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Thursday 30 April 2026
In your briefing today:
Police are treating yesterday’s stabbings in North London as terrorism, with Israel warning anti-semitism in the UK is now out of control
What’s it like to be a Jew in the UK at the moment?
Developers should build data centres in Scotland, not the south of England, says an energy boss
The LIV golf tour is about to lose its Saudi funding
TODAY’S WEATHER
THE BIG STORIES
Police treating London stabbings as terrorism | SNP take aim at Reform | Farage ran for MP after £5 million gift
📣 Police are treating yesterday’s stabbing of two men in North London as terrorism, with the suspect described as having been hunting for anyone “visibly Jewish” to attack. The stabbings followed a series of arson attacks on Jewish targets in London since March, including two previous incidents in Golders Green. (Guardian)
Live coverage: There are calls for more action on antisemitism in the UK (BBC)
Israel has told Keir Starmer he can “no longer claim this [anti-semitism] is under control” (Mail)
🎥 Metropolitan Police bodycam footage of the arrest (BBC)
Suzanne Moore: I’m so angry, I don’t know what to do with myself (Telegraph)
In Australia, a royal commission into antisemitism, called in the aftermath of last year’s Bondi shooting, has recommended gun reform and tighter policing around Jewish festivals. (BBC)
Later in today’s briefing: Being a Jew in Britain ⬇️
📣 The SNP is attempting to frame the election race in the South of Scotland as a two-horse race between it and Reform, and is urging voters to “stop Farage at the border”. SNP insiders are saying the move is a big shift in strategy, only a week out from the election. (The Times)
Polling analysis suggests the SNP faces a tough election in Edinburgh (Herald)
Reform UK’s leader in Scotland, Malcolm Offord, has refused to publish his tax returns after being challenged by John Swinney (Mail)
Stephen Daisley: After the STV election debate, I have a newfound respect for dictatorship (Mail)
📣 Nigel Farage changed his mind about running to be an MP shortly after being given a £5 million gift by the crypto billionaire, Christopher Harbone, the Guardian claims. Within weeks of receiving the personal gift from the businessman, who is based in Thailand, the Reform UK leader - who has since claimed he could become the next Prime Minister - u-turned on his previous decision not to run.
Asked on Monday by the Guardian about the gift, Reform sent a legal letter asking for more time to respond. The deadline was extended until Wednesday morning. The Telegraph then published an interview with Farage before the deadline, in which Farage said he needed the money for personal security - and his home had been firebombed early last year. (Guardian has the exclusive)
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AROUND SCOTLAND
📣 Developers looking to build new data centres should put them in Scotland, not the south-east of England, the chief executive of Britain’s energy distribution network has said. “If in the audience you have a big data centre and you want to go to Scotland, please come talk to me, we will help you. It is actually helpful to the system to do that,” Fintan Slye told a conference. (FT (£))
The BBC profiles Aberdeen, “the city caught in the middle of the big energy shift debate” (BBC)
📣 Experts are warning that many vape shops and those ubiquitous high street candy stores are, in fact, fronts for organised crime. (Record)
📣 A mother who tried to blame a child for the death of her newborn child has been found guilty of murder. Video has also emerged of her storming out of a gender reveal party after she was told the as-yet unborn child was going to be a girl. (Mail)
📣 The Royal Yacht Britannia is among the world’s best tourist attractions, according to Tripadvisor. (BBC)
AROUND THE UK & WORLD
📣 Oil prices have jumped overnight to the highest levels since 2022 after reports Donald Trump is to be briefed on options for further action in the Middle East. (BBC)
📣 Former FBI director James Comey has surrendered to authorities to face charges he threatened the life of US President Donald Trump in a social media post. (BBC)
📣 An interest rate decision is due today at midday from the Bank of England: most expect rates to be held. (BBC)
SPORT
⛳️ The rebel LIV Golf tour is expected to confirm to its players that Saudi Arabia’s funding of the circuit will end at the end of the year, in a move that will begin a scramble between some leading names in the sport to return to traditional tours. (Guardian)
⚽️ Mikel Arteta was left fuming with the referee after his Arsenal side were held to a 1-1 draw away to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League. (BBC)
IDEAS
On being Jewish in Britain
Many Jews have never felt more isolated in this country than they do today.”
🗣️ A few weeks ago, a colleague spoke movingly at an event about how it is to be Jewish in modern Britain. I was shocked at what she told us: of the sense of hostility she faces, of the trouble she witnesses in and around her community, of the sense among Jewish people here that they may need a plan B that involves leaving the UK.
I know I lead a sheltered life. I had no idea quite how sheltered it was. According to polling by the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, undertaken shortly before the Bondi Beach attack last year, a majority of British Jews (51%) feel that they do not have a long-term future in the UK. 59% of British Jews try not to show visible signs of their Jewishness.
My colleague’s remarks have stayed with me, and - in light of yesterday’s attacks in north London - I thought it might be of value to Early Line readers to flag up a few pieces of writing which have either, since, reminded me of what I learned, or which are a bit older and illustrate what this community thinks and feels in modern Britain.
Maybe they’re telling you something you already knew. Or you may, too, be shocked.
Why British Jews are experiencing their biggest change in 60 years: “‘It's been an incredibly difficult two years,’ says Phil Rosenberg, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews. ‘I think our Jewish identity is being worn far more heavily these days given the pain of it all.’ (BBC)
Hadley Freeman: My synagogue is seen as too dangerous for kids: “Oh look, it’s an email from my youngest child’s school. The end-of-year concert is moving to another venue — fine, whatever … oh wait, what’s this? The concert was going to be in a local synagogue but because of safety concerns the school, which is non-denominational, will find an alternative venue. Well, that’s a grim sign of the times, I think. So grim that it takes me a beat to realise this synagogue that has been deemed too dangerous is, in fact, our family synagogue. [..] Now I know how a lobster feels when the pot starts to boil.” (The Times)
Adam Cailler: “The Jewish school my daughter is at already has two sets of ram-proof gates, two further sets of steel gates before parents can get to the playground, and pairs of security guards wearing bullet proof vests at every gate.
“There's cameras on every possible angle, ram-proof fences only a giraffe can see over, and a giant siren on top of the building in case the worst should happen, and all parents have to show ID before entering the grounds.“And my daughter, aged just 7, has been taking part in terror attack drills at school since she was aged just three years old. (The Star)
Darren Richman: “I was jolted awake this morning by the news of another antisemitic attack in London, and felt a familiar numbness wash over me.
It is a feeling I recognise. I felt it when there were chants of ‘One man went to gas, went to gas – a Yiddo’ during a Tottenham game screened in my university halls.
“I felt it again years later, when a group of men sang about Auschwitz in Camden Town Tube station while police nearby declined to intervene because they were aiding a tourist with directions.
“And I felt it more recently at a small party when someone decided that the best course of action was to tell a joke in which Jews were the punchline.“I had long assumed such jokes were told only in rooms without Jews. It was a shock to learn otherwise.” (Independent - premium, apologies: I can’t do gift access)
👍 That’s your Early Line for the day
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