Absolutely Not The Daily Troll-o-Graph

 Change? Small change is all that will be left in our pockets once Labour has unleashed its ruinous plans Source - Daily Telegraph 31/08/24 We are less than two months into a Labour government, already many of our worst fears are being realised, and there is more to come. It is vital that we galvanise our party and restore people’s trust. This is a big moment for the Conservatives. We must do what we can in opposition to protect the British public from Labour’s class warfare, their tax raids, and their attacks on pensioners and on our countryside. But we must also restore a sense of optimism and patriotism, policy driven by principle and, crucially, trust. Every Conservative stood on a manifesto to cut taxes at every stage of life, from stamp duty for first-time buyers to National Insurance. We didn’t get the opportunity to deliver these plans because we lost the public’s trust. The stakes for restoring trust could not be higher. Labour’s empty pre-election rhetoric revolved around...

 The new charges against the former president are as specious and partisan as we’ve come to expect. Source - Spiked 29/08/24 Link Good news, friends! The hit show, ‘Get Trump’, has been renewed again. Season 88 will be returning in September, when there will be yet another court hearing in Washington, DC, thanks to the efforts of prosecutor Jack Smith. Smith announced yesterday that he has ‘streamlined’ his original indictment – alleging that Trump had illegally attempted to overturn the 2020 election – to reflect a Supreme Court ruling in July, which found that presidents have substantial immunity from prosecution for their official actions. That ruling ‘immediately knocked out some of the central allegations that special counsel Jack Smith levelled against Trump, including claims that he attempted to weaponise his Justice Department’, Politico reported last month. But that pesky detail was not going to stop special counsel Smith. The Supreme Court found that presidents can still ...

Andrew Cole claims regulator’s crackdown on startup was fuelled by backlash from rivals Source - Daily Telegraph 25/08/24 Link Andrew Cole, a veteran TV executive who helped set up GB News four years ago, said Ofcom’s crackdown on the startup channel had been fuelled by a backlash from its traditional competitors. The media regulator has threatened to fine GB News following repeated breaches of broadcasting rules on issues including impartiality and the use of politicians as presenters. But Mr Cole said he thought Ofcom had been “relatively fair throughout this whole thing”, given the pressure it was facing from incumbent players such as the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. He said: “The unbelievable, unrelenting drive from the rest of the market to punish GB News because they obviously dislike them has been so profound that I think actually Ofcom has been very restrained.” Mr Cole, who described himself as a “huge believer in free speech”, said he could not comment on specific investigations. ...

  Former Police Officer Brands Nottinghill Carnival ‘unsafe’ as celebration RUINED by ‘lawless youths' GB News Source - GB News  Link By Gabrielle Wilde Published: 26/08/2024 - 15:45 Notting Hill Carnival has been hit with violence as police say they are aware of three stabbings while 90 people have been arrested so far A former police officer has claimed that Notting Hill Carnival is "unsafe" and ruined by "lawless youths" as chaos ensued at the annual London event. 7,000 Metropolitan Police officers have been deployed for the two-day event which expects to see more than a million people attend. So far, police have reported three stabbings and 90 arrests as they launched specialist crowd management to help maintain the festival. Former police officer Kevin Hurley told GB News: "Things liven up towards the evening and certainly tonight, it becomes pretty much an unpoliced, lawless place. "You certainly would not see me personally at the carnival from n...

Mike Tapp tells the presidential nominee’s campaign team they must listen to what hard-working people want Source - Daily Telegraph - 25/08/24 A Labour MP has urged Kamala Harris not to ignore “valid” concerns about immigration. Mike Tapp, the MP for Dover and Deal, said he met with Ms Harris’s campaign team on a visit to the United States after the UK election. He said he urged them not to ignore “worries and concerns around immigration”. Ms Harris, the Democrat presidential candidate, has been attacked over her position on immigration by Donald Trump, who has called her a “failed border tsar”. Mr Tapp told GB News: “We went over in January, a group of candidates at the time, to learn from the Americans and the Democrats and look at their campaign methods. “We went back out after our landslide victory to impart some of our knowledge as to what we learnt on the campaign trail, and to look at what they’re doing with their campaign. “One of the big messages that I was taking over there w...

 Government borrowing has risen to £3.1bn in July 2024 alone   Politicians have put off dealing with debt for too long   Taxpayers' cash is being used to repay debt interest rather than on vital public services Source Capx - link Public sector net debt reached a record £2.5 trillion in 2023-24 and is set to hit an almost unimaginable £3trn by 2028-29, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility. This alarming trend demands attention. While politicians have been keen to play the blame game over the dire state of public finances, none have presented anything close to a solution. In the 2024 general election, both parties pledged yet more spending on public services while promising not to raise major taxes, engaging in what the Institute for Fiscal Studies labelled a ‘conspiracy of silence’ as to how their commitments were going to be paid for. Politicians can’t evade fiscal reality indefinitely. The colossal public sector debt has tangible consequences, with one of th...

