Reform uses death of Henry Nowak to further culture war

This article appeared as part of the Daily Sensemaker newsletter – one story a day to make sense of the world. To receive it in your inbox, featuring content exclusive to the newsletter, sign up for free here.

Police bodycam footage has been released that captures an officer handcuffing Henry Nowak, a stabbed Southampton student, as he lay dying and said he couldn’t breathe. His killer, Vickrum Digwa, was sentenced to at least 21 years in prison on Monday. Keir Starmer said there were “serious questions for the police to answer” but this will not satisfy Reform’s Nigel Farage, who cited the footage as evidence of what he called a “two-tier culture” in which he claimed, without any statistical evidence, that white people had fewer rights than people of colour in Britain. The death of Nowak will now become a talking point in the Makerfield byelection, where Reform risks losing votes to the far-right Restore party. Nowak’s parents have said they don’t want their son’s death to be used to “create further division, hatred or tension”. It’s already too late.