News Round-Up

• “It’s not immigration, it’s an invasion” – Spain has deployed the army to its North African enclave of Ceuta after the Interior Ministry estimated that 49,000 people crossed illegally from Morocco in 24 hours, reports Brussels Signal.
• “Ceuta should be a wake-up call for Europe” – In the Spectator, David Goodhart writes that a “luxury belief” ruling by liberal Spanish judges illustrates how Europe’s asylum crisis has been made worse by its own courts.
• “The invasion of Ceuta” – It’s not just Spain’s sovereign integrity that lies in tatters following the storming of Ceuta – so does the pretence that the greatest threat to European civlisation is the populist Right, says Brendan O’Neill in the Spectator.
• “Labour beats Reform to win Greater Manchester mayoral contest” – Labour’s Bev Craig has beaten Reform with a two-thirds majority to become Greater Manchester’s new mayor, reports the Mail. But the turnout was only 25%, undermining Burnham’s devolution plans.
• “Why Burnham’s levelling-up drive is sure to backfire” – Andy Burnham wants to spread growth across Britain, but Ross Clark warns in the Spectator that his plan could actually widen the gap between booming areas and struggling towns.
• “Free speech isn’t safe in Andy Burnham’s hands” – The new Prime Minister’s Cabinet is stacked with censorship fanatics, notes the Free Speech Union’s Max Thompson in Spiked.
• “I wish more people had imposter syndrome” – In the Spectator, Douglas Murray argues that the PM’s self-confessed ‘imposter syndrome’ is, if anything, a welcome sign of self-awareness sorely lacking in too many of today’s politicians.
• “Inside the Nudge Unit” – On the Pimlico Journal Substack, David Shipley explores the Research Information and Communications Unit’s hidden influence over victims’ families, arguing the state’s “nudging” tactics are far subtler than outright coercion – and more troubling.
• “Reform risks turning into the snowflake party” – Farage’s overreaction to a picture on a T-shirt risks squandering Reform’s reputation as a champion of free speech, warns Ella Whelan in the Telegraph.
• “Antisemitism surge shames UK and must be taken seriously” – Routine security at Jewish places of worship is a common sight that should shame ­Britain into action, says the Times in a leading article.
• “Boy George breaks silence after pulling out of Jesus Christ Superstar” – Boy George has spoken out after withdrawing from the West End production of Jesus Christ Superstar just days before his run was due to begin, amid controversy over his pro-Israel song, reports the Mail.
• “Cambridge bosses face staff revolt over diversity poster boy” – Cambridge bosses are facing a staff revolt over their handling of a plagiarism row surrounding one of the university’s most high-profile professors, says the Telegraph.
• “‘I am not a liar’, says star academic accused of plagiarism” – Cambridge’s youngest ever black professor Jason Arday insists that plagiarism allegations against him are cruel, racially motivated and fail to account for his autism, reports the Times. But he doesn’t deny he’s guilty.
• “Arday in Wonderland” – In the Critic, Jacob Phillips examines the furore over the plagiarism allegations against Jason Arday, and what it reveals about academic standards.
• “Bloody awful work creeps in when standards are relaxed” – On his Substack, Dr David McGrogan argues that Jason Arday’s shortcomings are symptomatic of the relaxation of academic standards which has left British universities mired in poor-quality work.
• “Chinese mega-embassy challenge rejected by High Court” – A High Court challenge against the granting of planning permission for China’s vast new London embassy has been dismissed, clearing the way for construction to proceed, says the Standard.
• “Selling off the World Cup: why FIFA’s plan is a step too far” – On the Academy of Ideas Substack, Jake Weston argues that while the idea of football belonging to the fans may be naïve, the sport’s integrity still needs defending from FIFA’s push for ever-greater commercialisation.
• “Hamas agrees to Trump disarmament plan” – Donald Trump has announced that Hamas has agreed to give up its weapons in exchange for Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, reports the Telegraph.
• “NYC mayor open to paying reparations because city was ‘complicit’” – New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has expressed support for cash reparations to black New Yorkers on the grounds that the city was “very complicit” in slavery, says the Mail.
• “Bill Gates was secretly granted top secret ‘Q’ security clearance by the Department of Energy” – America’s nuclear secrets were reportedly entrusted to Bill Gates via a top secret “Q” security clearance granted by the Department of Energy, according to Nicolas Hulscher on the Focal Points Substack.
