Afternoon summary
The suspect in the Golders Green double stabbing was referred to Prevent, the official counter-extremism scheme, in 2020. As Vikram Dodd reports, the Guardian understands his case was closed within six weeks by the deradicalisation scheme, which has faced previous criticism.
The Green party leader, Zack Polanski, has been criticised for retweeting a post on X suggesting that the police used excessive force when they arrested the suspect in the Golders Green attack. (See 4.36pm.)
Labour has called on Robert Jenrick to give up almost £40,000 donated to his campaign to be Conservative leader in 2024 following allegations that the sum came from an impermissible foreign donor now convicted of fraud.
For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.
The fact that Zack Polanski is being criticised for a post on social media (see 4.36pm) won’t surprise the Economist. In an article about him this week, it describes him as “a politician who could be described as Britain’s first digital-native party leader”. It says:
Mr Polanski has liked a post on Bluesky every day since April 1st 2025—nearly 35,000 times in total (see chart). On a typical day, Mr Polanski likes his first Bluesky post at around 8.30am. His favourite times to scroll are between noon and 1pm, and from 6pm to 7pm. His last like of the day tends to happen at around 11.15pm. After that, presumably, it’s bedtime.
The content of the posts Mr Polanski likes vary but there are some recurring themes. Around a third of the posts include his name. They tend to be adoring.
The article also says: “With so many likes to his name, perhaps it is no surprise that Mr Polanski’s thumbs are working faster than his judgment.”
