News Round-Up

• “Burnham to host cross-party social care talks – but Farage is snubbed” – Andy Burnham has vowed to expend “whatever political capital I have” on fixing the social care system, but Nigel Farage has been excluded from cross-party talks and Kemi Badenoch and Ed Davey have declined to participate, claiming they were given too little notice, writes Greg Heffer in the Mail.
• “Workers face new tax to fund social care” – Health officials are drawing up plans for a 1.8% levy on earnings to fund Andy Burnham’s social care reforms, says the Telegraph.
• “Letts: Andy was like a living euphemism with his Leslie Crowther specs” – Andy Burnham delivered a speech on funding old-age care with barely a mention of taxes, writes Quentin Letts in the Mail.
• “Andy Burnham says assisted suicide ‘debate’ should be delayed” – Andy Burnham has told Sky News that the assisted suicide debate should be put off, effectively kicking the assisted dying bill into the long grass, reports Max Young in Guido Fawkes.
• “Taxman unearths £1.36 billion in unpaid inheritance tax – as fears of new ‘death tax’ loom” – HMRC has uncovered £1.36 billion in unpaid inheritance tax as Andy Burnham’s arrival in Downing Street fuels speculation of a sweeping overhaul that could hit far more estates, notes This is Money.
• “Burnham fails to commit to 3% defence spending target” – Andy Burnham’s refusal to back a 3% defence spending target puts him at odds with Defence Secretary John Healey, who warns the level is needed to keep Britain safe from Russian threats, reports the Telegraph.
• “Erase the benefits mindset, Burnham” – With over a million young people now classed as Neets and Labour’s own measures blamed for making it harder for them to find work, the pressure on Burnham to act is mounting, says a leading article in the Mail.
• “David Miliband said no when asked to be Education Secretary… and Lucy Powell’s angry at Deputy PM snub” – David Miliband was offered the post of Education Secretary in Andy Burnham’s reshuffle, but turned it down because he didn’t want to be lower down the Cabinet hierarchy than his brother, says the Mail.
• “Labour’s education policy is ‘bring back stupid’” – Years of improved attainment for working-class pupils risk being undermined by Labour’s dilution of academic excellence, writes Michael Gove in the Times.
• “The soft bigotry of low expectations dressed up as reform” – Youth unemployment at its highest level in over a decade, with more than a million 16-to-24-year-olds in the Neet category. Progressive-sounding educational reform will only make things worse, argues Laura Trott in the Mail.
• “The women helping Burnham to win the battle with Reform” – Social media influencers embracing a “Harold Wilson summer” are proving a surprisingly potent weapon in Burnham’s TikTok war against Reform, notes Dan Hodges in the Mail.
• “Farage: Zack must face consequences for his guillotine post about me” – Writing in the Mail, Nigel Farage argues that Zack Polanski should face a police investigation for sharing a post depicting a guillotine alongside the phrase ‘We’re only making plans for Nigel’.
• “Polanski refuses to apologise for social media post that showed guillotine targeting Farage” – On Newsnight, the Green Party leaded declined to say sorry for sharing a post joking about beheading Nigel Farage, reports the Telegraph.
• “The wheels are coming off the dim-witted authoritarian Zack Polanski” – The Green leader’s disastrous Newsnight appearance has exposed how his online toxicity and victim mentality have finally caught up with him, writes Suzanne Moore in the Telegraph.
• “Report on Jewish diaspora finds biggest rise in antisemitism in UK” – A new report finds that 2025 was the deadliest year for Jews living outside Israel in more than 30 years, with the UK recording its largest rise in antisemitism on record, says the BBC News.
• “Teenage Norwegian hitman plotted to murder target in UK” – Johannes Natland, 18 at the time, flew from Stavanger to Britain to assassinate a target in return for £21,000 on behalf of an Iran-backed gang, the Old Bailey was told, according to the Mail.
• “We’re told to let migrants cross Channel, French police admit” – French police have admitted they have orders not to stop migrants from boarding boats bound for Britain, reveals the Telegraph.
• “Hundreds crossing the Channel as chaos erupts in ideal conditions for smugglers” – Hundreds of migrants are crossing the Channel as favourable conditions hand smugglers the upper hand, reports the Express.
• “Russia issues international arrest warrant for Telegram founder” – Russian authorities have issued an international arrest warrant for Telegram founder Pavel Durov on charges of complicity in terrorism, even as they move to restrict the app domestically, says the Mail.
• “Britain races to build bomb factories as stockpiles dwindle” – The Government has commissioned 22 companies to rapidly draw up plans for new munitions facilities as Britain’s weapons stockpiles run dangerously low, reports the Telegraph.
• “London’s population shrinks for first time since pandemic” – Nearly 27,000 fewer people now live in the capital as Londoners continue to relocate to other parts of the country, notes the Telegraph.
• “It is not necessarily bigoted to want to preserve a majority white Britain” – In the Telegraph, David Goodhart argues that the sharp decline of the white British majority in many parts of England is a legitimate political concern, not an expression of bigotry.
• “Trump claims Burnham will ‘open up the North Sea’ for oil drilling” – President Trump has claimed that Andy Burnham told him he would “open up North Sea oil”, adding that it would make Britain “a really rich” country, reports the Times.
