Labour MP Jo Cox shot in Birstall

I agree with DaphneWhether he was proveably a member of a nasty right wing (Facist) group or not is irrelevant
And am I the only person to be astonished that a very important eye witness (who claims he heard him say 'Britain First')was being interviewed by the BBC.Which is of course what fuelled all the speculation .
Surely as a key witness he would be bound by some sort if sub judice law?

No-one is backing indifference. The need is for working calmly toward resisting dogma and building up constructive policies in an atmosphere without hysteria and reprisals. Banking up equal fervour and hyperbole encourages extremism, it doesn't get rid of it.

Nowhere is safe anymore I wonder if we will be afraid to go about our daily lives without fear but of course then these people and terrorists will have won.

I agree with all the posters on here who say stop the blame game, and think only of the MP's family, until the police issue a statement and we know exactly why this man did this awful act.Anything else is supposition and a whipping up of anger.

Can we not just feel tremendous sadness for the loss of Jo Cox , for her family
In their grief and for the human race that such terrible things go on in people's minds.
Recriminations are better left alone.

I agree with Professor Brian Cox:

^The problem with today’s world is that everyone believes they have the right to express their opinion AND have others listen to it.

The correct statement of individual rights is that everyone has the right to an opinion, but crucially, that opinion can be roundly ignored and even made fun of, particularly if it is demonstrably nonsense! ^

ab Exposing hatred by repeating it can spread the words even further. That is not the same as fighting it - it is helping to increase both it and the opposing hatred that it feeds on.

It may hasten the apocalypse and the final battle of angels against devils, but the angels and devils become indistinguishable if they ALL hate one another.

This is a tradegy, young life wasted. Thoughts in particular, to her husband and two little children.

@Elegran

I suspect we'll find out he's not a member. I don't think that's relevant. The point is that he will have absorbed the rhetoric of such groups from the internet and even much of the main stream media.

Aha! So it's the left's fault? The UK does not have a left-wing agenda and hasn't for years.

I don't feel hatred. I feel anger that people make excuses and are complacent.

The historian, Ian Kershaw, wrote:

“The road to Auschwitz was built by hate, but paved with indifference.”

Jo Cox's husband wrote:

"I and Jo's friends and family are going to work every moment of our lives to love and nurture our kids and to fight against the hate that killed Jo."

I believe that tolerating hate makes us less human and I hope I never stop fighting against it.

Over the last couple of months, we've witnessed hate during the London mayoral election and now the referendum campaign. The stage was set for what's happened.

I don't think this awful killing has anything to do with EU debate. However I feel that a lot of ordinary, and often underprivileged people in UK in 2000's feel increasingly dominated and culturally lead by an increasing Left wing agenda.The hallmark of any democracy surely is to have a broad representation of various viewpoints discussed in a civilised manner.

DD "I don't agree. I do not - and never will - accept the views of anybody who thinks it's OK to murder somebody." Who exactly has expressed the view that you should accept that it is OK to murder somebody? No-one that I can find on here, perhaps you could point them out?

What IS urgent is that we find out whether this man is genuinely a member of any terrorist organisation, (or even of Britain First, a homegrown lot with extreme views but not necessarily one advocating murder) or is a sick individual who cannot control his anger and has latched onto the name of the movement to give him a "reason" for it.

AnyaHe targeted a politician It therefore was a political act however warped and whatever mental health issues he may or nay not have ,and whether you like it or not

I'm afraid people like Polly Toynbee don't help! We must accept people have different views. Whether I agree or disagree with either campaign democracy must rule.

The problem is that democracy doesn't "rule" even on an innocuous forum like GN. We do indeed have different views but some have the idea that "I am entitled to my opinion, therefore I am entitled to express that opinion, therefore that opinion is a fact, therefore no one may disagree with it".

Just as the message on the car in PT's article says "this is a Leave area" we have had exactly that on a thread on here.

The thing about democracy is that it should apply to everyone not just a select few.

Good grief! Who has said they think that it's okay to murder someone? No-one. Where did that comment spring from, DD?

I'm all for free speech, but publishing hateful comments from other media are just giving them air space. Why would anyone want to do that? We all know there are hateful people but that most people are not like that.

A disturbed individual will grab any weapon in a rage and use it on anyone who crosses him/her. If this really was done by someone who was unbalanced, he had three weapons ready to use - a gun, a knife, and an extreme political ideology. He used them all to deadly effect.

The same is true of the Orlando gunman, who seems to have had personal sexual problems of his own, a lot of anger, and a gun, and had joined not one but three terrorist organisations - Hezbollah, Al Quieda, and Isis (who are not even all working for the same aim).

The combination is lethal. Removing one of the elements might have made a difference to the outcome. But doing it via a confrontation of facing hate with equal hate turns it from disapproval into all-out warfare - and fanatics revel in the glory of opposing "oppression" and attract others who are discontented.

Daphne, thank you for posting that sick comment from Facebook, exposing hatred should not be dismissed as not for this forum, it may upset some but they like all here are free to read, discuss or ignore

@Ruth1958

I don't agree. I do not - and never will - accept the views of anybody who thinks it's OK to murder somebody.

Poor woman. Poor family. Just terrible.

I think we should wait to find out the state of the gunman's health rather than jump to conclusions that there is a link with the referendum.

That said, the Farage poster is sickening, especially for those who would wish to vote leave for very different reasons than the immigration issue. Brexit campaigners will be pretty annoyed about this, as it implies that all those voting leave have the same simplistic and unpleasant views about sad fellow humans faced with a life of misery in their own homeland.

RIP Jo our thoughts are with your family.

I'm afraid people like Polly Toynbee don't help! We must accept people have different views. Whether I agree or disagree with either campaign democracy must rule. You cannot just ban because YOU or I disagree. If there is anger around perhaps it's because the public's opinions are ignored or we are threatenef with PC style censorship. We must ALL be allowed a voice!

I was shocked to hear this on the news, that poor woman, and the family

I don't think we should be blaming the referendum or anybody else! It's very easy to jump to conclusions and blame politicians. For heaven's sake we are not a country of people who hate, we have always been quite the opposite. The press will always be subject without facts first!