The idea of a Scouse accent for many people from outside the city is rooted in prominent 20th century examples like The Beatles and TV dramas like 'Boys from the Blackstuff'. However, what you hear on the streets of Liverpool in the 21st century is markedly different, with many believing that a new variation of the Scouse accent has developed.

In order to find out if the accent has changed, we spoke to Liverpool-born Professor Tony Crowley. Tony has written extensively about Scouse - or Liverpool English as he refers to it. His books include the 'Liverpool English Dictionary', 'Scouse: A Social and Cultural History' and, most recently, his 2023 work 'Liverpool: A Memoir of Words'.

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Firstly, Tony argues that our accent doesn't come from where people may think. The accepted wisdom is that Scouse is a combination of the Lancashire and Irish accents, driven by mass immigration to the city from the Emerald Isle during the Irish famine.

That theory was notably promoted by docker, councillor and ECHO columnist Frank Shaw in the first half of the 20th century. However, Tony's argument is different. He told the ECHO: "Liverpool was an immigrant city in the 19th century. In the 1861 census, half the population were immigrants which was an amazing thing.

"There wasn't anywhere else like it in Britain - not even London. All of these people mixed together and linguists say that new dialects come from language contract - all of these different people mixing, speaking different languages and different dialects. My argument is that's where Scouse came from."

"I grew up with Frank Shaw's story, which I liked and my dad loved. Frank Shaw was Catholic and was Liverpool Irish.

"He wanted to put the Irish back into Liverpool history. In the '50s, Liverpool was still a very sectarian city. He puts the Irish back into Liverpool - it's a great story but it just happens to be wrong. Sometimes the best stories aren't true."

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Tony explained: "In the Second World War, a Liverpool accent appeared on radio for the first time - it was Tommy Handley, the Dingle comedian, in a series called 'It's That Man Again'. That's really fascinating. Tommy Handley has a very distinctive Liverpool accent. But there's very little evidence from the 1930s right up to the '50s of what people from Liverpool sounded like.

"Then The Beatles came along and they did have a south end accent - the north end accent was very different. My dad used to say the north end was a different place and people spoke differently.

"Frank Shaw wrote the first volume of 'Lern Yerself Scouse' - that was published in 1966. It was published for all the tourists coming to Liverpool for the World Cup games at Goodison.

"They apparently needed a guidebook to Liverpool English, that was how they sold it. It was really well received and it was reviewed by the Times Literary Supplement. But there was uproar in Liverpool because people from the north end said 'this is south end Scouse'. It was not north end Scouse.

"I tell my students about this and I remember one of my students asking me 'how big is Liverpool geographically?'. I said it was about seven miles from the north end to the south end, but they looked at me like it couldn't possibly be the case that north end Scouse and south end Scouse could be so different. The second volume of 'Lern Yerself Scouse' was about Bootle Scouse, specifically about that."

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He said: "I think the Scouse accent has changed now. Partly because it's a self-fulfilling prophecy that we are Scouse and not English -as Liverpool has become much more of a distinctive identity and also a confident distinctive identity since the '80s.

"When you get the regeneration of Liverpool and it becomes much more confident as a city, you see that people - particularly the younger generation - use it as a way of marking themselves out as being really distinctive.

"There's an argument that Scouse has become much more Scouse over the past 20 years. If you look at recordings of kids today and of kids from 20 years ago, there are certain features of Scouse which have become stronger.

"I think that's to do with a sense of identity and a sense of coming from Liverpool. That's always there, but I think the self-consciousness of that comes from the last 30 years or so."

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/17157676

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/16931957

Tributes have been shared to a ‘great and splendid’ former SAS officer who helped free hostages in the siege of the Iranian Embassy. Warrant Officer John Thompson, originally from Liverpool, died yesterday, Saturday August 31, aged 82 following a period of ill health, The Mirror reports.

Mr Thompson began his military career with the Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers. He went on to serve with the United Nations before being transferred to a new role in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps for the Parachute Brigade back in 1969.