• “What Fauci’s diary reveals about America’s health care apparatus” – Numerous lines of evidence show Fauci lied to us about the pandemic’s biggest questions – origins, severity, lockdowns and masks, says a Midwestern Doctor on Substack.
• “Why prosecuting Fauci is off limits” – Prosecuting Anthony Fauci would expose the entire rotten edifice of the US Government and produce astronomical liabilities, writes John Leake on the Focal Points Substack.
• “Children can be recruited for puberty blocker trial, High Court rules” – A puberty blocker trial can begin recruiting children after a legal challenge in the High Court failed, reports the Telegraph.
• “The heat is on: how to present estimates as reality (again)” – On their TTE Substack, Prof Carl Heneghan and Dr Tom Jefferson examine how statistical estimates are routinely dressed up as established fact in health reporting.
• “Backlash at Labour’s Net Zero ‘madness’ as BP pulls out of North Sea” – Andy Burnham is facing demands to end Labour’s Net Zero “madness” and axe a controversial windfall tax after BP’announced it is pulling out of the North Sea, reports the Mail.
• “BP deals hammer blow to hopes of a North Sea revival” – BP’s decision to quit UK waters casts serious doubt over Andy Burnham’s ambitions to reverse the North Sea’s decline, says Jonathan Leake in the Telegraph.
• “As BP pulls out of North Sea oil, how Aberdeen turned into a doom town” – Once home to Britain’s biggest concentration of millionaires at the height of the North Sea boom, Aberdeen has suffered a stark decline – and BP’s exit threatens to make things worse, writes Gavin Madeley in the Mail.
• “Big Tech on the path to Net Zero” – On his Manhattan Contrarian blog, Francis Menton argues that the tech giants who once couldn’t stop preaching about climate change are now quietly walking back their Net Zero pledges as the huge energy demands of AI catch up with them.
• “The heatwave deaths we can’t see” – On their TTE Substack, Dr Tom Jefferson and Prof Carl Heneghan argue that the real-world mortality figures don’t match the models predicting thousands of heatwave deaths.
• “How the UK’s extreme heat is shifting the conversation about air-con” – Britain’s record temperatures are forcing a national debate about whether to embrace air conditioning despite its costs and consequences, says Matt McGrath at the BBC.
• “Global temperature trend has cooled over the past 6,500 years” – Scientists have found the global temperature trend has actually cooled over the past 6,500 years, writes P. Gosselin on NoTricksZone.
• “The unspoken truth about wildfires” – In the Spectator, Matt Ridley argues that the greens (and everyone else) are wrong to blame climate change for the wildfires ravaging Europe.
• “Nine in 10 ‘wildfires’ started by human hands, French Government admits” – The French Government has admitted that an estimated 90% of so-called wildfires are the result of human activity rather than climate change, according to Breitbart.
• “Papa Johns employee fired for insisting on paying tax” – A Papa Johns worker was dismissed after refusing to accept cash-in-hand because he wished to meet his tax obligations properly, reports GB News.
• “See Winston Churchill’s paintings and understand the man” – A new exhibition extols the joie de vivre behind the art of Britain’s great wartime leader, says Charles Moore in the Telegraph.
• “Model village removes figurine of topless streaker after complaints” – Godshill Model Village on the Isle of Wight has pulled a miniature topless streaker from a football pitch after visitors deemed the figurine inappropriate, reports the Mail.
• “The tragedy of Live at the Apollo” – The ultra-progressive wave of the mid-2010s inflicted a collective humour bypass on the comedy world, and Live at the Apollo is the most visible casualty, writes Patrick West in the Spectator.
• “Man cannot live by bread alone; why the age of reason became a cul-de-sac and what older wisdom still knows” – On his Substack, C.J. Strachan argues that as educated young people embrace self-destructive ideologies in a desperate search for meaning, it’s time to reckon honestly with the Enlightenment’s failure to satisfy the deepest human needs.
• “In defence of Quentin Letts” – Why are Labour MPs so rattled by a bit of satire? Writing in the Spectator, Julie Burchill argues the backlash against Quentin Letts for noticing a woman in teh front row of an Andy Burnham press conference was wearing a short skirt shows a growing intolerance for mockery and free speech.
• “Police at the door over a beagle post” – On X, the Free Speech Union reveal that animal rights campaigner Anneka Svenska was visited by police and told to accept a police record and undergo a re-education course or face arrest under the Online Safety Act over posts about research beagles being incinerated.

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