A lot can change in a week. A week, in history, is a blip in time which forms one tiny piece of the puzzle of where we are now and how we got here. This week has been hard, harrowing and full of change. Monday night, when the news broke of the terror attack at Manchester Arena, now feels like a lifetime ago. In the days that have followed time has at once stood still and sped up inexplicably.
These days it's not almost cliched to say that 'there's too much news' and you're more than likely to have felt like you're suffering from 'bad news burnout' at some point in recent months. So here's everything you need to know about what's happened this week and what it might mean for the future. This is The Debrief after all.
1. Terror Attack in Manchester
When we woke up on Monday this was just another week of election campaigning. Another week of Theresa May not quite answering people's questions. Another week of debate about whether Corbyn will or won't lead his party to any sort of victory. Another week of quarrelling about the shoulda, woulda, couldas of Brexit.
And then, at around 10.30pm on Monday night information started to circulate on Twitter about a blast at Manchester Arena as an Ariana Grande concert drew to a close. Initially, Twitter users urged each other not to speculate but, heartbreakingly, as the night went on, it became clear that a suicide bomber had killed 22 people and injured 75 and left 23 of those in critical care in the deadliest terrorist attack on British soil since the 7/7 bombings.
Political parties immediately suspended their campaigns. We saw the very worst and very best of humanity in just 25 hours. However, reactions to the incident were mixed. People across social media came together to support those affected in Manchester, vigils were held and goosebumps-inducing footage emerged of those in attendance breaking out into a mass Oasis singalong toDon't Look Back In Anger. the prevailing narrative was one of love and unity. Meanwhile, The Daily Mail, predictably, capitalised on the events to further its own agenda. A Katie Hopkins column was published almost immediately and an article, which it claims have been verified by the RAF, appeared showing bombs with 'Love From Manchester' written on them World War Two style.
As the week draws to a close there are armed police on the streets, who are being assisted by armed forces.
2. Katie Hopkins Is Finally Held To Account
That brings us to the woman herself, Katie Hopkins. A writer who's fuel is contention and modus operandi is controversy, it's no surprise that Hopkins took straight to Twitter on Tuesday morning. However, what she tweeted was, even for her, the crossing of a line. In a now-deleted tweet she said that politicians saying we need unity and resilience in the wake of acts of terror wasn't good enough and, invoking explicitly Nazi rhetoric, she said 'we need a final solution' for dealing with terrorists. Shortly after hitting 'tweet' she took the post down, replacing it with one that said 'true solution' and passing the whole affair off as a 'mistype'.
We've become so used to this sort of contentious, hyperbolic and dangerous rhetoric over the last year that we don't actually expect those responsible to be held accountable. But, this time, it seems things are different. Hopkins who, lest we not forget, is only famous because she once appeared on The Apprentice, has now been reported to the police for inciting racial and religious hatred. Today, it has emerged that she is to leave her LBC talk show with immediate effect, the BBC reports. The Metropolitan Police confirmed the matter was being 'reviewed and assessed by specialist officers'.
If there are any positives at all to come out of this week, could it be that hate speech, inciting hatred and racially aggravated content are, finally, going to be taken more seriously? Andrew O-Hagan's well-timed long read in the London Review of Books about the Daily Mail and its editor, Paul Dacre, is worth reading on this.
3. We Still Can't Trust The Polls
The polls are showing that Labour has closed their lead on the Conservative party. The papers are reporting that the Tory lead has now been cut to five points. What this means, in non-political-correspondent speak, is that the people responding to polls are saying they find Labour more favourable than they did last week. This means that they could do rather better than everyone has been anticipating.
Before an election, everyone and their dog are trying to predict what's going to happen. Most of them refer to polls to back up these prophetic announcements. However, as we learned in the last General Election as well as after last Summer's referendum on the European Union even the polls, comprised of hard data and robust-sounding numbers can get it very wrong. See also, Hillary Clinton.
Labour supporters ought not to get too excited. In 2015 they were polling better than they are now and, as a result, their predicted vote share was over-estimated leading to a crushing victory on the night when the Conservatives won. Positive polls ahead of an election can have another negative effect: undecided on the fence voters think it's in the bag and don't show out to vote.
4. Donald Trump Has Gone From Ridiculous To Even Ridiculouser
This week the British Government has been forced to publicly confirm that they stopped sharing information with American authorities? Why? Because their counterparts across the pond couldn't stop leaking information about an ongoing investigation into a brutal terror attack. Nice one guys.
Meanwhile, the investigation into Trump's links with Russia looms large over his presidency, particularly after the departure of former FBI Director, James Comey. It has been alleged that the President asked Comey to drop his inquiry into his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and Russia.
Now it has emerged that his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, is being looked into by the FBI. He is not suspected of a crime, per se, but is thought to have 'relevant information'.
The investigation centres around possible Russian interference with last year's election result and collusion between Russia and Donald Trump's campaign. Donald Trump has been very dismissive of the investigation, calling it 'the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history'.
As this scandal rumbles on, the American President has been showered with scorn after footage emerged of him clearlyshoving Montenegro's Prime Minister, Dusko Markovic, at a NATO summit in Brussels. J.K.Rowling is among those to have condemned his brutish behaviour, tweeting 'you tiny, tiny, tiny little man.'
To conclude, let's take a moment to remember that Hillary Clinton was investigated by the FBI because she used a personal email server. Trump made a big song and dance about this throughout his election campaign, encouraging his supporters to chant 'lock her up'.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.