Grief is swirling through the streets as town remembers and mourns the loss of its MP
Saturday in Southend is quiet, and lacking in the usual buzz of a seaside town on a weekend.
Local MP, Sir David Amess, has been murdered and everyone is talking about it. People here seem to be seeking solace, or someone to share their grief, or better still someone to tell them this nightmare isn’t true.
Sky News surrounded itself with some of the people who knew Sir David best – the charities he supported and with the locals who credit the late MP with changing their lives for the better.
Live updates following the death of Conservative MP Sir David Amess
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Sir David’s fight for animal rights
Sir David was the president of The Music Man Project, founded in Southend by David Stanley.
They had been close friends for 25 years and share a deep passion for helping children and adults with learning disabilities be creative through music.
“His big personality was what marked him out,” Mr Stanley tells Sky News.
“He would light up every room and he would come into the concert or a fundraising event for my charity, and immediately he would be spreading the word about how great the music is and what wonderful achievements people with learning disabilities can do through music.
“I’d often pass him a microphone for a speech at the end of a concert but he’d brush it aside and say ‘I don’t need that microphone!’ and he didn’t, he just bellowed enthusiasm and genuine passion.”
In 2019, Sir David helped a group of 200 students from the charity perform at the Royal Albert Hall and again at the London Palladium.
Sir David Amess on the stage with The Music Man project. Pic: The Music Man Project
Sir David at the London Palladium in 2015. Pic: The Music Man Project
“David’s effect on students was enormous. He had this passion for what we were doing. He told the students that they could go to the Albert Hall and that we can all go to Broadway and do a concert tour of New York, which is our next dream.
“But when Sir David said it, they believed it, because it’s Sir David Amess, a knight of the realm, he’s an MP, he has great connections, he can open doors and he can get people to support us.
“So our families and musicians believed every word he said and everything he told them did come true, he was true to his word.
Proceeds from the sales of Sir David’s book Ayes and Ears, published in 2020, all went to three charities close to his heart, of which The Music Man Project was one.
David Stanley on stage with the The Music Man Project. Pic: Music Man Project
Sir David was passionate about animal welfare charities too, serving as patron of the local RSPCA branch and supporting the local stables that run riding for the Disabled Association programmes.
The Belfairs Riding School is a short walk from the scene of Friday’s tragedy and was a place regularly visited by Sir David, and Fiona Smith from the stables fondly remembers his cheeky humour.
“He was a nightmare, absolute nightmare, he would just want to get in and meet the horses that you didn’t want him to be in with, he would just go and tap them on the backside, he was all over the place and absolute nightmare in the best way. But we loved him.
“He was always enthusiastic, always smiling, always energetic and whatever you asked him for he would try and oblige.
“I don’t remember a time where I ever saw him, that he wasn’t energetic and enthusiastic. There was integrity to what he did, he was passionate about animals, and he believed in animal rights.”
Fiona Smith from Belfairs Riding School in Southend
David Bowles from the RSPCA had been chatting to Sir David at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester a couple of weeks ago and having known him for almost 20 years, Mr Bowles understood the MP’s fierce love of animals.
“David was really passionate about two things. One was Essex itself, the other was animal welfare.
“Sometimes those combined – as he was president of the local RSPCA in Southend, he worked a lot with animal welfare in the area, but also did an awful lot in Parliament.
“One of his greatest achievements that he felt he did was passing a private member’s bill back in 1988 which improved tethering of horses, which he saw day to day in the Essex area.
Improving the lives of local people is also highlighted by business owners on Southend high street.
Joseph and Nicolas Strauss on Southend high street
Joseph Strauss remembers a cause Sir David fought on their behalf for, when it felt like no one else would listen.
“Southend Council wanted to turn the road outside our shop into bus lanes and there’s hundreds of us and he fought for us.
“Otherwise all these shops up here, employing hundreds of people, would have been closed, and he even mentioned it in parliament.
Joseph’s son Nicholas also met Sir David a couple of times as their children were of similar ages.
“I met him on a personal basis, because his youngest daughter used to play football with my oldest daughter, we used to see him every so often watching his daughter play football.
“We knew him as such a charming man and decent man, no airs or graces, just a lovely man.”
There’s a sense of deep shock and sadness in Southend. The grief is swirling through the streets as the town remembers and mourns the loss of their MP – who was simply proud of doing his job.
New Hampshire became the first US state to allow its government to invest in crypto currencies including Bitcoin (BTC), after Governor Kelly Ayotte signed a bill passed by the legislature into law.
In a May 6 notice, Ayotte announced on social media that New Hampshire would be permitted to “invest in cryptocurrency and precious metals” through a bill passed in the state Senate and House of Representatives. House Bill 302, introduced in New Hampshire in January, will allow the state’s treasury to use funds to invest in cryptocurrencies with a market capitalization of more than $500 billion, eliminating many tokens and memecoins.
