Wednesday, 28 May - The sound of silence

May 28, 2025

Good morning, it’s Wednesday, 28 May. In your Squiz Today…

  • Dozens of people are injured after a man drove into a parade crowd in the UK

  • King Charles has given a historic speech in Canada

  • And the AMAs go offbeat… 🎵

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Squiz the Weather

One more time…

We've said it before, and we’ll say it again, Squizers are the best. Our 2025 Audience Survey is very close to closing and your response has been great - but we’re squeezing every last drop of juice out of it... So please - if you haven’t done the survey, we’d really appreciate it. Not only does it help us to make decisions for our business over the coming year, but we also want to know a bit about how you’re feeling about the world. Go on, you know you want to…

Squiz Sayings

“Somehow that becomes a sort of geo-planetary catastrophe, with people even coming up with theories to explain it.”

Said French President Emmanuel Macron in response to a video of his wife Brigitte pushing a hand in his face as they prepared to hop off a plane in Vietnam. Macron said it was all just teasing, but the video went viral - if you managed to avoid it on your social feeds yesterday, you did well. It was, some might say, in our face…

A victory parade turns into panic

The Squiz

Police in the UK say they’re not investigating a car being driven into crowds of people celebrating at Liverpool Football Club's Premier League victory parade on Monday evening as a terrorist incident. The car, which they say was driven by "a white British man" from the Liverpool area, drove into pedestrians just after 6pm local time, leaving 4 trapped underneath when it came to a stop. At least 50 people were treated for injuries, with 27 of them - including 4 kids - taken to various local hospitals. At least one child and one adult were seriously injured.

What happened?

Hundreds of thousands of Liverpool fans were out and about in the city on Monday afternoon, celebrating after their team won the Premier League title, with players from the squad being driven through the city in an open-top bus. BBC reporter Matt Cole was there with his family, and said an ambulance had just moved slowly through the “dense” crowd on Water Street, in Liverpool’s CBD, when “suddenly, this dark blue car just came through the crowd”. Cole says a group of men were chasing the car, banging on its windows and throwing things at it, but that it had "no intention - it appeared - of stopping". Another witness saw the car reverse through a group of people before accelerating into others, saying the happy atmosphere quickly "turned into fear and terror and disbelief".

And what do we know about the man?

The 53yo was arrested by police at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder, driving while unfit through drugs, and other dangerous driving offences. They are yet to lay formal charges, and we’re still waiting to learn his name. But investigators have figured out how the car reached the crowds, given a “robust traffic management” plan was in place for the event… He’s believed to have followed an ambulance through when a temporary roadblock was lifted. Merseyside Police have called it an “isolated incident” - so they’re not looking for anyone else in connection with it. UK PM Keir Starmer is one of the leaders to speak after the incident - he says “everyone, especially children, should be able to celebrate their heroes without this horror”.

Driving disaster relief forward

After the collection of over 80,000kg of clothing in 2024 through the Uber x Red Cross Clothing Drive, Uber is expanding its Australian Red Cross partnership to provide essential rides and meals to disaster relief volunteers nationwide. This collaboration goes beyond transportation - it's solving a big challenge for frontline workers. Don't miss our interview with Emma Foley, Uber’s managing director in Australia, and Penny Harrison, deputy CEO of the Australian Red Cross, in tomorrow's Squiz Today podcast. And you can support the work of the Red Cross at here.

Squiz the Rest

The King’s Speech

King Charles has wrapped up a 2-day visit to Canada by giving the ‘Speech from the Throne' overnight to open the parliament - the first time it's been delivered by a reigning monarch in 50 years. It's normally given by the Governor-General, but the King accepted an invitation from new PM Mark Carney to deliver it this year after the country's sovereignty became a hot topic. That's because US President Donald Trump has been making noises about making Canada the "51st State of America", which didn't go down well with Canadians, to say the least. And while the King didn't mention Trump directly, he did talk about "changing relationships with (trading) partners” and finished on this line - “the True North is indeed strong and free”.

Boyle pleads guilty

Nearly 8 years after former Tax Office (ATO) Debt Collection Officer Richard Boyle became an internal whistleblower, he’s pleaded guilty to 4 criminal charges - including recording private conversations. To remind you, in 2017, Boyle contacted ABC TV’s Four Corners to expose what he believed to be the ATO’s unethical debt recovery practices against taxpayers who owed it money. He initially faced 66 charges, but many have been dropped over the years as he fought to avoid a criminal trial by claiming whistleblower protections - something South Australia's Court of Appeal rejected. By pleading guilty this week, he may have avoided jail - but his supporters, like Human Rights Law Centre's Kieran Pender, say "prosecuting whistleblowers has a chilling effect on truth and transparency". Boyle will be back in court on 1 August.