Half a decade later, having spent a year working in Korea, he was awarded the Republic of Korea Service Medal during a ceremonial parade. A pivotal role in his military career came when he joined Operation Nimrod, the SAS-led effort to free hostages being held by terrorists at London's Iranian embassy.

The soldier was part of the SAS A squadron that stormed the building in 1980 after being flown in by helicopter, firing gas canisters during a successful mission that killed five of the terrorists holding hostages inside.

Mr Thompson joined Boat Troop G Squadron the following year, and aided troops participating in the Falklands War for three weeks ahead of the Argentine invasion by gathering intelligence. Through the rest of the conflict, he helped target enemy troop patrols, and later retired from the service to work as a bodyguard in the Middle East.

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An ex-colleague remembered the soldier as an "all-round nice man" in a post on Facebook after his death was confirmed. They said: "John was the former regimental chief clerk at Hereford before he passed SAS selection. A great guy, splendid soldier, all-round nice man and a friend to many. RIP Always a little further."

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/16651773

The world's oldest living man has celebrated his 112th birthday at a care home in Southport today. John Tinniswood was born in Liverpool on August 26, 1912, the same year the Titanic sank.

He became the oldest man in the world in April this year and has said his long life is down to "luck". When John was asked how it felt to be turning the ripe old age of 112, he said: "In all honesty, no different.

"I don’t feel that age, I don’t get excited over it. That’s probably why I’ve reached it.

"I just take it in my stride like anything else, why I’ve lived that long I have no idea at all.

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John was questioned as to what he thought the biggest difference in the world was from when he was born to now, more than a century apart. He said: “It’s no better in my opinion, or hardly any better, than it was then. Probably in some places it is, but in other places it’s worse.”

On the secret of his longevity, he told Guinness World Records it’s “just luck.” He added: "You either live long or you live short, and you can’t do much about it."

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/16607052

A Liverpool brewery was transformed this week as Atomic Wrestling returned. The independent professional wrestling company has built up a huge following in the city since it staged its very first show at Azvex Brewery last year.

The electrifying sports entertainment action from the best of the North West means the show regularly sells out. Fans once again packed into the taproom on Gibraltar Row on Wednesday to watch the heroes and villains in spandex settle their scores in the most thrilling way imaginable.

"Back to Formula" marked Atomic's return to Azvex after they hosted Snailmania at Futureyard in June. Atomic has now staged nine events and continues to go from strength-to-strength. One of the showrunners spoke to the ECHO last year about why the wrestling has struck a chord with fans.

Chris Welsh said: "Our ethos is to present the best of the North West. A lot of local talent. It all started a few years ago; there was a training school in Maghull, Fighting Spirit Pro Wrestling, but it was closed down after the two owners joined WWE and moved to Florida.

Afterwards we knew there was a lot of talent in the area that was being overlooked. There's a lot of wrestlers being flown in from overseas, but we wanted to show what we have got. The reaction we have had from fans has been really positive. It's very much a gig atmosphere."

Sir Ken Dodd's joke books, tickling sticks and other artefacts are to be preserved in a new £15m centre dedicated to the late comedy legend in his home city of Liverpool.

The Sir Ken Dodd Happiness Centre will provide a permanent home for his archive, as well as hosting comedy performances and events.

The four-storey centre will be attached to the city's Royal Court theatre, where Sir Ken regularly performed during his career. He died in 2018.

The plans were submitted in November and were approved by Liverpool City Council last week.

His widow Lady Dodd told BBC News he would be "honoured" and "amazed".

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/16440966

A city centre office building has been home to a snail farm for more than a year, in what council bosses allege is an attempt to avoid tax.

About 15 covered crates - containing as few as two snails each - have been kept on the lower ground floor of 9 Dale Street, in Liverpool, since 2023.

Under current law, this could qualify as "agricultural use" and this part of the building would arguably be exempt from business rates.

The firm renting the space said it was a legitimate snail farming operation.

The company, Snai1 Primary Products 2023 Ltd, shares its sole director, Terence Ball, with a company called BoyceBrook based in Ribchester, Lancashire.

