even more hated than Keir Starmer” – Labour’s ‘Burnham-mania’ cannot mask the reality that a Prime Minister parachuted into power without an election victory is destined for disaster, writes Michael Deacon in the Telegraph.
• “The downfall of Keir Starmer” – On Substack, Jack Watson gives his take on the political decline of Sir Keir Starmer.
• “Starmer has a parting gift: a sinister plot to ‘re-educate’ the British public” – New proposals to prioritise ‘trusted’ news outlets on social media, like the BBC, will have a chilling effect on free speech, warns Allister Heath in the Telegraph.
• “Labour ‘decriminalising’ benefit fraud” – Labour has been accused of all but decriminalising benefit fraud after prosecutions nosedived in the wake of Covid, reports the Telegraph.
• “What exactly are ‘Labour values’?” – In the Spectator, Gareth Roberts argues that Labour’s core values have been distilled to a single through-line – winding up ‘toffs’ and ‘gammons’.
• “Kemi savaged Bridget as a ‘spiteful class warrior’” – In the Mail, Quentin Letts says the real clash to watch is no longer Sir Keir vs Kemi but Kemi vs a “scratchy, scary” Bridget Phillipson – and it is shaping up to be a far dirtier bout.
• “Police ‘took eight minutes’ to find Henry Nowak’s stab wound” – A transcript of the incident has revealed police officers took eight minutes to discover the stab wound that killed Henry Nowak, reports the Sun.
• “Why both the Right and Left get freedom of speech wrong” – Matei Candea’s new book Reason, Carnival and Honour argues that our entire framework for debating free speech is fundamentally misconceived, says Rupert Christiansen in the Telegraph.
• “Donaldson gives up knighthood over sex abuse conviction” – Former Democratic Unionist Party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has surrendered his knighthood following his conviction for child sexual abuse, reports the BBC.
• “More than 50,000 illegal migrants are missing in Britain” – Internal Home Office figures show that more than 50,000 illegal migrants – including 1,200 foreign national offenders – are recorded as absconders with no known whereabouts, according to the Express.
• “Giving Boriswave migrants leave to remain would cost Britain” – Granting permanent settlement to the so-called Boriswave migrants would carry a significant fiscal cost and severely damage public trust in the new Prime Minister, warns Guy Dampier in the Telegraph.
• “Train driver in Bedford crash passed red signal before collision” – The driver who died in the Bedford train crash had passed a red signal moments before the collision, according to the Mail.
• “Southbank chief in row over ‘antisemitic’ posts to stand down” – The chairman of the Southbank Centre Misan Harriman, who was engulfed by an antisemitism row last month, has confirmed that he will step down in the autumn, says the Times.
• “Sarah Mullally has just recycled the most pernicious lie about Palestinians” – In the Telegraph, Bijan Omrani accuses the Archbishop of Canterbury of endorsing a Palestinian victimhood narrative.
• “No, Israel isn’t ‘deliberately targeting’ children in Gaza” – A serious allegation demands serious proof, and the claim that Israel is deliberately targeting children in Gaza falls far short, writes Jonathan Sacerdoti in the Spectator.
• “This UN report on Israeli ‘genocide’ revives the antisemitic blood libel” – A new UN report accusing Israel of genocide is drawing on one of history’s most enduring and lethal conspiracy theories – the blood libel, which has persisted for over 800 years, says Nicole Lampert in the Telegraph.
• “Hague investigators seek Karim Khan’s sacking on sexual misconduct claim” – Investigators in the Hague have called for the British chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court to be sacked after allegations of harassment and non-consensual sexual contact with a junior colleague, reports the Times.
• “It’s too soon to call this a US surrender” – On his Substack, Niall Ferguson argues that while the Iran deal’s offer of sanctions relief, unfrozen assets and billions in promised investment has prompted outrage, the outcomes of wars depend on more than pieces of paper.
• “The Democrats set themselves on fire” – On his Substack, Alex Berenson writes that the Democrats’ highest-profile new Congressional candidate believes in abolishing prisons, borders and the state of Israel – and declares that good times lie ahead for the Republicans.
• “Bill Gates names three women he had affairs with” – Bill Gates has named three women he had affairs with, including a medical entrepreneur he claims he met before his association with Jeffrey Epstein, according to the Daily Beast.