“The Live Free or Die state is leading the way in forging the future of commerce and digital assets,” said New Hampshire Republicans in a May 6 X post.
With the signing of the bill into law, New Hampshire becomes the first of several US states considering passing legislation to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve, including an initiative with the federal government. A similar bill in Arizona passed the state’s House in April but was vetoed by Governor Katie Hobbs on May 2, and Florida’s government withdrew two crypto reserve bills from consideration on May 3.
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The efforts to create crypto reserves in different US states come as US President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers propose similar policies at the federal level. Trump signed an executive order in March to establish a “Digital Asset Stockpile” and a “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.”
Senator Cynthia Lummis, who sponsored the Boosting Innovation, Technology, and Competitiveness through Optimized Investment Nationwide (BITCOIN) Act, proposed that the US government could hold more than 1 million BTC through civil and criminal forfeiture seizures. The bill is currently being considered by members of the US Senate Banking Committee.
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A group of crypto traders reportedly purchased millions of dollars worth of Melania Trump’s memecoins minutes before she announced the launch on social media.
According to a May 6 Financial Times report, the crypto traders earned roughly $100 million from buying $2.6 million worth of MELANIA tokens before the public launch on Jan. 19. Shortly after Trump announced the memecoin launch on social media, the price surged from roughly $2.00 to $12.95 — a 550% increase. The traders reportedly sold their holdings within 12 hours.
“In total, the 24 accounts bought up 16.7mn of the 200mn total $MELANIA tokens scheduled for sale during the launch period,” the Financial Times reported. “[…] the run of sales that started pre-launch continued. About $900,000 worth of tokens bought by an additional 22 accounts in the 42 seconds after the launch.”
The memecoin started trading roughly two days after then-president-elect Donald Trump announced the launch of his own TRUMP coin. Both tokens have come under scrutiny from lawmakers, alleging conflicts of interest and corruption due to the potential for bribery and foreign influence.
Memecoin dinner prompts call for impeachment
Much of the scrutiny and criticism from US lawmakers over the memecoins seems to be directed at the president rather than the first lady. After Trump announced some of the top TRUMP tokenholders would be offeried the chance to get access to him at a private dinner and tour, one senator called for his impeachment.
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Both the prices of the MELANIA and TRUMP tokens have dropped significantly since shortly after their launch in January, with the First Lady’s memecoin falling to $0.31 at the time of publication. The TRUMP token price briefly surged after the memecoin dinner announcement in April, but had dropped to $10.90 as of May 6.
Two companies connected to the president control roughly 80% of the TRUMP supply, though many of the tokens were locked and will be released over the next three years. Critics have suggested that the project’s insiders could still rug-pull investors.
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21Shares has launched an exchange traded product (ETP) in Europe, providing investors with exposure to Crypto.com’s Cronos token, the asset manager said.
The ETP is listed on Euronext’s Paris and Amsterdam exchanges, 21Shares said in a May 6 announcement.
Cronos (CRO) is a layer-1 blockchain network affiliated with Crypto.com, a centralized exchange.
The chain is designed to integrate with the Ethereum and Cosmos ecosystems and support “decentralised finance (DeFi), NFTs, and Web3 applications,” 21Shares said.
The ETP aims to provide investors with a “straightforward way to integrate CRO into their portfolios through traditional banks and brokers, eliminating the need to directly handle digital wallets or exchanges,” 21Shares said.
“By launching a Cronos ETP, we are offering investors […] regulated exposure to a blockchain ecosystem that is driving real-world adoption,” Mandy Chiu, 21Shares’ head of financial products development, said in a statement.
Related: Standard Chartered sees BNB more than doubling in 2025
The CRO token has a market capitalization of approximately $2.3 billion and a fully diluted value (FDV) of nearly $8.7 billion, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Cronos has a total value locked (TVL) of approximately $400 million, according to data from DeFiLlama.
Its DeFi ecosystem includes Crypto.com’s liquid Ether staking token, Crypto.com Staked ETH, which has nearly $64 million in TVL, the data shows.
Altcoin ETFs abound
On May 5, asset manager VanEck filed to list an exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the US tied to yet another exchange-affiliated token.
The VanEck BNB ETF is the first proposed ETF in the US holding BNB Chain’s native token, BNB. The chain is affiliated with Binance, the world’s largest centralized exchange.
In the US, 21Shares has proposed ETFs holding cryptocurrencies including Dogecoin (DOGE), Polkadot (DOT), and Solana (SOL).
Asset managers are seeking the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) permission to list upward of 70 cryptocurrency ETFs.
The wave of filings has come as a result of US President Donald Trump softening the SEC’s regulatory posture toward crypto after taking office in January.
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