BoyceBrook’s website says its team "has a proven track record of minimising the liability for empty property rates" and describes the company as the "Canceller of the Exchequer".

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Each crate contains two snails, according to L’Escargotiere, another company operated by Mr Ball, also based in Ribchester.

Its website says the number of snails per crate is kept to a minimum to avoid "cannibalism, group sex and snail orgies".

The next stage of a major overhaul to transport across the Liverpool City Region was unveiled as Anfield got the first look at a proposed rapid transit “Glider.” As part of his manifesto to win a third term, Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram pledged to introduce a rapid transit bus system to serve key routes across the area.

For the first time, we have now seen the vehicle - on loan from Belfast and decked out in Merseytravel yellow - as tests begin to see how it could work across hotspots throughout the city region. The 10-wheeled vehicle, first dubbed a trackless tram, will undergo tests throughout Liverpool to begin with, to establish key changes that may need to be made to the city’s infrastructure with a view to a full rollout by 2028.

The system will be similar to Belfast's Glider, which launched in the Northern Irish capital in 2018 and runs on two separate lines using dedicated and mixed traffic lanes. The scheme cost around £100m in total.

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Earlier this year, Mr Rotheram said he envisaged the rapid transit network running between Liverpool city centre and Liverpool Airport as well as Anfield Stadium and Everton's new Bramley-Moore Dock ground.

Over 150 members of the books community – including Tracy Chevalier and Diana Beaumont – are donating backlist copies to the riot-hit Spellow Lane Library as part of crime writer Marnie Riches’ Reading Not Rioting campaign.

The Manchester-based crime writer decided to help the recently developed library after it was set on fire by rioters on 3rd August, during destructive far-right protests which have taken place across the country. Spellow Lane has also inspired a successful crowdfunder, which has now raised more than £120,000 in two days, but Riches wanted to use her writing network to focus specifically on the library’s stock.

Historical novelists Chevalier and Eve Chase are among those who have donated backlist copies to Reading Not Rioting, as well as crime writers C L Taylor, Elly Griffiths and Simon Toyne and literary agent Beaumont, who recently joined DHH.

“It started as a single tweet,” Riches told The Bookseller. “I saw that the library in Liverpool had been destroyed by far-right rioters and that it had recently been refurbished. I was so upset because I’m a northern writer and a writer of working class origin, so libraries are very important to me and I understand their role in the community.

“There’s also the issue of the library not having immediate stock to hand. These rioters have injured a community because a library is a place of social cohesion and learning and self-improvement and ordinary people have nothing to read.

“So I thought, I have a backlist of 20 books and I can send them a box and thought I’d send a shout-out [on X] to see who might want to join me, I have a good network as I’m a crime writer and used to be a children’s writer. I put a call out saying I was donating my entire backlist and the response has been huge. It’s the most popular tweet I’ve had, including 90,000 impressions and, crucially, almost 160 authors have already pledged to send books.”

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/15469336

Police have released photographs of 12 people they want to speak to over riots which took place on Merseyside days after the deaths of three girls in Southport.

Alder Hey Children's Hospital has confirmed today that all children it was caring for following Monday's horror stabbing in Southport have now been safely discharged. Three young girls - Bebe King, Alice Dasilva Aguiar and Elsie Dot Stancombe - were killed when an attacker entered the Hart Space pregnancy and community centre in Hart Street, Southport last Monday.

The attack also left eight children and two adults seriously injured. The majority of the children who were injured in the attack were taken to Alder Hey for emergency care. Initially five of the eight children were described as being in a critical condition. All of those being looked after at Alder Hey have recovered from their injuries and have now been discharged.

Fundraising:

• Swifties for Southport on JustGiving, for Alder Hey, the children's hospital
• Southport Dance Group Emergency Fund on GoFundMe, for the victims and their families

A fundraising campaign has raised more than £120,000 to help repair a Liverpool library and community hub that suffered severe fire damage after being targeted by rioters on Saturday night.

Nigella Lawson and children’s laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce are among those who have donated to the gofundme page, which was set up on Sunday afternoon in aid of Spellow Hub library.

