News Round-Up

• “Starmer told me Widdecombe killing was botched burglary” – Nigel Farage claims Sir Keir Starmer privately told him that Ann Widdecombe’s killing was “a burglary that’s gone wrong”, according to GB News.
• “Why is Nigel Farage under attack for mourning Ann Widdecombe?” – In the Spectator, Brendan O’Neill argues that Farage is being smeared as a “death-supping opportunist” simply for laying a wreath and voicing his fear of political violence.
• “Police arrest man for threatening to shoot Nigel Farage” – A man has been arrested in London after a post on X warned the Reform UK leader “I am going to shoot you in the head if you win”, says the Mail.
• “Shame on Labour MPs for applauding a leader they’ve just knifed” – Sir Keir Starmer’s final PMQs was a sight to behold, says Stephen Pollard in the Telegraph, as he was given a standing ovation by the very same people who forced him out.
• “Rachel Reeves’s farewell was a dismal reminder of her failures” – Rachel Reeves’s Mansion House farewell was less swansong than awkward job interview, writes Matthew Lynn in the Telegraph, with her bid to cling on only highlighting a record of weak growth, rising debt and lost credibility.
• “Andy Burnham admits he is considering raising taxes” – The OECD is calling on Andy Burnham to revisit more than £12 billion of tax rises brought in by Rachel Reeves, as he hints that even more tax increases could be on the way, reports the Telegraph.
• “Labour cannot ‘just write cheques’ to benefit claimants” – Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden has declared that Labour must stop “simply writing a cheque” to benefit claimants, according to the Telegraph.
• “Tory wets should join me” – In the Spectator, Steerpike weighs in on Sir Ed Davey’s pitch to Tory wets disillusioned with Kemi Badenoch, inviting them to “come and talk” to the Lib Dems.
• “Citizens Advice encourages families to claim benefits, says report” – A Government review has found that Citizens Advice is encouraging families to claim sickness benefits to help cover their energy bills, reports the Telegraph.
• “Woman raped by small-boat migrants tells court of unbearable ordeal” – Three failed asylum seekers who gang-raped an unconscious woman on Brighton beach face deportation after lengthy jail sentences, with their victim bravely recalling the horrific 25-minute ordeal at their sentencing hearing, according to the Mail.
• “Number of children arrested for sex crimes hits record high” – Youngsters detained over sexual offences have risen by a fifth to 3,809 from the year before, reports the Telegraph.
• “Jewish Greens condemn party’s failings on antisemitism” – An internal report claims the Greens have failed to tackle a rise in antisemitism within the party, says the Telegraph.
• “The Church of England must leave Gaza alone” – The Church of England’s Synod has no constitutional business pronouncing on foreign conflicts, and its continued posturing on Gaza is a betrayal of its proper spiritual mission, writes Andrew Tettenborn in the Spectator.
• “The Lib Dem ‘vanity project’ forcing an LTN on a picturesque village” – The idyllic Oxfordshire village of Stanton St John is at war over a Lib Dem-backed low-traffic neighbourhood scheme that residents say has been forced upon them, according to Leaf Arbuthnot in the Telegraph.
• “BBC boss says new mandatory ‘household levy’ could replace TV licence” – BBC Director General Matt Brittin says he is “open to all options” to fund the broadcasting giant after licence fee income dropped by more than £1 billion over the last decade, reports the Mail.
• “Farmers ‘didn’t help themselves’ with tractor protests, says MP” – A Labour MP tasked with rebuilding the party’s relationship with rural communities has claimed farmers “didn’t help themselves” by staging tractor protests against inheritance tax changes, says the Telegraph.
• “England are ‘usurping pirates’, says Argentina’s Vice President” – Argentina’s Vice President Victoria Villarruel has waded into the World Cup rivalry, saying the semi-final against England was “more than just a football match” and branding the English “usurping pirates”, according to the Telegraph.
• “If it’s Right-wing to care about birth rates, we’re doomed” – With the average American now having barely 1.5 children, the dismissal of concern about collapsing birth rates as a Right-wing obsession is a cultural failure with civilisational consequences, warns Paul Morland in the Telegraph.
• “Ed Miliband forces builders to put solar panels where sun doesn’t shine” – Builders have accused Ed Miliband of compelling them to install solar panels on homes that receive no direct sunlight, in a damning indictment of the Government’s Net Zero housebuilding mandates, reports the Telegraph.
• “Fearmongering about heatwave deaths is foolish and dangerous” – Unlike a novel virus, heatwaves are a well-understood and manageable phenomenon, making the culture of fear surrounding them not only unhelpful but actively counterproductive to sensible policy, says Robert Dingwall in the Telegraph.
• “Heat is a problem, Governing, but climate change isn’t making it worse” – In ClimateRealism, H. Sterling Burnett argues that while a Governing magazine article offers sound advice on mitigating urban heat exposure, its attribution of worsening extreme heat to climate change is utter nonsense.
• “Munich’s first-ever Green Party mayor declares first ever city water use restrictions… fines up to €50,000!” – Munich has banned garden hoses, pools and lawn watering with fines of up to €50,000, but Pierre L. Gosselin at NoTricksZone asks whether it’s a real water crisis or just more green hysteria.
• “Beloved ponies in iconic UK beauty spot saved after Natural England U-turn” – Dartmoor pony populations will be protected at their current levels, ministers have said amid fears a livestock-counting method would lead to a cull, says the Express.
• “Regarding energy, the Left wants us to live smaller lives. Americans don’t do that” – The green energy agenda is fundamentally an agenda for diminished living standards, notes Gary Abernathy at TEA.
• “Aussie PM announces plan to force US AI companies to pay for Australia’s Net Zero transition” – Australia’s Prime Minister has unveiled a plan to compel American AI companies to fund the country’s Net Zero transition, says Eric Worrall in Watts Up With That?
• “The Left has a problem with boys and men” – In the Spectator, Jake Richards claims that too many on the Left remain reluctant to confront the real challenges facing boys and men for fear of undermining the fight for women’s equality.
• “The Equality Act: some more equal than others?” – A lively debate on whether the Equality Act’s aims are good or flawed from the start is being hosted by Don’t Divide Us at St Bart’s Church in London on Monday July 27th – book your ticket through Eventbrite here.
• “Andy Serkis says the Lord of the Rings cast was ‘very white’” – Actor Andy Serkis has admitted the Lord Of The Rings cast was “very white” after a 25-year row over the lack of diversity in the films, reports the Mail.
• “Only two sorts of people oppose free speech… snowflakes and totalitarians” – In a classic 2019 Oxford Union clip, Ann Widdecombe schools a roomful of woke students on the importance of free speech.

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