Good morning. It was supposed to be a day of joy. Half a million people packed out the square mile to catch a glimpse of the Liverpool team that won the Premier League. Among the fans were families and children. Then a car ploughed into the crowd – turning a day of smiles and revelry into one of shock and horror.
At least 65 people, including children, were injured on Monday, with 27 people taken to hospital. Local authorities said four people were left “very ill”. Keir Starmer said the scenes were appalling, while the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, called the incident “shocking and horrendous”.
In a bid to tackle misinformation, Merseyside police released details that the detained driver was a 53-year-old white British man. What hangs over all of this, of course, is the dreadful attack in Southport almost a year ago, where disinformation about the murder of three girls sparked riots that spread across the country. Merseyside police, which dealt with the Southport attack, is now dealing with this incident.
The decision by police in Liverpool to quickly release the details of the suspect’s race and ethnicity has surprised many. For today’s newsletter, I spoke to Dal Babu, a former chief superintendent in the Metropolitan police, about why we’re seeing this difference in approach, and what it may mean for the police, the media and local communities. That’s after the headlines.
Five big stories
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UK politics | The Treasury is in a standoff with ministers over proposed cuts to public services, with key departments yet to agree their budgets. The news comes as the International Monetary Fund suggested the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, could give herself more flexibility to hit her fiscal rules.
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Gaza | Israeli troops opened fire near thousands of hungry Palestinians as a logistics group chosen by Israel to ship food into Gaza lost control of its distribution centre on its second day of operations. The chaos fanned fears that the group’s inexperience would render it unable to handle the operation.
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Reform UK | Nigel Farage has been accused of leaving a multibillion-pound black hole in his party’s spending plans with a series of expensive policy pledges to be paid for by cutting nonexistent items. Farage promised up to £80bn worth of new spending including scrapping the two-child benefit cap.
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Canada | King Charles has said Canadians can “give themselves far more than any foreign power on any continent can ever take away” in a rare appearance in the country’s parliament. Charles’s speech, written by the Canadian prime minister’s office, served as a rebuke of Donald Trump.
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Entertainment | After an extensive search, the actors set to play the new leads of the Harry Potter TV series have been found. Dominic McLaughlin, Alastair Stout and Arabella Stanton were chosed from tens of thousands of hopefuls.
In depth: ‘It’s really important that there is space and time for a debate on this’
There are strict rules that govern what police officers can release, what journalists can report, and what members of the public can say around a story involving a crime. The reason is that every suspect has the right to a fair trial, and the release of certain information can jeopardise that trial.
“In the old days,” said Dal Babu, “I remember sensitive incidents that would occur and I’d speak to broadcast media, I’d speak to radio media, print journalists – people you realised were interested in telling the truth, had a degree of integrity and understood the greater good of communities. People respected your confidentiality.
“It’s not that you were trying to suppress any story,” he continued, “but it’s about the timing and the amount of information that you were prepared to supply and correct any misinformation that journalists might have been given. I don’t think you can do that with social media.”
This precedent came under heavy pressure following the Southport murders, where three young girls – Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice da Silva Aguiar – were killed in a frenzied knife attack by Axel Rudakubana in July last year. The teenager pleaded guilty to all charges at Liverpool crown court earlier this year.
Misinformation quickly spread on social media about Rudakubana, a British child who was born to Rwandan Christian parents in Cardiff. And after hundreds peacefully gathered for a vigil the following evening in Southport, the burning and rioting began. Far-right agitators attacked the police and the mosque in Southport. The riots then quickly spread across England.
At the time, Babu explained: “There was a dispute between the police and the Crown Prosecution Service about whether the individual should be named or any details given. The view basically is that there’s a danger that it will impact a trial in terms of fairness.”
This time, police took a different approach.
The response in Liverpool
In the immediate aftermath of the Liverpool incident, police described the suspect as a 53-year-old white British man. “This is the first instance I can think of where literally within hours they’ve named the ethnicity and the race of the individual,” Babu said. “This is a sea change, and it’s unprecedented and it may be the way that the police need to be more fleet of foot.”
Babu points to how significant information spreads online, and how difficult it can be to control it. But he is keen to stress that, while this situation is unprecedented, it shouldn’t be seen as setting the standard going forward. “Every incident will be different. But people may feel that if there’s a future incident they’re entitled to know the ethnicity and race, and it may not be appropriate to release it.”
While he thinks the police were correct to share information on this occasion to combat the racist and Islamophobic misinformation on social media, he admits they may now face a conundrum. “It doesn’t take rocket science to predict what will happen: the far right will twist this and say, ‘Right, you’ve named [the race] because it’s a white person. Why aren’t you naming the [the race of] the next person?’ And it will present some difficulties and challenges to the police.”
He added: “But it’s really important that there is space and time for a debate on this in a sort of very measured way.”
Anti-social media
At the heart of the issue are social media platforms such as X, formerly known as Twitter. “You can’t have these nuanced conversations on X. I’m not on X because it’s just a cesspool … that allows the most horrific discrimination,” Babu said.