The fundraising page had an initial target of £500 but has gone on to raise more than £120,000 in two days, from more than 6,000 donations.

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Spellow Hub is located on County Road, Walton, where Merseyside Police said approximately 300 people were involved in violent disorder on Saturday night. The riot was among a number of incidences of violence that have taken place in cities and towns in England, and in Belfast in Northern Ireland, over the last week in the worst outbreak of civil disorder in Britain for 13 years. Police have made 378 arrests since the killing of three young girls in Southport in north-west England last Monday, after which false claims were spread online that the suspect was a Muslim asylum seeker.

Police said when firefighters arrived at the library, the rioters attempted to stop them from getting to the fire to put it out. “They even threw a missile at the fire engine and broke the rear window of the cab”, said police in a statement. The library has suffered severe fire damage to its ground floor.

Brothers Adam Wharton, 28, and Ellis Wharton, 22, pleaded guilty to charges of burgling the library at Liverpool magistrates’ court on Monday. Ellis also pleaded not guilty to charges of assault on an emergency worker.

Formerly known as Spellow library, Spellow Hub re-opened as a community hub last year, after a “radical, community-led makeover” intended to offer training and opportunities to one of the most deprived communities in the country.

The youngest of those to appear in court was a 14-year-old boy - who cannot be named for legal reasons due to his age.

He said he understood how "foolish and silly" he had been after pleading guilty to violent disorder over the rioting in Liverpool city centre, a court heard.

Liverpool Magistrates' Court heard the teenager, from Liverpool, was part of a group of eight to 12 males who were lighting fireworks and setting them off in the direction of members of the public and police officers near a branch of B&M in Clayton Square that had already been looted on Saturday night.

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His lawyer Iqbal Singh Kang said the incident was "completely out of character for him and his family". The boy's father and uncle were in court.

He said the youngster went to the city centre to catch a bus and amid the "widescale disorder across the city became involved with people he didn't know who were offering out various fireworks".

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A 69-year-old welder, the oldest to appear in court so far, has admitted his role in Saturday's riots in Liverpool, where he came armed with a wooden bat.

William Nelson Morgan, from Walton, pleaded guilty to violent disorder and possession of an offensive weapon at Liverpool Magistrates' Court.

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Two brothers appeared at Liverpool Magistrates' Court accused of crimes relating to a library which was set on fire during the riots.

28-year-old Adam Wharton appeared first, admitting burglary with intent to steal from the Spellow Lane Library Hub, which suffered severe damage to the ground floor due to the fire.

The library was opened last year to provide support for one of the most deprived communities in the country.

Wharton, who has 16 previous convictions for 26 offences, including robbery and burglary, stood in the dock at Liverpool Magistrates' Court wearing a grey, prison-issue tracksuit.

As he left the dock, Wharton said: "Nice one, shitty arse judge man."

Liverpool Cathedral is set to celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2024 with an exhibition by Anish Kapoor. The exhibition, which will feature work never before seen in the UK, is running from August 10 to September 15.

Called Monadic Singularity the artwork marks Anish's first solo show in a UK cathedral and his first major solo exhibition in Liverpool since his seminal 1983 exhibit at the Walker Art Gallery. He has become world-celebrated for his works, including landmarks such as Cloud Gate, known affectionately as “The Bean”, in Millennium Park, Chicago and Nottingham Playhouse’s Sky Mirror.

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His exhibition will include architecturally scaled sculpture never before seen in the UK, Sectional Body Preparing for Monadic Singularity (2015). The Main Space will also feature a kinetic wax sculpture.

Anish Kapoor said: "To show works in Liverpool Cathedral is complex. It is a space that is alive both with the physical and spiritual. As such it is resonant with a powerful sense of body and the disembodied.

"The works that I have chosen to show in the cathedral are situated similarly between body and materiality and geometric immaterial which I refer to as the non-object. It is my hope that this conjunction of object and non-object here in this immense and potent space will be cause for reflection on the nature of religious experience and the human condition."

