[AOB]

The police have been given more time to interview the driver. That time might be used to move any family he has out Liverpool. He's probably ruined the lives of any kids, grandkids, or young nephews and nieces he has. As soon as his name is announced, any school-going relatives aren't going to be able to continue as normal. What an absolute tool.

[Killer Whale]

He's probably ruined the lives of any kids, grandkids, or young nephews and nieces he has. As soon as his name is announced, any school-going relatives aren't going to be able to continue as normal.

Salt of the earth, yer Scouser.

[Samanfur]

According to multiple reports, he's a company director with a £300k house and three children.

Police are currently outside the house after the name started circulating online.

His wife found out he'd been arrested after seeing her car on the TV reports.

[Watchman]

The Mail is going with “everyone says he’s a lovely family man”…..who may have had a bit of recreational. However, in that situation anybody would have realised that they had made a mistake pretty early on, and tried to extricate themselves, it’s not easy to miss a large crowd and think “ maybe I can’t drive down that road”

[Samanfur]

A right-wing 'comedian', yesterday:

Andrew Lawrence: Comedian barred from venues after making 'vile' joke about Liverpool parade collision.

A comedian who made a "vile" joke about the Liverpool parade collision has been barred from performing at several venues across the UK.

Andrew Lawrence had written on the social media site X: "To be fair, if I was in Liverpool, I'd drive through crowds of people to get the f*** out of there as well."

The post attracted criticism from thousands of users - with many urging him to delete his comment and apologise.

The comedian struck a defiant tone, writing: "This venue lost their courage after being bombarded with abuse and threats of violence from online trolls."

[Andy McDandy]

I note that Victoria Coren-Mitchell cracked a similar line about Gaza on Friday's HIGNFY. A rehash of the old bait-and-switch "describe an awful place it appears the subject is escaping from, then the reveal that they're actually heading there, and had better get used to it" formula.

That said, "Liverpool = shithole" is seriously out of date.

[Samanfur]

I hadn't caught up on that yet, so was unaware.

[AOB]

A right-wing 'comedian', yesterday:

Andrew Lawrence: Comedian barred from venues after making 'vile' joke about Liverpool parade collision.

A comedian who made a "vile" joke about the Liverpool parade collision has been barred from performing at several venues across the UK.

Andrew Lawrence had written on the social media site X: "To be fair, if I was in Liverpool, I'd drive through crowds of people to get the f*** out of there as well."

The post attracted criticism from thousands of users - with many urging him to delete his comment and apologise.

The comedian struck a defiant tone, writing: "This venue lost their courage after being bombarded with abuse and threats of violence from online trolls."

"Online trolls" he whines, without a hint of self awareness. He drew first blood with the trolling. The venue didn't lose their courage either. They chose not to have him on and condemned him.

The tweet has 5.6m views and 3.4k likes. To scale that down by a factor of 100, an appropriate analogy is a comedian doing a gig in an arena of 56,000 people, telling a joke, and only 34 people laughing.

He's not after laughs though, he's after cash and has doubled down on it with a YouTube video.

Frankie Boyle and Dara O'Briain have had a run-in with him in the past.

And there's the below:

In July 2021, following the defeat of the England national football team in the final of the UEFA Euro 2020 competition on penalties to Italy, Lawrence tweeted that "All I'm saying is the white guys scored". After Twitter users challenged him, he quoted his original tweet, stating that "I can see that this has offended a lot of people, and I'm sorry that black guys are bad at penalties. ". Following the incident, multiple venues cancelled his upcoming shows and publicly denounced his comments as racist. He was also dropped by his agent.[18][19] In November 2021, Lawrence broke his silence on the subject and posted a response on YouTube.

And right on cue, the Spectator have just published an article defending him. Probably mumbling about freedom of speech or something. They don't like freedom of speech whenever for example Lineker says something but if it's a bit of racism or scouse bashing then suddenly everyone is fair game. Until the next time they see a rainbow flag then freedom to express is suddenly problematic again.

