News Round-Up

• “Southern homeowners should pay more tax, suggests Burnham” – Andy Burnham has floated the idea of higher property taxes for homeowners in the South of England, reports LBC.
• “Burnham to levy £18 billion ‘death tax’ to pay for social care, warn Reform” – Andy Burnham has failed to rule out an £18 billion ‘death tax’ to pay for social care reforms, says the Mail.
• “We fought to keep paedophiles in jail. Now our abuser may be let out early” – Kayleigh and Marie, both attacked as girls by Harry Miah, say they feel “absolutely destroyed” at the prospect of his early release under the Government’s prisoner reduction scheme, reveals Matt Dathan in the Times.
• “Burnham must pass emergency law to stop killers and rapists being released early, Tories say” – Kemi Badenoch has demanded Labour introduce emergency legislation to halt the early release of serious violent offenders including rapists and killers, according to LBC. Read her piece in the Telegraph here.
• “Is Andy Burnham really ready to hand power to Reform councils?” – Andy Burnham’s plan to direct income tax revenue straight to local government raises an uncomfortable question, says Ross Clark in the Spectator: is he prepared to hand that power to councils controlled by Reform?
• “Burnham brings an end to Blair’s university vision” – The Prime Minister is set to declare that “hard hats are as important as graduate caps” as he vows to steer more young people away from universities and into work, reports the Mail.
• “10 awful quotes from Andy Burnham’s new Director of Political Strategy” – On her Substack, Charlotte Gill rounds up 10 damaging quotes from Matthew McGregor, the former Hope Not Hate campaigner whom Andy Burnham has appointed his Director of Political Strategy.
• “Labour accuses Farage of new rule breach” – Labour has accused Nigel Farage of a potential further breach of parliamentary rules by revealing details about an ongoing investigation, says the Telegraph.
• “Poll puts Labour ahead of Reform for first time in more than a year” – Labour has overtaken Reform in an opinion poll for the first time in over a year, reports the Telegraph.
• “I trust Rupert Lowe more than any other leader” – John Cleese has publicly declared that he trusts Restore’s Rupert Lowe more than any other party leader, according to the Telegraph.
• “Number of UK millionaires shrinks to lowest in nearly two decades” – The Adam Smith Institute estimates there are now just 442,000 people in Britain with wealth exceeding £1 million – down 7% from last year and the lowest figure in nearly two decades, according to the Express.
• “A dangerous Third World mindset explains Britain’s myriad problems” – A culture of caution is threatening Britain’s future prosperity, warns Daniel Hannan in the Telegraph.
• “Green mayor pledges to resist migration raids” – Lewisham has become the first UK council to refuse to assist enforcement operations targeting illegal migrants, after its Green mayor vowed to defy immigration authorities, reports the Telegraph.
• “Is Elon Musk wrong about Britain and civil war?” – In the Spectator, Patrick West argues that while fears of civil war in Britain are not confined to the fringes of the alt-Right, the evidence for such a catastrophic outcome deserves harder scrutiny than it’s receiving.
• “HR executive sacked for ‘I hate Islam’ post sues for discrimination” – A former Reform UK candidate is pursuing a £400,000 discrimination claim against one of the world’s top law firms after being dismissed for posting “I hate Islam” on social media, says the Telegraph.
• “Pro-Palestine activist cost taxpayer £92,000 when he scaled Big Ben” – A barefoot pro-Palestine activist who climbed Big Ben and cost the taxpayer £92,000 during a 17-hour stand-off with the police has avoided jail, reports the Mail.
• “Inside Axel Rudakubana’s new life in Broadmoor” – A former Broadmoor psychiatrist insists Southport child killer Axel Rudakubana’s transfer to the high-security hospital is not an “easy ride” or a “holiday”, according to the Mail.
• “Iconic UK space attraction could be forced to close due to cuts” – The UNESCO World Heritage-listed Jodrell Bank Observatory, home to the famous Lovell telescope, faces insolvency after losing its funding, says the Mail.
• “Pregnant woman among three stabbed in Paris knife rampage” – A pregnant woman is among three people stabbed in a knife rampage in Paris, with one victim taken to hospital in critical condition, reports the Mail.
• “French flee for their lives as ‘apocalyptic’ wildfires ravage region” – Around 360,000 people have been forced to evacuate their homes across parts of France and Spain as devastating wildfires continue to spread, according to Cameron Henderson in the Telegraph.
• “Macron could have done more to stop the Bordeaux fires” – As firefighters battle an immense conflagration threatening Bordeaux, Gavin Mortimer argues in the Spectator that President Macron bears significant responsibility for failing to act sooner.
