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24/10/2026
Helen Haines and the troubling rise of violence against politicians
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| Owen Gibson, deputy editor |
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Violence against politicians isn’t a new phenomenon, but it’s an increasingly troubling aspect of public life.
Here in the UK, there are urgent discussions about the safety of public figures after the killings of several prominent politicians, as well as threats against figures across the political spectrum, ranging from Keir Starmer to Nigel Farage. Globally, we’ve also witnessed the murder of Shinzo Abe in Japan, and assassination attempts on Robert Fico in Slovakia and Donald Trump in the US among many others. These events, and many more like them, show how attacks have pushed an already febrile political environment to breaking point.
This week, Australia was rocked by an alleged attack on a widely respected and beloved MP, Helen Haines, who was hit by a vehicle outside her office in Wangaratta, in rural Victoria. Haines lost both her legs and is still in serious condition in hospital. While the motivation for this alleged attack is still being investigated, a 43-year-old man known to Haines, named by police as Brendan Nugent, has since been charged.
Cait Kelly travelled to Wangaratta as soon as the news broke on Monday to report from the scene, and was joined by Caitlin Cassidy, who covered Nugent’s court appearance. The coverage was among the most-read stories across all our global editions, with roughly half the audience coming from Australia and half from the rest of the world.
Haines is an independent MP, nominated by a grassroots movement that campaigns via “kitchen table” conversations with constituents about the issues they care about and what they need from their political representatives. This week she has been widely celebrated by politicians from every party in Australia as “the best of us”, a consistent voice of reason, empathy and unfailing civility. Former independent MP Zoe Daniel wrote about how, even as a rising sense of danger took hold among MPs in recent years, she was utterly blindsided by what happened on Monday.
Haines’ injury has been a genuinely unifying moment in Australian politics, and a catalyst for deep national soul-searching about public faith in the political system, the increasingly heated tone of public debate (especially online) and the inexorable rise of threats against those who represent voters in parliaments. In this thoughtful weekend read, Ben Doherty asked how we can move toward a better, safer politics.
Someone who has thought about that question in great depth is Brendan Cox, who wrote from the UK about the politically motivated 2016 murder of his wife, Jo Cox. He gave a clarion call for this moment to be used to shore up democracy: “We can allow violence to make us more divided, more suspicious and more fearful. Or we can use this moment to reaffirm our commitment to democracy, decency and what we have in common.”
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My picks
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Angelique Chrisafis in Paris covered the mass protests in France that turned into one of the most violent days of unrest in years, leaving public buildings burned, hundreds of shops destroyed and thousands of people arrested across the country. Oliver Haynes wrote about being teargassed, witnessing police violence and demonstrators looting, and his fears that the far right will ultimately reap the most advantage.
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Starting with Brazil and Serbia on Sunday, the next 10 days will see four elections that will have a profound impact on the world, with the Israeli election following on Tuesday and the US midterms a week later. We will be liveblogging all of them on the Guardian’s website. Julian Borger reported from Serbia, where a student protest movement is challenging the ruling party of the increasingly authoritarian former president Aleksandar Vučić, who is now running to be prime minister.
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Ahead of the US elections, George Chidi profiled Jon Ossoff, the Georgia senator and media-savvy Democrat whose sharp political rise in a Republican-leaning swing state has him constantly batting away the possibility of a presidential run in 2028.
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Emma Graham-Harrison looked at how a broad shift to the right among Jewish citizens of Israel, particularly young voters, will shape the country’s next government, regardless of who becomes prime minister. For the Saturday read, Jonathan Freedland reported from Israel ahead of an election in which, he wrote, “almost every political figure is defined, or defines themselves, in relation to [Benjamin] Netanyahu”.
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Tom Phillips and Tiago Rogero will be in São Paulo and Brasília for Sunday’s election in Brazil, when leftist president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is attempting to overturn the first-round lead secured by his opponent, far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro.
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In the UK, Emine Sinmaz provided comprehensive and careful coverage of comedian Russell Brand’s trial, including days of harrowing testimony from his alleged victims, who claimed appalling treatment in what they say was a series of serious sexual offences. Brand denies all the charges.
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Daniel Boffey and Sean Smith visited the Falkland Islands for a riveting read, with superb accompanying photographs, about an island of 4,000 people “minding their own business” who find themselves at the centre of a geopolitical crisis once again amid threats from Argentina.
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Robyn Vinter went undercover to an influencer’s wellness event in the UK where the advice provided, many medical experts agreed, had the potential to be fatal.
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Dan Hancox’s fascinating Long Read about the long-awaited pedestrianisation of Oxford Street in London was a quietly inspiring story about how our cities can be improved. As one influential architect told Dan: “it’s been one big struggle to reclaim public spaces from cars … we have spent many decades reconquering cities for their citizens.”
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In the US, after more than nine months of reporting, led by Oliver Laughland and Will Craft, we uncovered a system that collects millions of dollars a year in court fees, much of it from poor tenants facing eviction, and a handful of judges who are earning hundreds of thousands of dollars from the fees they are collecting. Legal experts and campaigners describe the system as an “eviction mill”.
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Amelia Gentleman wrote a powerful interview with Tony Hall, 62, who came to the UK from Barbados at the age of twelve, to join his parents, part of the Windrush generation. For the last fourteen years, after spending time in prison, the Home Office has threatened Hall with deportation to a country he hasn’t visited for half a century and where he has no living relatives, meaning he has been prohibited from working or renting anywhere to live. As a result, he has been destitute. After the piece was published, the Home Office lifted the deportation order.
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For the second instalment of our hugely affecting series 18 again, Rick Williams wrote about spending a month immersed in the realities of his life in 1983. He captured an era hazy with alcohol and nicotine, bristling with the threat of casual violence, but also with the possibility of adventure, where going on an eight-month trip meant heading into the absolute unknown, without a guidebook – let alone a mobile phone.
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In a beautiful, impassioned five-star review, Jonathan Jones felt dread in front of Hokusai’s “monstrous, out of control” Great Wave in an exhibition of his 36 Views of Mount Fuji that showed the Japanese master’s vast influence on European art, from Van Gogh to Cézanne.
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One more thing … SNL UK, now well into its second series on Sky, continues to be a sharper, spikier upstart cousin to its better known US counterpart. While there are inevitably a few misses among the hits, the sketches come so thick and fast that the latter comfortably outweigh the former. The guest hosts, such as Amelia Dimoldenberg, Danny Dyer and tonight‘s host Cynthia Erivo have been well chosen and the musical guests (including the Streets and CMAT) have entered into the spirit too.
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Your Saturday starts here
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And finally …
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The Guardian’s crosswords and Wordiply are here to keep you entertained throughout the weekend – and don’t forget to try Film reveal and On the ball on the Guardian app.
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