In an exclusive interview with The Telegraph, victim Alex Cooke speaks out for the first time Source - Daily Telegraph 23/08/24 The BBC used chauffeurs convicted of paedophilia to transport celebrities and high-profile guests over almost 30 years, The Telegraph can reveal. Niven Sinclair was paid millions of pounds to run a chauffeur service for the broadcaster from the late 1970s until at least 2006, despite being a paedophile – with convictions that included raping a child at gunpoint. His firm was responsible for transporting celebrities including Jimmy Savile as well as guests including Ted Heath, the prime minister at the time, to and from BBC studios.   One of the drivers employed by Sinclair was David Smith, another convicted paedophile who went on to abuse at least two children at the BBC’s studios.  Now, one of Smith’s victims has spoken for the first time and reveals he is considering legal action against the broadcaster.  Alex Cooke, who has waived his rig...

 Scrapping the Rwanda plan was just the beginning. Yvette Cooper can’t possibly bring the amount of immigration in line with public opinion Source - Daily Telegraph 22/08/24 If the weather this week is good, the number of illegal immigrants arriving across the Channel on small boats could reach 20,000. After the riots earlier this month, immigration has soared back to being the most important issue in the country, according to pollsters. Meanwhile, the government hasn’t yet recruited a Border Security Commander, after being turned down by their preferred candidate. In this tough climate, a series of measures have been announced by the home secretary to crack down on illegal immigration. At the centre of those plans is an ambition to achieve the highest rate of returns of illegal immigrants in any six-month period since 2018. That has already been attacked, with critics pointing out that the 2018 number was already exceeded in 2023. Nonetheless, the intention is there. Other element...

The previous government brought in an early release scheme in a bid to cut prison overcrowding. Source - Evening Standard 20/08/24 Link Criminals freed early in a bid to cut prison overcrowding are being sent back to jail after reoffending, according to a watchdog. Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor said a quarter of prisoners freed from HMP Nottingham under the previous government’s early release scheme were homeless when they left the jail, resulting in “inevitable recalls”. The early release scheme – known as End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) – was brought in by Rishi Sunak’s Conservative administration last year in a bid to ease prison overcrowding. Nottingham is a jail that is coping with the many challenges that it faces, but it remains a fragile institution that carries a lot of risk within its constantly churning population More than 10,000 prisoners were released up to 70 days early between October 2023 and June this year under the emergency plan, according to Mi...

Drivers have been warned of the rise in councils calling in bailiffs to collect unpaid Ulez and Clean Air Zone fines across the UK. Source - GB News - 19/08/24 Link Reports detailed how bailiffs are being hired by local authorities to crack down on the number of drivers refusing to pay their traffic fines. The research discovered how nearly four million penalties were handed off to bailiffs last year who were paid to collect the owed traffic violation money The figure is nearly twice the amount recorded in 2022/21 when 2.4 million tickets were referred to agents, while 1.9 million were given out in 2020/19 and 1.3 million in 201 Russell Hamblin-Boone, Chief executive of the Civil Enforcement Association, told The Times that the rise in Clean Air Zones and Ulezfines across the UK has caused more drivers to not pay the charges. He warned that due to public disapproval of the environmental rules, they have “given themselves permission to act with impunity”. He said: “Antisocial behaviour ...

 Why has Labour reduced building targets in areas where the housing crisis is most acute – like London – while blanketing more affordable places, like Burnley, with new development? It all comes down to the algorithm, explains Josh Coupland Source - City Am 05/08/24 Link On Tuesday, newly crowned yimby queen, Angela Rayner announced a raft of measures to get Britain building again and to urgently address the housing crisis. A government finally getting on and delivering much needed housing will be music to the ears of a generation who have found themselves unable to get on the housing ladder.  But there’s a catch – many of the new homes will be built not in the urban centres of Birmingham and London, where house prices continue to rise, but in already affordable areas like Hull and County Durham. In fact, London and Birmingham will see housing targets fall under Labour’s proposed changes to the housing formula. At the root of the proposed changes sits a huge problem that’s cre...

Home Secretary orders review of counter-extremism strategy to tackle violence against women and girls Camilla Turner, Daily Telegraph -  Sunday Political Editor 17 August 2024 • 9:00pm Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, has ordered a review of Britain’s counter-extremism strategy to urgently address gaps in the Government’s stance, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal. It will look at tackling violence against women and girls in the same way as Islamist and far-Right extremism, amid fears that current Home Office guidance is too narrow. This could mean teachers will be legally required to refer pupils they suspect of extreme misogyny to Prevent, the Government’s counter-terror programme. It comes after warnings that misogynistic influencers are radicalising teenage boys online. Ms Cooper said: “For too long, Governments have failed to address the rise in extremism, both online and on our streets, and we’ve seen the number of young people radicalised online grow. Hateful incitement of al...