• “Germany’s Islamist crisis can no longer be ignored” – From jihadist violence to parallel societies, Germany is paying the price for decades of political accommodation and denial, writes Ayaan Hersi Ali on her Restoring the West Substack.
• “Germany is still in denial about the Berlin terror attack” – Berlin’s Pride parade ended in panic and bloodshed that could have been prevented, yet German authorities are still refusing to confront the reality of what happened, says Elisabeth Dampier in the Spectator.
• “Berlin Pride attack shows the insanity of the Left’s love affair with Islamism” – The Berlin Pride attack exposes the fatal contradiction at the heart of the Left’s refusal to acknowledge a brutally intolerant form of religious fascism, writes Tom Harris in the Telegraph.
• “There is nothing surprising about the Berlin pride attack” – Feigned shock from reporters and officials after the Berlin Pride car-ramming attack reveals a wilful refusal to acknowledge the pattern of Islamist violence that has long been building, says Jonathan Sacerdoti in the Spectator.
• “Germany could change terror laws after Pride parade attacker shown mercy” – Germany is considering banning suspended sentences for terror offences after Abdul Ballout, convicted of Islamic State-related crimes in May, served no prison time before carrying out the Berlin Pride attack, reports Euractiv.
• “We should politicise the Berlin Pride attack” – The demand not to “politicise” an Islamist attack is itself a political act designed to silence legitimate scrutiny, writes Brendan O’Neill in the Spectator.
• “Italy is running out of Italians – a similar demographic crisis threatens Britain” – Italy recorded just 355,000 births last year – an all-time low – in a demographic collapse that carries stark warnings for Britain too, says Sean Thomas in the Telegraph.
• “Netanyahu accuses Mamdani of inciting hate with arrest threat” – Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Zohran Mamdani of “fomenting hate” after the New York Mayor threatened to arrest the Israeli Prime Minister if he set foot in the city, reports the BBC.
• “Trump talks softly on China, but carries a big stick for Taiwan” – Donald Trump’s softer tone on China may hide a tougher strategy to protect Taiwan, writes Adrian Blomfield in the Telegraph.
• “Leader of Australia’s hard-Right racially abused Muslim senator” – Pauline Hanson has been found guilty of breaching Australia’s discrimination act after telling Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi to “p— off back to Pakistan”, reports Reuters.
• “The Fauci diaries” – Newly released private journals from former top US science adviser Anthony Fauci reveal a fame-obsessed, vainglorious man and a mainstream media complicit in his untruths, according to a Free Press editorial.
• “Six lessons from Anthony Fauci’s diary” – On his Substack, Vinay Prasad draws out six lessons from Anthony Fauci’s diary, which has been released as part of Rand Paul’s ongoing investigation into the ex-public health official.
• “Rape trial collapses after accuser uses AI” – A rape trial has collapsed after it emerged the alleged victim used an AI chatbot to prepare answers for cross-examination, according to the Telegraph.
• “Energy minister accused of misleading MPs over blackout threat” – Energy minister Michael Shanks has been accused of misleading Parliament about the risk of blackouts to Britain’s power grid, says the Telegraph.
• “Don’t sit under trees in heatwave, park tells visitors” – Park visitors have been warned not to sit under trees during Britain’s fourth heatwave of the summer, over fears that branches may snap and fall on them, reports GB News.
• “Is this Labour’s maddest Net Zero project yet?” – The Government is exploring a plan to strip carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere at eye-watering public expense, says Jonathan Leake in the Telegraph.
• “London loses £5.7 billion energy giant in US takeover” – DCC Energy is set to become the latest FTSE 100 company to abandon the London Stock Exchange after agreeing to sell to private equity, reports City AM.
• “We don’t need to trash the economy to save the planet” – Mandating electric cars, heat pumps and solar panels too quickly is counter-productive, and the transition should always rely on the carrot rather than the stick, says David Frost in the Telegraph.
• “Europe’s ‘green’ energy transition is a delusion, global data shows” – Samuel Furfari argues in Climate Change Dispatch that Europe’s expensive energy transition is falling short, with a new Energy Institute report showing fossil fuels still powering record growth around the world.
• “There’s nothing to celebrate about the extremism of trans Pride” – In the Telegraph, Julie Bindel describes London’s Trans+ Pride as a grim mix of hostility, extreme activism and young people swept up in a dangerous social contagion.
• “Christopher Stevens’ scathing one-star review of The Rapture” – In the Mail, Christopher Stevens tears apart the BBC’s anti-Christian conspiracy drama The Rapture.
• “These people are deranged” – An LGBTQ+ activist at a Berlin Pride vigil reveals that her first reaction to the Islamist van attack was hoping the attacker was a White Christian, not an Arab Muslim.

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