Labour MP Jo Cox shot in Birstall

Ab Jalima , can we avoid the real world ? That vile tweet was written by someone in the real world

Many unspeakable things go on in the real world.
Child abuse, for example, but I doubt if any gransnetters would like graphic descriptions of it to appear in the forums.
I agree with jalima and think GNHQ should have deleted the post which quoted those tweets.

Graphic description of sexual abuse of a child is not and should not be compared with vile comments by a vile mouthed person,

Ana- your comment sadly proves the point made.

(we've seen that with the massive difference with other crimes too, like recent rape cases. One set of 'assumptions' and treatment for some, and a very different one for others).

It was an analogy, ab.
I did not say or imply it was the same.

Ana- your comment sadly proves the point made
not sure which point and what is proved?
and why it is sad to be proved?

As the police didn't arrive untill after the murder there is only the witnesses who can say what they saw and heard
that's right, we can speculate all we like but until we know the facts we cannot know the motive or reasoning of this person.

The witnesses will be taken through the events by an experienced officer, who will take as many statements as possible from those who saw or heard anything, and assess what happened.

At the moment, we have only heard instant reports.

Two witnesses are pretty sure they heard him say 'Britain First'. This is a vile far-right racist/anti-muslim group, I won't do your googling for you, but I wouldn't go near their web pages at the moment if you don't want to read raw racist rage. The man Thomas Mair had subscribed to racist journals, and had bought far-right and racist materials, and instruction books on building guns and bombs. We await what the police will find at his home. It's unlikely to be disclosed till the trial (if any, he may plead guilty) which will not be for months.

We don't know what his mental health problems are. Usually people with mental health problems are not violent. I would put good money on this man being motivated by hatred of Jo Cox's work for refugees, she was prominent in campaigning for Syrian refugees and in particular she supported Alf Dubs' (failed) attempt to bring 3000 unaccompanied refugee children to the UK. Perhaps that created his Breaking Point. I guess anyone who deliberately sets out to murder another human can probably be classed as a psychopath.

There is a scary undercurrent of xenophobia if not overt racism, that has become almost tangible in this past few weeks. Maybe I read different media from you, but it has been exposed by this referendum campaign. I am really worried for our future.

@Jalima

If you don't visit these sites, do you really know how vile they are? I posted them, because somebody accused people of making political capital and I wanted to point out that there are hundreds of groups which already are. I see that Nick Griffin has even joined in.

As it happens, those tweets weren't tweets, but Facebook posts and were re-posted on HopenotHate, the group Jo's husband would like to benefit from any donations.

I'm sorry if you were offended, but that's the reality of what's going on and I find such groups dangerous and frightening. The police can't do anything. It's futile to pretend they don't exist.

Sorry Jaeainsworth but a very poor analogy , I read the reports of the injuries of victims of Hindly and Brady , I assure you no one could use those as an analogy with a foul mouthed comment on Twitter

And before the usual group question I read the reports but should not have and have always regretted it

It said on the news that Jo had reported to the police that she had received threats. It didn't say who or from which organisations they were from.

Relatives and neighbours have stated that he did not have violent tendencies. We don't know what his mental issues were, but nobody could have done anything if they didn't know how aggressive he was. I haven't read anything about psychopathic tendencies.

@Tegan

There have also been reports that somebody was cautioned, but not this man, so probably unrelated.

PS. GNHQ have been given details of why I am especially concerned about the 'hidden' right wing and I have had discussions. I am not going to disclose those details here.

I think all MPs get abuse and threats these days. The anonymity of the internet enables it, we have to hope it's mostly not going to be carried through.

My MP David Lammy's Facebook page gets regularly filled with racist abuse. In a way I'm quite glad when he leaves it up, otherwise we can all stay comfortably insulated from these other realities. Facebook users mostly publish in their own names (they can of course be traced by police unless they have gone to great lengths to hide themselves), I'm surprised at the confidence with which they write barely legal rants.

Just been said that he had links with right wing extremists, and that is the main line of enquiry by the police.

Are our sensibilities really so tender that we can't face reading a few tweets from some sick idiots? I don't think so, surely! We can't totally blind ourselves to what's going on in he world.

I read Jeremy Corbyn's tweet earlier today and some of the replies were sickening. We still need to read it though.

I'm not advocating sitting at home and deliberately finding websites where all this stuff goes on, but Twitter?....

From daphnedill: "PS. GNHQ have been given details of why I am especially concerned about the 'hidden' right wing and I have had discussions. I am not going to disclose those details here."

What the hell is that supposed to mean?!

Exactly what I wrote. I'm not giving details here.

Well, why put it on, daphnedill?

@jinglebells

This was on Facebook on an open site and there are screenshots on HopeNotHate.

@merlotgran

Because certain people seem to think I'm joking or exaggerating the dangers (or whatever).

I don't follow twitter or whatever and my sensibilities are not tender.

Most of these sick people are hiding behind the anonymity of the internet but then occasionally one turns it into a reality. They have always been around but the internet fuels their fantasies.

Because certain people seem to think I'm joking or exaggerating the dangers (or whatever).
Most of us are not naive

I don't want to get into a debate about democracy, referendum, immigration etc. So, so sad for Jo Cox's husband, children and wider family. Whatever the motive behind it, the act was vicious and full of evil. There is no excuse for such appalling violence to anyone in the world. The facts that we know are that someone killed this young committed woman in cold blood in a horrendous manner. If an animal did this it would be put down. This human being is worse than an animal in that the killing was clearly planned. I'm not a believer in capital punishment, but hope the perpetrator is never released into society again.

RIP Jo Cox

I'm not a believer in capital punishment, but hope the perpetrator is never released into society again. hear hear

And Gransnet HQ have agreed with you have they? Why would they know anymore than the rest of us?