UK - Classic children's novels have been given "content warnings" by university chiefs. English undegraduates at Leeds are being told Anna Sewell's 1877 novel Black Beauty contains "depictions of cruelty to animals". Daniel Defoe's 1719 adventure tale Robinson Crusoe "discusses race and slavery" and has "attitudes typical of its time". And Edgar Rice Burroughs's 1912 classic Tarzan Of The Apes is said to contain "expressions of racism". Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said: "Each week brings more ludicrous examples of universities cosseting adults from the 'horrors' of children's literature. Perhaps the first thing that they should be teaching their students is that the real world doesn't come with a trigger warning."

USA - Ford Motor Co tumbled into a bear market after a fourth-quarter profit and sales missed Wall Street expectations. Chief Executive Jim Farley warned of "persistent supply-chain disruptions" limiting its ability to meet strong demand. Reuters reports the Detroit automaker will shutter eight factories in the US, Mexico, and Canada, beginning on Monday as it copes with chip shortages. Reuters' report paints a challenging 2022 backdrop for the company as it continues having trouble sourcing chips, an ongoing issue for well over a year, and still not yet resolved. The good news is Ford's turnaround is underway with the launch of electric vehicles. However, it has to reduce the complexity of its supply chain, a transition that won't be easy.

IRAN - A hacktivist organization has revealed a highly sensitive Iran Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps document that asserts Iranian “society is in a state of explosion” because of the crippling sanctions imposed on the nation due to its illicit nuclear program. According to Radio Farda’s Golnaz Esfandiari, who authored the exclusive article, “the document covers a meeting with IRGC’s intelligence wing and quotes an official named Mohammadi saying that Iran’s “society is in a state of explosion.” Mohammadi added that “social discontent has risen by 300% in the past year.” Revolts against the clerical state have erupted in Iranian society since the 1979 Islamic revolution, including the widespread Green movement protests in 2009 and massive unrest in 2019.

USA - While the overwhelming majority of Americans favor clean air and water, they also want affordable food and energy prices, but thanks to a series of bad policy decisions on the part of US and Western leaders, they can’t have both. The global financial system was sent into a tailspin and the world has yet to recover. The economic system is out of whack and it’s not clear at this point what will bring it back into alignment, but in the meantime, there is a crisis building regarding the cost of food that is directly related to skyrocketing oil and energy prices. Bloomberg News has more: Global food prices jumped toward a record last month, further adding to the surging cost of living for consumers. While it’s true that inflation has become rampant in the United States, it’s actually become a global problem: According to the United Nation’s world food index, household budgets will be further pressured as prices continue to rise for basic items. What’s more, the cost of producing food is also skyrocketing, and “that’s particularly bad news for the poorest consumers and nations with the least disposable income,” Bloomberg noted.

UK - On Thursday, the Bank of England warned that Brits face the biggest decline in living standards in three decades over the next year. The reason is that just about everything is getting more expensive, but incomes will not rise anywhere near enough to match this surge of inflation. The Bank's governor, Andrew Bailey, even pleaded with workers not to demand big pay rises – in effect, to accept lower living standards. And central to the rising cost of living is the startling increase in the cost of energy. Britain's energy crisis has been two decades in the making: rejecting fracking, coal, and (until too late) nuclear; over-reliance on renewables; spending too much time listening to eco-warriors and grandstanding about climate-change policies; and spending too little time worrying about cost and security of supply. All epitomised by the irrational drive to Net Zero by 2050. The result will be hardship for millions and it's happening right now.

USA - In a single day, two members of the American press asking for clarification and evidence from the Biden administration were painted as sympathizers of Russia and ISIS. Efforts by US media to establish objective truth – rather than acting as stenographers for the government and its official narratives – is now apparently considered an act of disloyalty to your country, and loyalty to its enemies.

UK - The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) describes itself as “the most trusted broadcaster in the world.” That's quite a confident assertion to make about oneself. At first glance, such a label may seem appropriate to some. The BBC is, at least objectively speaking, a pioneering institution that shaped the world of modern reporting from the early 20th century onwards. It represents a style that is both authentic and classic, embodied by that formal British accent that is a hallmark of its reporting. The BBC has undeniably been popular as a source of news, entertainment, and educational material for many around the world. Every other international broadcaster is, in some ways, a carbon copy of the principles and norms that the BBC established.

UK - Brits are being told to reduce their living standards and tighten their belts even as it’s announced that the government is spending £4.7 million pounds a day on housing refugees in hotels. Yes, really. Earlier today, the Bank of England said citizens must prepare for the biggest fall in their standard of living for decades since records began. GDP estimates have been slashed while interest rates have been raised as the Bank says inflation will surpass 7 per cent. However, there’s plenty of money for illegal migrants arriving on boats. UK taxpayers were initially told that the bill for asylum seekers’ accommodation was £1.2 million a day. Many of the migrants are being housed in hotels in popular resorts alongside holidaymakers. This has prompted a wave of complaints about aggressive behaviour, thefts, urinating in elevators and general chaos. But remember, diversity is a strength!

