In your briefing today:

📣 Violent protesters took to the streets of Southampton last night after the release of police bodycam footage which showed a student, Henry Nowak, being arrested after he was attacked in the city. He later died of his injuries.

He had been stabbed six times by a Sikh stranger, Vickrum Digwa, who falsely alleged Nowak had shouted racist abuse and torn off his turban. In fact, Digwa had used a Sikh dagger to attack Nowak, who he did not know.

The footage has sparked a political row, with far-right leaders being accused of using the case to whip up racist resentment. Police chiefs said they would review anti-racism guidelines and change them if necessary. (Southern Daily Echo) (Sky News)

📣 We learned more about how Peter Murrell covered up his crimes in another remarkable court hearing yesterday, in which the details of his crimes - illicitly buying goods ranging from toilet rolls to a motorhome and luxury car - were masked through an amateurish system of fake invoices, aided by slack approvals processes and apparently absent governance.

A vast array of goods was delivered to Murrell’s home, shared with then-First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, as well as the SNP party HQ and the homes of family members. (BBC)

📣 Liverpool, Celtic and Scotland legend Sir Kenny Dalglish has confirmed he is undergoing treatment for cancer - having inadvertently revealed the news via social media. "I am currently undergoing treatment for cancer," Dalglish, 75, wrote. "Unlike my mobile phone use, the treatment is going well.” (BBC)

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📣 Mobile phones are to be banned in Scottish classrooms under new legislation. (Herald)

📣 Six more people have been arrested over the disorder at the Rangers v Celtic Scottish Cup match earlier in the year - taking the total number of arrests to 37. (BBC)

📣 A company set up to run a satellite launch facility in the north-west Highlands is to be liquidated and its assets sold off. (BBC)

📣 Votes are being counted in California to decide who should fight to replace Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom: faintly remarkably, former David Cameron aide Steve Hilton is winning the Republican race, as things stand. (AP)

📣 A pensions body is warning we’re not saving enough for our retirement: three-quarters of workers are not on track for even a “moderate” income. (BBC)

📣 Vladimir Putin is being warned he cannot afford to sustain his war in Ukraine at the current pace by his finance officials and Russia’s central bank. (Independent)

⚽️ An emotional Billy Gilmour has spoken of his disappointment at missing out on the World Cup with a knee injury, posting on social media: “I haven’t got the words to describe how I’m feeling right now..” (Instagram) (The Sun)

⚽️ Steve Clarke has explained his controversial decision to pick youngster Tyler Fletcher to replace Gilmour in the Scotland squad, saying: “I just felt that Tyler had shown in that camp that he can be a big player for now and a big player for the future.” (Daily Record)

🗣️ Magnus Linklater sees the Murrell scandal broaden to the cast around the disgraced former Chief Executive of the SNP who apparently missed, or ignored, the warning signs over years of embezzlement.

“Quite how this devious, but essentially amateurish fraud escaped the notice of accountants, treasurers and auditors, to say nothing of party leaders down the years raises so many questions about the management of the SNP finances it is hard to know where to start,” he writes.

“Here was its chief executive ‘marking his own homework’ as funds gradually seeped away with no one apparently able to detect their disappearance, let alone do anything to stem the flow.

“Except that some did try. Three party officials complained about a lack of financial transparency; other members of the national executive asked questions but were warned off; a national treasurer resigned because he had no access to the books. And still no action was taken.” (The Times)

🗣️Rebecca McQuillan isn’t the only observer to wonder at the robust, even outraged tone the current First Minister is taking towards questioning over the affair. “On Monday, he was shocked; on Tuesday defiant; by Thursday, he was cranky,” she writes. “John Swinney’s first outing at First Minister’s Questions in this new session should have been a victory lap. Instead his plan to bathe in the glow of electoral success and talk up independence was bazookaed by former chief executive Peter Murrell admitting to embezzling more than £400,000 of SNP party funds.

“It’s been a bad week for the resident of Bute House, obviously. The first minister is a combative politician who loves a robust exchange of views, and is usually chipper and upbeat with it. But not right now. Mr Swinney’s mood over the Murrell affair as publicly expressed is somewhere between irritable and sulphurous. That angry tone is something he may come to regret.

“Humility: that’s what is required from John Swinney now, not defiance,” she concludes. (Herald)

🗣️Jenny Lindsay, meanwhile, takes aim at Nicola Sturgeon’s defence of misogyny against some of her detractors. “This is crass,” she writes. “It’s neither ‘sexist’ nor ‘misogynist’, as Sturgeon supporters have wailed this week, to question the incuriosity about luxury items turning up in her own home.

“Her justifications she was busy, wasn’t home much, she and Murrell had large enough salaries to justify £2k designer salt and pepper pots and various £500 Montblanc fountain pens are, in fairness, plausible. They’re beside the point, though.

“Her failure is not as an incurious spouse, but as SNP party leader and at one point temporary treasurer, who was questioned internally by those on the National Executive Committee (NEC) over the party’s finances as early as 2021. She berated and shot down those questioning the party’s accounts.

“It is entirely her own actions – or inaction – she faces questions over, including why she didn’t recognise internal SNP governance structures were flawed and open to corruption. (Scotsman)

🗣️Euan McColm is one of the few commentators to express a shred of personal sympathy for Peter Murrell. “As he was led from the courtroom […] he looked small, diminished, older than his 61 years.

“Yes, his breach of the trust of SNP members was appalling but he has now begun paying a heavy price. After this period of national humiliation, Murrell faces a lengthy prison sentence.”

He goes on to note that, as Murrell goes down, John Swinney still faces an enormous political problem. “Mr Swinney’s incuriosity about the then chief executive’s actions, even as the air shrieked with whistles and red flags obscured the sun, is no less shocking than Ms Sturgeon’s failure to wonder where the sparkling new Jag in her driveway had come from,” he writes.

“The First Minister will not disentangle himself from the Murrell scandal by losing his composure when asked legitimate questions about his response.” (Mail (£))

🗣️Finally, I’m not entirely sure Brian Monteith is being entirely serious when he suggests it might be in the best interests of both Sturgeon and Swinney that some sort of inquiry take place into the SNP’s finances. But that does appear to be what he’s suggesting.

“Given that those who donated to the SNP still do not know how the party’s governance protocols failed to prevent such large-scale embezzlement,” writes Monteith, “there surely are reasons for having some form of inquiry – lessons might be learned and new regulations introduced.

“The SNP might benefit, but so too might the public’s trust in the conduct of all political parties or political campaigns that seek to raise funds from ordinary folk.” (Scotsman)

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