News Round-Up

• “Andy Burnham reveals ‘no plans to scrap jury trials’ hours after sacking David Lammy” – Andy Burnham has moved to quell concerns over judicial reform, insisting there are no plans to scrap jury trials following his dismissal of David Lammy, says GB News.
• “A Burnham bounce? Poll finds Labour have drawn level with Reform UK” – A Deltapoll survey has found Labour’s support has risen 8% since Sir Keir Starmer announced his resignation as Prime Minister, drawing the party level with Reform UK on 28%, according to the Mail.
• “Burnham takes Cabinet after unveiling unfunded £850 million energy bills bung” – Andy Burnham has told the Cabinet they must “always show how they are going to pay” for policies – hours after unveiling an unfunded £850 million VAT cut on energy bills, reports the Mail.
• “Struggling voters deserve better than Burnham’s con tricks” – A new PM who truly wanted to put money back in people’s pockets would cut the green levy on energy bills rather than a VAT reduction worth just 86p, says Allison Pearson in the Telegraph.
• “Andy Burnham is comically out of touch” – In the Spectator, Gareth Roberts writes that the new Prime Minister’s first speech – billed as a promise to “do politics differently” – revealed a man with a comical inability to read the room.
• “Tories demand Rayner hand back £17,000 payoff now she’s back in old job” – Conservatives are demanding Angela Rayner return the £17,000 redundancy payment she received after quitting the Cabinet over a tax row, following her return to Andy Burnham’s top team after just 10 months, says the Express.
• “New Education Secretary backed more taxes on private schools” – New Education Secretary Lucy Powell has previously backed introducing sweeping new taxes on private schools, reports the Telegraph.
• “Lucy Powell may be an even worse Education Secretary than Phillipson” – In the Telegraph, Stephen Pollard says Andy Burnham had 402 Labour MPs to choose from for the Education brief – and still ended up with Lucy Powell, who he thinks could be even worse than her predecessor.
• “Meet the new Education Secretary: she’s almost as bad as the last one” – In the Spectator, Joanna Williams warns that under Bridget Phillipson the line between education and indoctrination grew thinner than ever before – and Lucy Powell looks set to continue the trend.
• “Convicted fraudster Louise Haigh stripped of oversight of public sector fraud” – Louise Haigh, a convicted fraudster, is to be stripped of responsibility for tackling public sector fraud in her new Cabinet role, reports the Telegraph.
• “Chancellor John Healey blamed for billions in unclaimed ‘baby bonds’” – The new Chancellor has been blamed for a ‘baby bond’ scheme that has left billions of pounds unclaimed while creating a bonanza for bankers, says the Mail.
• “Majority of Britons think Burnham is leading a country ‘going in wrong direction’” – A new Ipsos poll reveals that 83% of Britons believe the country is heading in the wrong direction and needs major changes, according to the Independent.
• “The Government report that wants to ‘inoculate’ you against wrongthink” – On Substack, Andrew Doyle reacts to news that Andy Burnham has been handed a blueprint for combating “misinformation” through psychological manipulation.
• “‘Misinformation’ is the elite’s favourite weapon against common sense Britain” – Andy Burnham should distance himself from a Government Science Office report that deploys the language of “misinformation” to silence ordinary people, says Brendan O’Neill in the Telegraph.
• “DEI fraud and cover-up at Cambridge” – On his Substack, Nathan Cofnas asks why Cambridge won’t investigate claims that a black sociology professor plagiarised many of his PhD and many of his academic papers, accusing the university of sweeping the allegations under the carpet.
• “Trump will allow Tate brothers to be extradited to Britain” – The White House is set to allow Andrew Tate and his brother to be extradited to Britain despite pressure from figures in Trump’s inner circle, reports the Sun.
• “Knife attacker stabs woman ‘at the altar’ during church mass” – A woman has been stabbed at the altar during a church mass in Ireland in a shocking knife attack, says the Mail.
• “France becomes first EU country to ban social media for teenagers” – President Macron has hailed a “major step forward” as France becomes the first European country to approve a social media ban for under-16s, reports ITV News.
• “No, mask mandates did not reduce Covid hospitalisations” – On his Unmasked Substack, Ian Miller argues that researchers have once again failed to make a credible case that mask mandates reduced Covid hospitalisations.
• “BBC peddles fake heatwave death claims” – At ClimateRealism, Paul Homewood challenges BBC claims that more than 2,700 people may have died from heat-related causes during May and June heatwaves in England and Wales.
• “Henrik Svensmark fired after years of climate research” – Danish climate researcher Henrik Svensmark has been dismissed by his university in Copenhagen following years of pioneering work on cosmic rays and climate, according to Clintel.
• “‘Fraudulent, biased and misleading’: Trump rails against NGO after it put out Bezos-backed climate report” – President Trump has publicly attacked the National Academy of Sciences, calling its Bezos-backed climate report “fraudulent, biased and misleading”, reports the Daily Caller.
• “Reforming the alarmist National Climate Assessment has begun” – After 25 years as the flagship of American climate alarmism, the National Climate Assessment is set for a major overhaul under a realist new lead, says David Wojick at CFACT.
• “West African woes” – The Guardian blames West Africa’s floods on climate change, but Cliscep’s Mark Hodgson says the evidence points just as strongly to deforestation, rapid urbanisation and poor drainage.
• “Church Society Podcast: People Change” – A new Church Society podcast features testimony on the reality of sexual transformation alongside a warning about the proposals contained in the forthcoming conversion therapy bill.
• “The real problem with the BBC’s licence fee ad” – The BBC’s star-studded World Cup half-time promotional film featuring all the Beeb’s highest-paid stars reveals more about the corporation’s instincts than it intends to, says Charlie Walsham in the Spectator.
• “Manchesterism has arrived in Downing Street” – On X, an AI-generated video imagines the morning after a chaotic night of Mancunian revelry at No 10, with Andy Burnham, the Gallagher brothers and Alan Bennett among the recovering revellers.

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