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/15759427

The Commons standards watchdog should hold Nigel Farage to account over his “dangerous comments” following the week’s violent disorder in the wake of the Southport murders, a Liverpool MP has said.

Kim Johnson, Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside, said Farage’s comments “cannot be left to fester” and should be examined by the parliamentary standards commissioner.

Farage has released two videos since three children were murdered in Southport last week. In the first, he questioned whether police were withholding information about who was responsible for the murders.

It came at a time when false information was circulating on social media that a Muslim asylum seeker was responsible, which fuelled disorder at a mosque in Southport.

In a second video, Farage challenged Keir Starmer’s argument that the violent protests were the fault of the far right, saying it was “a reaction to fear, to discomfort, to unease that is out there shared by tens of millions of people”.

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However, several members of the public claim on social media to have submitted complaints about the Reform leader to the parliamentary standards commissioner, who can investigate any behaviour that brings parliament into disrepute.

Johnson said: “Nigel Farage’s dangerous comments cannot be left to fester. He is the voice of the EDL [English Defence League] in parliament, using his platform to spread fear and misinformation. Tensions are high and our politicians should be doing everything in our power to advocate for peace and unity, and support our communities standing resolutely against the racism and hatred displayed over the last few days. With so much at stake, we need urgent action from the Commons standards committee and the police to hold him to account.”

It’s unlikely that Elon Musk has ever heard of Southport, far less visited it. He has five or six companies to run, after all, and has been busy this week sounding off about Venezuela, Kamala Harris, puberty blockers, and why the legacy media lie to you.

So it’s probable that some ugly riots in a seaside town somewhere in northwest England will not have registered with the strange genius who may well be the richest man in the world.

And it’s equally probable that, if you told Musk that he was in some way responsible for these riots, 5,000 miles away from the seven homes he owns/owned in California, he would scoff.

But that’s how it is. When Musk decided to splash out $44bn (£35bn) to buy what was then called Twitter, he took ultimate responsibility for the speech of 350 million-odd users of the platform. And Twitter – now called X – is where a foul virus spread in the wake of the horrendous stabbings of numerous children in Southport on Monday. That virus led to the rioting the very next day – and since. And Musk enabled it.

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Musk, whatever else he is, is not a stupid man, so maybe one shouldn’t take him too literally when he proclaims Twitter to be a truth engine and the MSM a swill of lies. But I think it’s possible he is an unthinking and arrogant man who would simply shrug at what happened on his platform – and elsewhere – this week.

This is what happened: within hours of a local 17-year-old boy being arrested for the mass stabbings, untrue narratives started circulating on social media naming him as “Ali al-Shakati” – a Muslim migrant to the UK – alleging that he was on an MI6 watchlist, and that he was an asylum seeker who was known to the Liverpool mental health services.

None of this was true, but research by Dr Marc Owen Jones, an expert in digital authoritarianism, has traced how this kind of speculation rapidly notched up 27 million impressions on social media.

The self-proclaimed misogynist and alleged rapist Andrew Tate, who has nearly 10 million followers on X, posted a false image of the supposed attacker, claiming he was “straight off a boat” – even though by then the police had told us he had been born in Cardiff 17 years ago. But that, according to Tate, was a lie promoted by what he calls “the Matrix”.

One of the most prominent amplifiers of this untrue information was a shadowy organisation calling itself Channel3 Now. Quite who is behind this outfit is unclear. Investigative journalists soon found that it had started life as a place for Russian car rally videos. It may now be run from an address in Pakistan or the US. That’s the joy of Musk’s beloved “independent media” – you haven’t got a clue who half of the fabulists are.

Archive

A pensioner's simple three-word response, 'Nans against Nazis' to far-right thugs protesting in Liverpool has become a viral sensation as the UK was rocked by more unrest on Friday night in the wake of the Southport knife attack.

Little to no violence occurred in Liverpool on Friday but 71-year-old Pat from Toxteth's sign, which read 'Nans against Nazis' captured many hearts and saw her praised on social media.

"Don’t mess with Scouse nans," said Liverpool Echo's political editor Liam Thorp when sharing an image of Pat.

