Amid the grief and rage at a tragic loss, it’s right to differentiate between those who fought a culture war and others who just sought the truth

Even now it is very difficult to process the scale of tragedy that engulfed Jason Arday and those who loved him. The unbearable sadness at his death; the wretched knowledge that the very public onslaught against him began with the malign machinations of a self-defined “race realist” – who believes that, in an ideal world, black people would “disappear from almost all high-profile positions outside of sports and entertainment”. The horror that a rightwing and far-right campaign seeking a victim to fuel its nativist prejudices can now crow that it found one.

There is wide and profound grief and of course there is rage, focused and unfocused. Both were on display as thousands joined a protest vigil in Trafalgar Square on Monday evening.

Hugh Muir is executive editor, Opinion

In the UK, the charity Mind is available on 0300 123 3393 and Childline on 0800 1111. In the US, call or text Mental Health America at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. In Australia, support is available at Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14, and at MensLine on 1300 789 978

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Speculation about US president’s executive assistant sparks furious backlash from White House

Wearing shoulder-length blonde hair, gold earrings and a red dress, cancer survivor Natalie Harp introduced herself to the 2020 Republican national convention as “a formerly forgotten American from California” and compared Donald Trump with George Bailey, the everyman hero played by James Stewart in the classic film It’s a Wonderful Life.

“George Bailey’s father was right,” smiled Harp, her voice echoing in the Andrew W Mellon auditorium in pandemic-hit Washington. “All you can take with you is that which you’ve given away. Mr President, that makes you the richest man in the world.”

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson, Philippe Auclair for the first of our Premier League preview podcasts.

Whether it’s paying for dinner, going on holiday or sharing a taxi, friendships can be fraught with financial frustrations, which are very rarely aired. Here’s how to break the taboo

Summer is the season of socialising, from alfresco drinks to weddings to group holidays. It can get expensive – and suddenly you start noticing those friends who don’t pay their way. Or the ones who splash the cash and make you feel cheap. In fact, there are a host of annoying money-related habits that can cause tension among friends. Here are 20 common sources of financial frustration – and how to resolve them.

Does the description from a study ranking all of England’s 296 boroughs for friendliness ring true for people in the east London town?

Alice Fokuo is so friendly with her neighbour that they have exchanged keys to each other’s homes. The level of intimacy is such that “I call her mum, because she cooks for me”.

So the market trader was surprised to learn that her borough, Barking and Dagenham, ranked the least friendly in England in a new study drawing on government data from the community life survey. It measures how often people chat to neighbours, feelings of loneliness and belonging, local pride, and levels of participation in civic life in England’s 296 local authority areas.

I was living on my own for the first time in 35 years, walking every day. Nature reminded me how much there still is to be found in emptiness

After my husband died, the birds started behaving strangely towards me. This was not my imagination; it really happened. On my daily walks, I was startled by how close they came to me – approaching, hopping alongside me and chirping. If there were a lot of them – and if there was no one else around – it felt as if they were accompanying me, maybe trying to convey something.

I had walked on the heath near our home with my husband for years. But his illness meant that, during his final months, he could not walk with me any more. When he died – in January 2023 – I had been walking on my own for six months and the birds, I am sure of this, had paid no attention to me.

Accelerating price increases in July add to pressure on households, with chancellor saying ‘there is more to do to restore hope’

• Analysis: Rising inflation underlines scale of Burnham’s cost of living challenge

• Business live – latest updates

UK inflation rose to 2.9% in July as the impact of the Iran war on energy prices triggered a renewed cost of living squeeze for British households.

The Office for National Statistics said inflation rose from a 15-month low of 2.6% in June, driven by the rising price of gas and electricity. Matching City economists’ forecasts, it was the first rise in the annual rate as measured by the consumer prices index since March.

Prime minister urges local leaders to act as homelessness campaigners welcome move but say more needs to be done

• I won’t abandon anyone to sleep rough on our streets. That’s my £442m promise

Andy Burnham has urged local leaders to offer all rough sleepers in England a route off the streets by Christmas, as he pledges another £100m to end street homelessness.

Arguing in the Guardian that rough sleeping has become so common it now “feels like part of the scenery”, Burnham promised he would mount a Covid-style campaign to get everyone off the streets this winter.

Greens say analysis shows government failure to take bold climate action could lead to big gains for party at election

• UK politics live – latest updates

Labour could lose dozens of seats to the Green party if the government allows new drilling in the North Sea, according to internal research shared with the Guardian.

Green party analysis suggests up to 50 Labour MPs – including key Andy Burnham ally Louise Haigh – could lose their seats at the next election if the government fails to make urgent climate action a priority or allows new drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea.

Migration minister asked how he intends to stop deportations of people ‘who had lived in Sweden for decades’

The deportation and removal of British citizens from Sweden over Brexit residency rights is damaging relations with the UK amid efforts to improve links with London, a Swedish MP has said.

Håkan Svenneling, representative for Värmland, where a 78-year-old British widow, Joyce Thomas, has been given four weeks to leave Sweden after 21 years of residency, has written to the migration minister, Johan Forssell, asking what he “intends to do to stop the deportations”.