GERMANY - "Where is Olaf Scholz?" That's a question that has been circulating on social media in Germany since the beginning of the year. Whether it's about arms deliveries to Ukraine, the diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in China, the debate about introducing a general vaccine mandate to combat the COVID pandemic or measures against galloping inflation figures — the chancellor seems all but invisible, his statements seem vague. This negatively impacted his approval ratings in the latest survey by pollster Infratest Dimap, in which 1,339 individuals across the country were polled by telephone (876) or online (463) between January 31 and February 2. Only 43% of respondents said they were satisfied with Chancellor Olaf Scholz. One month ago that figure still stood at 60%. Two months after taking office, Germany's new government is slipping in the polls. Voters are expressing dissatisfaction over the crisis in Ukraine and especially with Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

USA - A new generation of fear entrepreneurs in the IT industry are promoting anxieties and fatalism about the threat quantum computing poses to the future of encrypted data, cyber-security and our way of life. You can’t make this stuff up. Just when we can breathe a sigh of relief as we appear to have overcome the Covid pandemic, ‘the quantum apocalypse’ draws us back into new anxiety about life on Earth – just like Al Pacino in ‘The Godfather’ trying to escape his criminal past, but being pulled back in. However, this is not a Hollywood movie. It is a real thing. And just like the doomsday predictions of environmentalists, ‘the quantum apocalypse’ is being presented as a real existential threat to life as we know it. So, what is this ‘quantum apocalypse’? Well, to put it simply, it is the imagined outcome of a world where encrypted, secret files are suddenly cracked open by quantum computers. The “quantum apocalypse” is the latest fear being used to stoke the fatalism that now underpins the public imagination.

USA - DC school makes masked kindergarten students march with BLM Signs while chanting Black Lives Matter. When liberal activists masquerading as teachers claim that they are not teaching Marxist critical race theory, they are lying. Like several other schools around the country, a private school in Washington DC has given up on educating in favor of indoctrinating young children to support the extremist Black Lives Matter movement.

USA - A widespread effort is underway within the Biden administration to create special lists that track federal employees or applicants who seek religious exemptions. Fifty-five departments and agencies within the Biden administration have created 57 rule changes to track federal employees seeking different types of exemptions, according to the Liberty Counsel Action (LCA). The government watchdog revealed Thursday that some of the rules apply to COVID-19 vaccine exemptions. Others track all exemptions, such as an employee or applicant seeking accommodation from working on the Sabbath or Sunday. Some even track visitors to their buildings or events.

UK - Why are we paying billions to import all this energy when we are sitting on our own goldmine? If Ofgem’s decision yesterday to hike domestic energy bills from April by almost £700 confirmed one thing for us, it should be that now, more than ever, we must rapidly work towards energy security. Indeed, it doesn’t have to be this way. As British households worry how they are going to keep warm, Americans remain as happy as Larry. In the US electricity prices currently average $0.15 (11.2p) per kWh (kilowatt-hour) – little more than half the average of $0.28 (20.6p) per kWh in Britain. And that is before you account for Ofgem’s price rise. So why is it so expensive over here?The answer is prices are kept affordable for Americans because of an energy policy which prioritises self-sufficiency. By exploiting vast shale gas reserves, America escapes the whims of international markets. Europe and the UK, on the other hand, now find themselves trapped in a perilous price hike. And yet, this mess makes little sense when Britain is sitting on ample gas, oil and coal reserves.

UK - Britain’s Ministry of Defence has released its space defense strategy, which raises the alarming specter of an “exo-atmospheric nuclear attack.” However, the document offers few concrete proposals to counter such a threat. Released on Tuesday, the UK’s ‘Defence Space Strategy’ document describes space as a potential future battlefield, rife with threats ranging from cyber attacks and anti-satellite dazzling lasers, all the way up to an “Exo-atmospheric Nuclear Attack.” Such an attack, presumably launched from a satellite in orbit, would be a “permanent kill event,” the report states. However, it does not elaborate on the likelihood of this kind of attack, whether Britain’s adversaries are anywhere close to possessing such capabilities, or what the term “permanent kill event” means. The latest report describes Russia and China as “international threats,” citing both nations’ testing of anti-satellite missiles in recent years. In particular, the report called out Russia for leaving a trail of space debris behind after a test last year. However, similar tests have been carried out by the US as far back as the 1980s and by India in 2019, with neither mentioned in the MoD’s report.

USA - The Biden Administration is working to force more insurance companies to cover transgender surgeries. Such genital, breast, and facial surgery, as well as hormone therapy and more, would be considered medically necessary for those wishing to undergo the sex-changing procedure. Discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability is prohibited in federally funded healthcare facilities under the Affordable Care Act, passed during the Obama Administration. A proposed rule, issued by the US Department of Health and Human Services on January 5, would add “sexual orientation and gender identity” to this list. The rule “places ideology ahead of sound medicine,” the Ethics and Public Policy Center argued in a comment Thursday opposing the rule. It “is without legal support, contradicts long-standing scientific understandings of the human person, attempts to evade court injunctions, promotes harm to patients (especially minors), tramples religious freedom,” and more, according to the EPPC.