Another person added: "Women - mothers, wives, sisters, grandmothers, daughters, friends - Stand with Nans against Nazis."

"What a city," said another.

Speaking to the Echo, Pat said: ""It started with coming out against the National Front in the 1970s. We've got to show them we're not afraid. I've been told to stop coming to things like this but I won't stop now. These people are just vicious thugs; there's nothing political in what they're doing."

Residents are today cleaning up in the aftermath of a protest in Southport. North West Ambulance Service confirmed paramedics treated 39 police officers after violent scenes broke out during a protest on St Luke's Road in Southport on Tuesday, July 30.

The ambulance service confirmed 27 officers were taken to hospital and 12 were treated and discharged at scene. It was declared as a "major incident" by emergency services.

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Damage was also caused to a local convenience store and wheelie bins were set on fire, police said. Three police dogs have also been injured. Police Dogs Zoe and Ike have sustained leg injuries from bricks thrown at them. A third dog, PD Quga, also suffered burns to her back leg.

Photos and video seen by the ECHO showed crowds gathered around police riot vans on St Luke’s Road. A police van was also seen up in flames. Following the scenes, residents living on the road and the surrounding area have come out in force to help with the clean up.

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Norman Wallis, owner of Southport Pleasureland, is helping clear the rubble. He told the ECHO: "We're all coming together to try and help the people in Sussex Road and the area to clean up for the mess that was made by all those people, those thugs, that came into their street.

"They just totally destroyed the street, pulled the walls down, pulled fences down, set cars on fire, just terrible. We're all coming together to just try and help as a community."

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Cathy McGrath has been out on the clean up since 7.15am this morning. She said that the town should be grieving. Speaking to the ECHO, she said: "I feel just angry and upset really. I went to the vigil last night and it was beautiful for the girls and the children and then you see last night.

"Those people don't represent the community, these people represent the community. They've spoilt it really and that's why I have come out today."

Fundraising:

• Swifties for Southport on JustGiving, for Alder Hey, the children's hospital
• Southport Dance Group Emergency Fund on GoFundMe, for the victims and their families

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/15538192

Nigel Farage has been condemned for his response to the Southport stabbings, with the husband of murdered MP Jo Cox accusing the Reform leader of “inciting a riot”.

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On Tuesday afternoon, before the riots began, Mr Farage had posted a video to social media responding to the attack, questioning why the incident was not being treated as terror-related and asking whether the “truth is being withheld from us”. He also asked whether the suspect, who is 17 and has not been identified, was being monitored by the security services.

In a statement the same day, Merseyside Police had stressed the “incident is not currently being treated as terror-related”.

Hitting out at Mr Farage’s response, Brendan Cox said: “Imagine your response to the death of three children being to peddle conspiracy theories that incite a riot.

“This is why Farage deserves the label far-right. Everyone who is associated with him, has normalised him or promoted him should be ashamed. This is vile.”

Ms Cox, the former Batley and Spen MP was killed by far-right terrorist Thomas Mair in June 2016, a week before the EU referendum took place.

Labour MP Jess Phillips also criticised the Reform UK leader, claimed he was “grifting” and pointing out that he failed to turn up to Parliament for a statement on the incident.

Ms Phillips, the MP for Birmginham Yardley, said: “Nigel Farage could yesterday have had the questions, he claims are unanswered, answered if he had bothered to turn up to parliament and ask them during the statement on the incidents in Southport. He didn’t turn up, he grifted instead.”

Supporters of the English Defence League have thrown items at a mosque during a protest in Southport this evening, according to police.

A police riot van has also been set on fire as crowds, believed to include supporters of the far-right group, gathered at a protest that turned violent in the Merseyside town. One police officer has also suffered a broken nose after being hit with a object thrown by the crowd.

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Video on social media showed more police arriving in Southport, where officers with riot shields are in a stand-off with protesters. Some police officers were seen walking through crowds with police dogs towards lines of officers who are stood in front of police vans. Debris can be seen on the ground around the vans while police have been using their shields to deflect missiles thrown from the crowds. Smoke canisters have also been used. Multiple police cars and vans, blue lights flashing and sirens blaring are patrolling local streets, with hundreds of onlookers gathering in the area.

