Jawad Iqbal

Few will shed a tear at the news that Columbia University president Minouche Shafik is stepping down after months of criticism of her handling of campus protests over the war in Gaza. Her abrupt resignation – just a few weeks before the autumn semester is due to begin – brings to a close her turbulent 13-month reign at Columbia, one of America’s most prestigious educational institutions.‘This period has taken a considerable toll on my family, as it has for others in our community,’ Shafik wrote in an email to staff and students. ‘It has also been a period of turmoil where it has been difficult to overcome divergent views across our community’.

It is hard to know what Liz Truss hoped to achieve by storming off stage during an event in Suffolk promoting her new memoir. The former PM did so after campaigners unfurled a banner emblazoned with the phrase: ‘I crashed the economy’ below a picture of a lettuce. All that Truss, who lasted just 49 days in office, succeeded in doing was to draw even more attention to the prank – the clip has amassed over six million views on social media. In the process she also managed to confirm what many have long suspected, which is that she really can’t take a joke, however lame.  Truss was sitting comfortably on stage, discussing the US presidential election, expressing her support for Donald Trump before she was pranked.

Sir Keir Starmer is turning out to be something of a lucky general. The Prime Minister appears to have passed his first big test in government by quelling the violent and ugly unrest that has marred towns and cities across Britain in recent days. His tough stance on law and order – hundreds of arrests, rapid sentencing, and a huge police deployment to snuffle planned far-right protests – is working. Even so, the PM is taking no chances, with police forces ordered to ‘remain on high alert’: 6,000 riot officers will be deployed over the weekend as officers wait to see if the worst of the violence is finally over.  Starmer is lucky in the sense that this crisis has played to his strengths as a former public prosecutor.

There were ugly scenes in Birmingham last night after hundreds of men, some wearing masks, gathered in the Alum Rock and Bordesley Green areas of the city, following false reports that far-right protesters planned to march there. Rumours of a far-right gathering had been circulating all day and were the subject of discussions in a Telegram group linked to the initial violence in Southport after three girls were stabbed last week. In the event, the far-right protest failed to materialise, but West Midlands police are investigating reports of assault, criminal damage, and a man in possession of an offensive weapon.  Scores of demonstrators had gathered to 'protect property' and 'defend their communities' amid fears of another night of violence.

Hundreds of angry protestors have attacked a hotel in South Yorkshire that has been used to house migrants and asylum seekers. Videos posted on social media show the police retreating under a hail of objects thrown by anti-immigration protesters outside the Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham. There are pictures of protestors hurling pieces of wood and chairs at riot police The scenes are some of the worst so far as unrest across Britain enters its fifth day, after three young girls were stabbed to death in Southport on Monday. The Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, in responding to the events in Rotherham, vowed ‘to bring these thugs to justice as quickly as possible’.

The hugely controversial Olympic boxing bout between Italian Angela Carini and her opponent Imane Khelif from Algeria lasted just 46 seconds. After taking two punches from Khelif to the chin, Carini was forced to quit, saying she had done so ‘to save my life’. She said she had ‘never felt punches like it’, after sustaining a suspected broken nose. Carini sank to her knees in the centre of the ring and wept openly at having her Olympic dream shattered. ‘It’s not fair,’ she cried out. It is a damning charge that will go on to haunt these games. Carini was hit by two savage punches from Khelif, and the force of the blows was so great that she immediately felt she was in serious danger.

Two children have died and nine have been injured, six critically, after a series of stabbings in Southport, Merseyside. Two adults are also in a critical condition – they were apparently injured trying to protect the children from their attacker. A 17-year old boy, from the nearby village of Banks in Lancashire, remains in custody after being arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder. A witness described it as 'the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life' The stabbings took place at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on Monday lunchtime. A man, wearing a mask and armed with a knife, entered the venue and started to repeatedly stab child after child. There are thought to have been around 25 children – aged between six and 11 – taking part in the dance workshop.

Expectations are high for Team GB at the Paris Olympics. UK Sport, the Olympic funding agency, expects British athletes to win at least 50 medals and achieve a top-five finish in the overall table. That must count as the bare minimum and there is every chance that Britain could do even better than this. Why the confidence? Britain boasts 41 current World Champions across all the main Olympic disciplines. Paris is also the first games in a European time zone since the London 2012 Olympics, which helps with preparation and conditioning. Performing well at the Olympics is becoming routine: Team GB won 51 medals in the Beijing Games in 2008, followed by 65 medals at London 2012, 67 medals in Rio 2016, and a tally of 64 medals at the delayed Tokyo Games three years ago.

A video of an armed police officer kicking and stamping on a man’s head has plunged Greater Manchester Police (GMP), the country’s second largest force, into crisis. The incident at Manchester Airport on Tuesday night has led to widespread condemnation. Protestors have gathered outside Rochdale police station, with some in the crowd chanting: 'GMP shame on you'. The footage showed a uniformed officer holding a Taser over a man lying on the floor before kicking him twice An officer has been suspended and the force has referred itself to the policing watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct. Feelings are understandably running high locally, but investigators must be allowed time to assess the available evidence before the rush to judgment.

David Lammy was always a somewhat implausible choice as foreign secretary. His historical reputation for mouthing off on social media on a range of topics – not least Donald Trump’s fitness for office – seemed a blatant hostage to fortune.  His ill-judged tweeting has come back to haunt him this weekend. A 2019 tweet from Lammy is what’s caused new embarrassment. Trump said there had been no president who had been ‘treated so badly’ as he had. In response, Lammy said: ‘4 US Presidents  have been assassinated snowflake.’ That’s not the kind of language to be expected of someone who will end up as foreign secretary. In 2018, Lammy called then-President Trump a ‘neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath’ in an opinion piece for Time magazine.

Keir Starmer, a lifelong Arsenal fan, will be in Berlin to watch England take on Spain this Sunday in the Euro 2024 final. The Prime Minister says he wants to 'mark the occasion' if England win, prompting speculation that an extra bank holiday may be in the offing. Plans are reportedly underway for a celebration in London on Tuesday, with the squad travelling by open-top bus from Guildhall in the City to a reception at Buckingham Palace. The players could also be invited to Downing Street. Starmer, a lucky general indeed, was even moved to joke that England have not missed a penalty under a Labour government This is manna from heaven for a new government.