Jacqui’s back

It was a close-run contest, but Tasmanian independent Jacqui Lambie will be back in the Senate after a tough battle with Liberal Richard Colbeck and One Nation candidate (and Pauline’s daughter) Lee Hanson for the final 2 Senate spots from Tassie. Lambie’s confirmed return is part of the Australian Electoral Commission rolling out official results from Tassie, South Oz and the NT - and she’ll be joined in the Senate by the youngest upper house member in history - 21yo Labor candidate Charlotte Walker from South Oz. As it stands, the ABC tracker has Labor with 28 seats, the on-again off-again Coalition with 27, the Greens with 11 and independents/other parties with the rest - meaning the government only needs the Senate support of the Greens to pass legislation when Parliament comes back in July.  

A state of anticipation

The 3-match rugby league series between NSW and Queensland kicks off in Brisbane at 8.05pm AEST tonight, and it's a big event on the sporting calendar, so here are some facts to arm yourself with if you get drawn into it… The 2 teams have played 43 full series, with Queensland leading 24 -17 (and 2 draws). And while every single series since 2011 has finished with a 2-1 scoreline, last year was particularly exciting as the series was 1-1 heading into Game 3, which was played on Queensland's turf, but NSW won a low-scoring game to win the series, and they'll go in as favourites again this year. If you want to dive a tad deeper, we've found some good previews here and here. You can watch it on Channel 9, or at pretty much any pub in the north-east of the country… 

Missing a beat

The American Music Awards ceremony was on yesterday, and despite a lengthy opening medley from host Jennifer Lopez, it was a bit of a weird one… First, several major categories like Song of the Year weren’t given out on the telecast - which might have been because winners like Eminem and Billie Eilish weren’t there in person to accept them. Then there was a weird moment on the Australian feed on Stan, when country star Blake Shelton performed an entire song with no audio, just spooky audience noises on a loop… And finally, Swifties were also a bit flat once the show was over, after rumours that Tay-Tay would rock up and drop a new version of her 2017 album Reputation - but there was silence on that front too. So probably not to write songs about…

Apropos of Nothing

In what might be the only time an 8yo takes down Tom Cruise, the live-action remake of Lilo and Stitch has beaten Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning in box office sales after their opening weekend. Raking in a combined $531 million, it's the year's second highest opening after A Minecraft Movie - but much cleaner…  

Scientists in the UK are on a mission to find out what space smells like by replicating the gases found on different planets, and the results are far from rosy - rotten eggs and cat wee can be whiffed from Jupiter’s clouds, while Saturn offers a mix of almonds and petrol. Thank goodness for helmets…

And Norway's future queen, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, is about to move down under for uni. The 21yo will arrive in August to study at the University of Sydney, where she’ll live on campus. We can’t help but think of that other European royal who met a nice local and got quite attached. Wonder if we’ll get a sequel…?

Squiz the Day

10.30am (AEST) - International Paralympic Committee (IPC) President Andrew Parsons will meet with Brisbane Olympic President Andrew Liveris and Paralympics Australia President Alison Creagh in preparation for the games - Brisbane  

12.30pm (AEST) - Former ANU Vice Chancellor Professor Brian P. Schmidt and Professor Richard Holden will deliver an address on “Securing Australia’s Sovereign Research Capability” at the National Press Club - Canberra

5.00pm (AEST) - The Responsible Investment Association Australasia’s 25th Anniversary Conference will explore the topic “from greenwashing to geopolitics: what’s next for ESG?” - Sydney 

5.00pm (AEST) - The Sydney Institute will hold a panel on ‘The Liberal Party – After the May Election’ - Sydney

7.30pm (AEST) - Martha Stewart will speak at Vivid’s In Conversation event - Sydney 

7.30pm (AEST) - Kitty Flanagan will deliver an address at the Women in Media Oration Honouring Caroline Jones gala dinner - Sydney

8.05pm (AEST) - NRL: Game One of the Men’s State of Origin kicks off at Suncorp Stadium - Brisbane, and watch it on 9Now

ABS Data Release - Monthly Consumer Price index, April 2025; Construction Work Done, Preliminary March 2025

🍔 International Burger Day 

A birthday for singer Kylie Minogue (1968)

Anniversary of:

  • Anniversary of the deaths of authors Anne Brontë (1849) and Maya Angelou (2014)

  • Neville Chamberlain becoming PM of the United Kingdom (1937)

  • Turkish president Tayyip Erdoğan entering his third decade of ruling after claiming victory in the election (2023)