One witness at the scene said a man has been seriously injured after being hit by a flying object. They said: "A man knocked on our door screaming for help, his head was split open and pouring with blood. He was asking for a towel to help stop the blood. Someone had thrown a brick towards police and it hit him in the face. It was terrifying, my young child was stood behind me and seen it."

Fundraising:

• Swifties for Southport on JustGiving, for Alder Hey, the children's hospital
• Southport Dance Group Emergency Fund on GoFundMe, for the victims and their families

Police were forced to appeal for people not to speculate online about the Southport stabbing after an incorrect name for the suspect was shared on social media.

After the attack, which left three girls dead and five fighting for their lives, misinformation spread on social media, claiming that the 17-year-old unnamed suspect was an asylum seeker.

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Police were said to be monitoring reports of a far-right rally potentially taking place in Southport on Tuesday evening amid concerns that false information could fuel community tensions.

Officers have confirmed the suspect arrested was born in Cardiff. It is understood his parents came to the UK from Rwanda, with his father believed to be a black belt in karate.

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Sunder Katwala, director of the think-tank British Future, said a fake news channel seemed to have invented a false name and story.

Mr Katwala said:“There are different types of bad faith actor spreading misinformation at pace in heightened circumstances.

“There may be low quality feeds masquerading as news sites, even scraping social media rumours to produce AI-generated content.

“There can be more deliberate networks of extreme actors, including far-right groups and foreign intelligence actors.”

Within hours, social media posts repeating the fake news, had gained millions of likes and engagements.

Archive

A Merseyside town has been named as one of the best places in the UK to live by the sea.

The Sunday Times released the list this week, which includes the Sefton town of Waterloo among its 20 top seaside locations. It ranks among Penzance, Nairn and Ballycastle.

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The Sunday Times said: "The greatest attractions here are the 100 life-sized cast-iron figures that make up Another Place, Antony Gormley’s mesmerising installation which has transformed the huge sandy Crosby Beach into one of the country’s most uplifting spectacles — even more so if you spot one of the dolphins that are increasingly regular visitors to the Mersey.

"But there are more down-to-earth attractions in this unpretentious beachside enclave that’s less than 20 minutes by reliable Merseyrail train from the centre of Liverpool. There are good schools, a lively selection of bars and restaurants clustered around the station on South Road and the lovely Plaza Community Cinema.

"Best of all is a useful stock of Victorian and Edwardian houses, which are both closer to the water and cheaper than in Waterloo’s better-known neighbour, Crosby. A four-bedroom place with a view of the beach will cost £350,000-£400,000. An extra £100,000 will secure a spot right on the beach."

The average house price in Waterloo is £213,198. Only last year, The Sunday Times named Liverpool as the best place to live in the northwest and singled out Waterloo as one of Merseyside's "best districts".

The upward intonation, the guttural “ck” and even the cheeky comeback to win the argument: at just 19 months old, baby Orla has mastered the crucial elements of speaking like a scouser.

Impressively, the toddler who featured in a viral video this week appears to have done so without the need for actual words.

A clip posted on TikTok, and now viewed more than 20m times, shows Orla babbling in a Liverpudlian accent as her babysitter, Olayka, tries and fails to coax her into taking a nap. Scientists say that the cute exchange is also a vivid illustration of the processes by which babies acquire language – and the surprising role of accents.

Babies are so tuned in to the musical ups and downs of speech that even as newborns they cry in distinctive ways that reflect the languages that they have heard while in the womb.

In one 2009 study, Prof Kathleen Wermke, a pioneer in the field of speech development at the Würzburg University in Germany, found that French infants tend to wail on a rising note and German babies favour a falling melody and other patterns have been seen for Mandarin, Swedish and African languages. “When I started 40 years ago, if I told people I was recording babies crying and making high-pitched sounds they’d look at you and think ‘Is this really science?’,” she said.