• “Should Burnham get an EV to cut No. 10 north to London commute cost?” – Andy Burnham, who champions public transport, faces a significant travel bill for commuting between No. 10 and his Northern base – raising questions about whether an electric vehicle might be a cost-effective solution, says the Mail.
• “Half of England in drought, says Environment Agency” – The Environment Agency has declared drought conditions across half of England, according to the Telegraph.
• “Wildfire alert as UK on brink of breaking 50-year drought record” – The Met Office has warned that fires could become “severe” across much of England and parts of Wales as temperatures climb towards 35C and Britain edges towards its worst drought in half a century, says the Times.
• “Cost of Net Zero will hit £40 billion by the end of the decade” – The total spent on eco policies has risen six times since 2010 and is driving up household bills, with Net Zero costs set to reach £40 billion by the end of the decade, according to a new report for the Prosperity Institute by the Daily Sceptic’s David Turver, reports the Mail.
• “Badenoch: climate change is real, Net Zero by 2050 is fiction” – Kemi Badenoch has declared Net Zero a “political fiction bankrupting the country” in a letter setting out her starkest rejection yet of the 2050 target, says the Telegraph.
• “Britain can’t stop climate change – scrap Net Zero” – Despite slashing its own emissions by 44% between 2000 and 2023, Britain has made no discernible dent in global warming, according to Allister Heath in the Telegraph.
• “Our reckless lack of gas storage invites disaster” – Britain’s decision to keep just two or three days’ worth of gas in reserve is a catastrophic failure of energy policy that leaves the country dangerously exposed, writes Juliet Samuel in the Times.
• “Data centre projects face crackdown to free up power grid” – The energy regulator has launched a crackdown on data centres in a bid to cut the growing backlog of projects waiting to connect to the electricity grid, says the Telegraph.
• “MoD spends £600k on protecting rare wildlife” – Taxpayer money has been used to fund schemes researching bees, birds and dolphins under a directive from the previous Welsh Labour government, reports the Telegraph.
• “Biden bucks: climate change funds a bonanza for state outfits” – In RealClearInvestigations, James Varney reveals how Biden-era climate funding transformed small state energy offices into sprawling bureaucracies, with Colorado’s energy office among those gorging on the bonanza.
• “Bear Grylls: I used to be vegan, now I tell my sons to eat offal” – Former vegan Bear Grylls says he has converted to an all-out carnivore diet of steaks, liver, and offal – and is now urging his sons to follow suit, says the Telegraph.
• “Harry and co may have to foot bill of millions over the Mail case” – Prince Harry and six other claimants potentially face having to pay Associated Newspapers millions of pounds in costs after their failed legal action, reports the Mail.
• “Cambridge’s diversity poster boy faces questions over running claims” – Prof Jason Arday, a Cambridge professor celebrated as a diversity icon, is facing scrutiny over claims he ran 600 miles in six days and 30 marathons in 35 days – partly with a broken leg – raising serious doubts about his extraordinary assertions, writes Gordon Rayner in the Telegraph.
• “Academia has a much bigger problem than plagiarism” – Jason Arday’s alleged misconduct is deplorable, but he is merely a symptom of a far wider malaise in higher education, writes Lara Brown in the Telegraph.
• “Cringe-inducing moment Canadian politician gets AI to write his speech” – Progressive Conservative member Bill Oliver read out an AI-generated speech to the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick, complete with prompts and formatting notes still visible in the text, reports Perkin Amalaraj in the Mail.
• “Argentina charged by Fifa over ‘The Falklands are Argentine’ banner” – Fifa has charged Argentina after their players unfurled a banner declaring the Falkland Islands to be Argentine territory following their World Cup semi-final victory over England, reveals the Telegraph.
• “UEFA ‘threaten to boycott the World Cup’” – UEFA is reportedly considering boycotting the World Cup after Fifa boss Infantino floated a plan to sell parts of the tournament to private investors in a deal worth around £15 billion, according to the Mail.
• “Carling waters down alcohol content of its lager in cost-cutting bid” – Britain’s best-selling lager has quietly reduced its alcohol content from 4% to 3.4%, a move the brewer insists is unrelated to duty savings, reports the Mail.
• “The Odyssey: how Christopher Nolan’s Oscars hopes could be tarnished” – Mixed reviews and an IMAX controversy are threatening to derail Christopher Nolan’s awards campaign for The Odyssey before it has even begun, says the Mail.
• “Iranians clash with executioners in first protests since Khamenei’s death” – Demonstrators shouting “shameless” at security forces have taken to the streets in a fierce backlash against a series of hangings carried out in the aftermath of the Supreme Leader’s death, reports the Telegraph.
• “Matt Hancock wins Covid vaccine libel case against Andrew Bridgen” – Three judges have granted Hancock a summary judgment against Andrew Bridgen, ending the claim without a full trial, according to the Telegraph.
• “The Bondi massacre has blown up Australian politics” – The Australian establishment’s meek response to the terrorist atrocity has left it vulnerable to the rise of the populist One Nation party, reports the Telegraph.
• “Reform councillor charged over offensive post about Nigerians” – Glenn Gibbins, of Sunderland City Council, has been charged with an offence under the Communications Act 2003 following a social media post, says the Telegraph.
• “They used my case to make an example” – Lucy Connolly talks to the Free Speech Union’s Connie Shaw about being sentenced to more than two-and-a-half years in jail for a single tweet.

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