[Bones McCoy]

According to multiple reports, he's a company director with a £300k house and three children.

Police are currently outside the house after the name started circulating online.

His wife found out he'd been arrested after seeing her car on the TV reports.

Thank goodness we know the house Value.
Why don't plot release this information more often.
I think we should be told.

[Samanfur]

Thank goodness we know the house Value.
Why don't plot release this information more often.
I think we should be told.

Absolutely!

[Andy McDandy]

On the freedom of speech thing, the likes of Toby Young and Michael Gove usually come out with something like:

"Of course, nobody is denying the fact that some people have been offended by this - hey, if I was given a pound for every time I've said things people consider offensive I'd have about the same amount of money as I have!* But anyway, the point here is that Lineker is a brand ambassador for the BBC/a public figure/a jumped up football Johnny turned crisp salesman, whereas I am a journalist and haver of opinions**, and to shut me up would have a chilling effect on free speech in this country, with the best print media in the world***, so the best thing to do is have these views aired and tested in the robust arena of public debate****....."

*Ha ha, bit of self-deprecation, ain't I a twat?
**Please don't mention my own public status.
***It's always a 'chilling effect'. Must be in their style guide.
****Conducted in publications we control, and where I have a megaphone.

[AOB]

Now they know the driver is a middle class white man, ex forces too, the Mail have gone into bat for him, plenty of glowing character references. He even kept his car immaculate, don't you know. I'm absolutely sure they would also have took this angle if he was of Middle Eastern heritage. Or from a council estate.

[Oboogie]

So who do we think will be defending him when he's convicted? Will he be another Two-Tier Keir political prisoner who's done nothing wrong?

[AOB]

He ran a now dissolved company called FarOutCaps which has an X account which follows just 11 other accounts, two of which are Nigel Farage and Andrew Tate. I checked the primary sources and it bears out. The far right are crying cover up and spouting their usual conspiracy shit.

[kreuzberger]

The thought had earlier crossed my too-busy-to-post mind that his profile, as reported by the mail, has Reflux Ltd tendencies running through it like dysentery.

Now we know.

[davidjay]

Whatever his colour, background and religion, the extensive coverage of him isn't doing anyone any good.

[satnav]

Given the seriousness of the incident the charges he is facing seem to be somewhat limited.

The father-of-three is accused of two counts of unlawful and malicious wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and two counts of causing unlawful and malicious grievous bodily harm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Originally there was a suggestion that he might have been under the influence of drugs but that aspect now seems to have disappeared altogether.

Presumably he could eventually plead guilty to the charges and bring in PTSD as a mitigating factor and avoid a proper trial taking place. This would probably suit both him and the police who would not have to explain how he managed to get into the situation where he could drive at the crowd and injure so many people.

[Oboogie]

I don't see how the drugs can 'disappear', it's routine to test for drink & drugs at RTAs. The fact he was charged with drug driving means he tested positive and that's solid evidence of guilt.

[AOB]

Unless further information and and charges transpire, if he pleads guilty he will be able to control the narrative. It's a unique case. If a drunken or drugged driver loses control, you don't need to know anything further. Same with a terrorist weaponising a vehicle. Spree killers like Bird and Moat started their day knowing exactly what they were going to do. On the face of it this is so different. I've got a feeling the nice family man image will ultimately prove to be anything but. What his neighbours said is what neighbours the world over for decades have said when asked about the serial killer/terrorist/wife beater living in their midst. That nice Ted Bundy volunteered on a suicide hotline. Harold Shipman an avuncular local GP, Dennis Nielson a quiet polite colleague and neighbour...the list goes on.

[Bones McCoy]

Court artist's impression of the Hainault Sword attacker.



Prejudices confirmed, looks like one of "them".

But wait a minute, here's a photograph of the Hainault Sword Attacker.



Considering the scarcity of non-caucasian skintone crayons, something unusual's happening here.