There used to be a social stigma attached to indolence. Today, ‘wellness’ is prioritised over hard graft Source - Daily Telegraph 16/08/24 Link Come rain or shine, there’s a man on the Isle of Wight who’s always hard at work outside. In a place where the weather is often an excuse, this is unusual in itself. As in so many other parts of this country, the chances of tradesmen and labourers turning up when they say they will here are modest at best. At the first hint of precipitation or the wind whipping up, whole days are shruggingly written off. What makes this reliable worker even more remarkable is that he’s in his 80s, and shows no sign whatsoever of slowing down. Moreover, though his work is very physical (he builds and repairs fencing, which is big business in windy places), he is still in hot demand. Indeed, despite his advanced years, he says that he has more customers than he can manage, which is why he routinely pitches up early and finishes late. That everyone wants to hire t...

Housing Secretary pledges affordable homes as landlords rake in a record £13bn from the taxpayer Source - Daily Telegraph - 15/08/24 Link Angela Rayner has vowed to get benefit claimants out of “expensive private rented accommodation” after analysis found that landlords will be paid a record £13bn in housing benefit this year. The amount of taxpayer money spent on supporting private tenants has surged by 30pc since the pandemic began, rising from £9.9bn in 2019-20 to £12.1bn in 2022-23.  The Housing Secretary has promised to deliver “the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation” as official forecasts predict benefits spending on private tenants will hit £12.8bn this year. The figures include people claiming housing benefit (a legacy benefit) and the housing benefit of Universal Credit, which is slowly replacing the old system. By 2028-29, private buy-to-let landlords will be receiving £13.1bn a year from the taxpayer, an extra £3.2bn since before the ...

Landlords face huge hit to incomes if Mayor granted power to regulate prices Source - Daily Telegraph - 14/08/24 Link Sadiq Khan is plotting to impose rent controls in London in a move that could slash landlords’ incomes by thousands of pounds a year. The Mayor is poised to ask the Government for powers that will allow him to regulate the capital’s rental market, The Telegraph understands. It comes as competition for private rented housing in London remains fierce with the average tenant paying £2,086 per month, according to official figures. Parliament would be required to pass laws to give the Mayor the necessary powers to regulate prices set by private landlords. Mr Khan has been pushing for greater powers since 2016, a move rejected by the Conservative government. However, Labour has signalled that it would be open to introducing some rent controls. Prime Minister Keir Starmer told voters during an election debate in May: “We have to stop the landlords ripping off tenants who are d...

Jailing people for inflammatory or misleading posts on social media risks opening a huge can of worms Source - Daily Telegraph 13/08/22 Michael Deacon Is an apology adequate? Wes Streeting acknowledged he went too far with some comments on social media... 13 years later During last week’s riots, so many thugs disguised themselves using masks that the Government is now considering a ban on the wearing of face coverings at protests. According to a report in the Sun, however, exceptions would be made for “people in religious dress”. If true, we may end up confronted by an unlikely sight. Mobs of violent Islamophobes, all clad in burkas. For the time being, at least, the authorities are focused on dealing with those responsible for the unrest. But punishment isn’t solely reserved for people who committed violent acts. People who stirred up violence through posts on social media are being punished, too. It’s hard to have much sympathy. All the same, I fear such an approach risks opening a h...

Total of 703 people detected making crossing in 11 boats, according to provisional Home Office figures Source - Daily Telegraph - 12/08/24 The highest number of migrants since Sir Keir Starmer became Prime Minister crossed the Channel in a single day on Sunday. A total of 703 people were detected making the crossing in 11 boats, according to provisional figures from the Home Office – the third highest daily number so far this year.  The number of arrivals in small boats this year now stands at 18,342 – 13 per cent higher than at the same time last year, when it stood at 16,170, but three per cent lower than the total at this stage in 2022, when it was 18,978. The highest number of migrants to arrive on a single day so far this year was 882 on June 18, while the second highest was 711 on May 1. There were 29,437 arrivals across the whole of last year, down 36 per cent on the record 45,774 arrivals in 2022. Two people died in French waters while trying to cross the Channel on Sunday ...

Rural authorities fear ‘cookie cutter’ homes without GPs or transport links to support them Source -Daily Telegraph 11/08/24 Link Labour’s building targets will spark “constant warfare on housing” across rural England, council leaders have warned. Local authorities bosses told The Telegraph that the new Government was expecting countryside communities to build “London’s homes” – without providing extra funding for infrastructure. They warned that life would only get worse for rural residents already grappling with gridlocked roads and oversubscribed GP services. Labour has committed to building 1.5m new homes over the next Parliament and has handed councils their own fresh targets. Housing Secretary Angela Rayner has said those who do not meet their targets will have housing plans imposed on them, and wrote to authorities to say they have “not just a professional responsibility but a moral obligation to see more homes built”. But while some rural areas face increases to their housebuil...