Even though the police in Liverpool announced the race and ethnicity of the suspect, conspiracy theories were still swirled around on the platform by far-right actors. “Some of them actually shared an image of a man who they said was the driver. In fact, he was a totally innocent man, who had nothing to do with the incident. It just demonstrates how out of control social media is. We’ve gone from a very, very, well, significantly regulated media system to a free-for-all on X.”
He points to the disinformation following the death of Nicola Bulley as another example. She went missing while walking her dog in Lancashire in January 2023. Her disappearance grabbed the attention of “self-appointed experts on the subjects” who turned up to the area, Babu said. These wannabe sleuths then posted misleading theories about what had happened. “The police were trying to rectify misinformation, but then ended up being criticised.”
Incidents such as these show that the days when police officers such as Babu can tightly manage what’s being released to the public by briefing journalists on a very complex investigation are gone. “You can have those conversations, but you’ve still got social media,” he said.
The way forward?
When asked what should be done, Babu said: “It’s important that people who make racist comments, extremist comments, cause hate speech, misinformation, are removed from [a] platform.” But online platforms, he admitted, can’t be trusted to self-police: “They’ve got a vested interest in sort of clickbait traffic, which generates income from adverts.”
And police, he noted, shouldn’t be left alone to handle this. “It’s important to have very strong legislation to deal with this. I think regulation is the only answer; allowing people just to say what they want is very dangerous, because some people believe it.”
But instead of beefing up the Online Safety Act there have been whispers that it may be watered down as part of trade negotiations with the US. It remains unclear whether events in Liverpool will lead to a rethink.
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What else we’ve been reading
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Journalist Adele Zeynep Walton (pictured holding a self-portrait of her sister) described her sister Aimee’s death as suicide – until she learned about the pro-suicide forum that she says groomed Aimee until the choice was no longer truly her own. Paula Cocozza’s interview describes Walton’s remarkable crusade to expose one of the darkest corners of the internet. Archie
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The Guardian’s Laura Snapes was at a Kylie Minogue gig last Friday. While it’s common for people to complain about the sea of smartphones recording such events, it was the man next to her who spent the entire show filming the artist close up that unsettled her: “The inference is that women only exist here to be surveilled.” Aamna
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Humbling doesn’t really cover the ludicrous notion that I can claim to be a member of the same profession as war correspondents. With a record number killed last year, here are four remarkable accounts of how and why they do it. Archie
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The Black Lives Matter protests were meant to lead to change in the British TV industry, but Black creatives tell the Guardian’s Lanre Bakare that they’re “fighting over scraps” because of a lack of opportunities, with conditions worse now than in 2020. Aamna
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In 2014, Vladimir Putin asked Mustafa Dzhemilev, a Crimean Tatar leader, for support for Russia’s annexation of the Ukrainian region. But Dzhemilev turned him down, and has lived in exile in Kyiv ever since. Shaun Walker’s interview is a fascinating prism on the grim bartering over Ukraine’s future. Archie
Sport
Football | Mary Earps (pictured above) has shocked her England teammates by retiring from international football with immediate effect. The 32-year-old goalkeeper’s decision comes 36 days before England defend their European Championship title in Switzerland.
Tennis | Jack Draper and Cameron Norrie led the way on another impressive day for British tennis on the clay courts of Paris as its two most successful active male players moved into the second round of the French Open.
Cycling | Primoz Roglic has abandoned the Giro d’Italia after suffering another crash in treacherous conditions during a rain-hit stage 16 on Tuesday. The 2023 winner was caught in an accident on a downhill section alongside Richard Carapaz, who did manage to rejoin the race.
The front pages
“Ministers in standoff with Reeves over planned public services cuts” says the Guardian while the Telegraph has “Cannabis should not be criminal, says Khan”, meaning the London mayor. “Police safety fears over jail plan” – that’s the Times while the i paper has “Farage policies would risk Truss mini-Budget style market chaos, economists warn”. Page one lead in the Financial Times is “Rising fiscal tension forces Treasury shift into shorter-term borrowing”. For others, there is only one story to be leading with, and “Parade suspect in drug drive arrest” in the Metro is the most muted treatment. “Liverpool car attacker was ‘high on drugs’” – that’s the Express, and the Mail has the strapline “Horror in Liverpool” followed by “Parade driver ‘high on drugs’”. “Liverpool parade horror … ‘Driver on drugs’” is the Mirror’s version.
Today in Focus
On trial for having an abortion
Nicola Packer, with Guardian north of England correspondent, Hannah Al-Othman, describes her four-and-a-half-year ordeal after being prosecuted for having an abortion in the UK
Cartoon of the day | Rebecca Hendin
The Upside
A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad
Friendships need effort to thrive, and reconnecting requires intentional actions. If distance has grown between you and a friend and you want to reconnect there are questions that you can ask as a starting point. Friendships change over time but understanding each other’s needs can strengthen your bond, and creating space for honesty allows unresolved conflicts to surface. Showing curiosity about a friend’s life, reflecting with them about how your friendship has changed, letting them know that you miss them; these are all ways to kickstart your relationships.
A little effort can go a long way in revitalising a meaningful connection, you just need to have the right conversation.
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Bored at work?
And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.
