The real reason children no longer enjoy reading.” Mary Wakefield has a theory in the latest Spectator.  Instead of screen addiction, she blames school curricula which teach “to the test” rather than reading for enjoyment. Children are so busy analysing brief extracts, they can’t enjoy the book as a whole. I read incessantly as a child, including illicitly when I was supposed to be sleeping. Not “great literature”, it was Dr Dolittle, Biggles, Bulldog Drummond, Just William, Arthur Ransome, Percy F Westerman. It would certainly have included Harry Potter if he’d been around then. I don’t believe I ever had my “comprehension” tested. I just loved reading. Is Mary Wakefield right?

🛑 Exigent Circumstances Beat the Fleeing Illegal Alien in Doolittle, Texas 🛑 ICE agents detained an illegal alien in Doolittle, Texas, who tried to escape by entering someone's yard, but exigent circumstances overruled his action. Fleeing into a private yard does not create a safe harbor when agents have an immediate need to prevent escape. Courts have long recognized hot pursuit and other exigent circumstances as exceptions to the usual warrant rules for homes and curtilage. Texas has about 1.6 million illegal aliens, according to Pew Research Center's 2023 estimate. FAIR puts the annual cost of illegal immigration to Texas taxpayers at about $13.3 billion.

Find out why China’s promise of no arms to Iran will do little to end the war in today's episode of Iran: The Latest @sophia_yan speaks to @AGhiselliChina, a China-Iran expert who has spent the war in China, about how the conflict is perceived in Beijing 👇

U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed rollback of methane emissions rules would do little to lower oil and natural gas prices, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s own economic modeling. Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the proposal Tuesday in Lubbock, Texas, in a bid to lower regulatory costs and support domestic energy production. Click here to find out more about the proposal:

COP31 host Turkey will urge countries to place a goal to expand the share of electricity in global energy use at the center of the conference's final agreement despite criticism the plan could do little to cut emissions

President Donald Trump’s threat to use what’s known as the “Mother Of All Bombs” to hit Iran might be effective at hitting some military targets but would do little to destroy nuclear facilities buried deep under a mountain.

On April 18, 1942, civilians in Shangrao, Jiangxi risked their lives to rescue 18 downed American airmen from the Doolittle Raid. Descendants of John Hilger, pilot of Crew 14, hope to see the clouds through which her grandfather parachuted, his landing site and their hiding place. 1942 年 4 月 18 日，中国江西上饶百姓冒着生命危险救下了 “杜立特行动” 中遇险的 18 名美军空勤人员。 14 号机机长约翰・希尔格的后人希望亲眼看看爷爷跳伞穿过的云层、着陆点以及当年的藏身之处。 #China# #Jiangxi# #美军飞行员后代寻访江西#