• “Why is Baroness Cass backing another puberty blocker trial?” – In the Spectator, Lara Brown asks why Baroness Cass is backing the new puberty blocker trial when so little is still known about their long-term effects on children.
• “Puberty blockers must be blocked again” – In the New Conservative, Jack Watson says the courts must step in to stop the puberty blocker trial.
• “Over 500 mothers and babies died or harmed needlessly” – A damning new maternity report finds that 94 stillbirths, 62 newborn deaths and six maternal deaths at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust could have been avoided with better care, reports the Telegraph.
• “Grandmother died after having Covid booster jab, inquest told” – An inquest has heard that Mohinder Kaur Mahal, 85, died of a stroke at Royal Derby Hospital in 2022, 12 days after receiving the Pfizer vaccination, says the Telegraph.
• “I’m troubled by Lucy Letby’s conviction” – In a revealing interview with Jessamy Calkin in the Telegraph, forensic anthropologist Dame Sue Black says she is disconcerted by the lack of forensic evidence underpinning Lucy Letby’s conviction.
• “I was a forced adoption baby. It gave me a better life” – A personal account by Roger Mosey in the Telegraph pushes back against the Archbishop of Canterbury’s blanket apology for the Church’s role in forced adoptions, arguing that his experience was ultimately a positive one.
• “AI, free speech and America’s real advantage over China” – In the Eternally Radical Idea, Greg Lukianoff writes that heavy-handed AI regulation pose a serious threat to free speech and to America’s competition with China in the AI arms race.
• “Britain boils on hottest June day ever as mercury surges past 35°C” – Britain has boiled on its hottest ever June day after temperatures reached a blistering 36.1°C, says the Mail.
• “Summer is now an extreme weather event” – On his Substack, Tom Ed argues that the rebranding of ordinary summer weather as an “extreme weather event” is the latest chapter in climate doom-mongering.
• “Shutting schools in a heatwave is teaching children to give up” – By choosing the cowardly path at the first sign of hot weather, British institutions are nurturing a nation of wimps, warns William Sitwell in the Telegraph.
• “Air conditioning torn from homes under Net Zero clampdown” – Homeowners are being ordered to remove air conditioning units as part of a sweeping Net Zero crackdown on domestic cooling systems, reports the Telegraph.
• “Europe leads world in heat deaths despite fewer hot days” – In Quillette, Maarten Boudry argues that Europe’s self-inflicted aversion to air conditioning – driven by a deeper hostility to energy and progress – explains why the continent leads the world in heat mortality.
• “UN Secretary-General demands $1.3 trillion a year to fight ‘climate chaos’” – UN chief António Guterres is demanding that governments and financial institutions devote significantly more resources to addressing climate-related challenges, according to Breitbart.
• “Should the Church be saving the planet, or saving people?” – In Psephizo, Ian Paul writes that GB News co-owner Sir Paul Marshall has committed what critics see as the “unforgivable sin” of funding Christian evangelism rather than climate causes.
• “Darlington nurses awarded £187,000 in trans changing room row” – Seven NHS nurses have won £187,000 in damages after taking legal action over a biological male using their female changing room, according to ITV News.
• “How trans activists took over children’s books” – On his Substack, Andrew Doyle reveals how a new report exposes the systematic smuggling of trans ideology into classrooms and libraries through children’s books.
• “Dettol faces boycott after ‘toxic men’ advert backfires” – A Chinese advertising campaign for the disinfectant brand Dettol has sparked furious calls for a boycott after it labelled men as “toxic”, reports the Telegraph.
• “Fife children’s worker disciplined for swearing at child who threw brick at his car” – A Fife children’s worker has been formally disciplined after swearing at a child who threw a brick at his car, with his behaviour deemed “abusive” and likely to cause emotional harm, says the Courier.
• “Call me old-fashioned, but hard work is good for you” – Hard work is no guarantee of triumph, but without it success remains deeply unlikely, writes Luke Johnson in the Telegraph.
• “Net Zero had become a religion, and if you tried to question any aspect of it, you became a heretic” – On the Free Speech Union Podcast, Shadow Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho argues that one reason there has been so little free and open debate about Net Zero is the rise of cancel culture.

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