Labour MP Jo Cox shot in Birstall

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.

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! ^

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 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.

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.

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.

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?

Let us not be all too ready 'to dive too quickly back into the rancour that was preoccupying us until 1pm yesterday'

Also, sick comments from Facebook or Twitter have no place on Gransnet, and I think GNHQ may well agree with that?

My DH (a journalist) once made a documentary on Britain First .He has been in some difficult and frightening situations in his working life(think Beiruit ,the Birmingham pub bombings).He said it was chilling and the most scared he had ever felt.Scared not for his own safety but for our children and the future of the UK
My elder DD has a very intelligent and thoughtful German friend She says the rise of neo Nazi organisations in Germany is truly frightening .
Where does all this hate come from ? I found myself weeping yesterday for Jo Cox and her family but also for theworld that she tried so hard to make a better place

What a terrible loss of such a talented young person, who had so much to live for. Cameron praised her support for the Syrian refugees and said she was instrumental in changing policy, and she'd only been an MP for a year, but had a wealth of experience with Oxfam. I do think society seems to becoming more polarised, and she appeared such a brilliant support and voice for the vulnerable.

Thank you for your post, Luckygirl

That's exactly how I feel.

Luckygirl, you spoke for me. RIP someone who just wanted to help humanity.

What a truly tragic affair. I have pondered what has made an apparently benign man who although suffering from mental issues with his own self worth has led a life of community service. Could he have been affected by the austerity measures such as bedroom tax, has he had benefit issues because of his hospital admissions. Far from being diverse, Batley is a very polarised community with a very high Muslim population it is locally referred to as Batleystan where most of the women now wear the full face veil, maybe he was feeling the stranger in his own community and the rhetoric of some of the politicians with regard to immigration in the run up to the referendum imust be making some in the community more alienated. Most people can disagree and not take action, maybe in this case, his lot in life had become so poor that he saw poor Jo Cox as encouraging changes that would only see his life get worse. There are those at the bottom of the pile who are not aligned to far right theology, just struggling to survive. I am not condoning this, far from it, I am trying to rationalise why someone could be driven so mad as to do something so heinous.

How long was apartheid ignored by this country untill some here spoke out and said enough is enough. Even then it took many years, if silence had been maintained the black South African would still not be allowed to vote . Racism , hatred must always be exposed and condemned . If we had spoken out in the thirties the horrors of the death camps may have been avoided, but we remained silent.

'All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing '

I didn't know this lovely lady. From the news reports she was obviously a force for good in the world.

I am sick to my stomach at the idea that an MP can't safely hold a surgery for her constituents without being gunned down.

My deepest sympathy goes to her husband and two young children. Awful.

Good post Joelsnan

I have been crying - because there is so much hate in our world & because a wonderful young woman has died as a result. I hope her husband's words will resonate with us all and that we will work hard together to celebrate what unites us rather than what divides us.

There seem to be a lot of possibilities why this happened, but what it does highlight is how vulnerable MP's actually are, in their surgeries,trying to calm people with problems.

Good post Joelsnan, if the likes of UKIP and the out campaign hadn't blamed immigrants for all the ills in this country hatred may not have been ignited in this man

It is such a shame that Jo Cox may be remembered not for the good she did in her life, but for the way she died.

You never know why anyone does anything, but I do think cuts to NHS budgets do not help when people like him slip through the net and then go on to do something so awful.

RIP Jo Cox

The perpetrator of this awful killing may be someone who should have been on medication, or a politically/hate motivated fanatic. Sadly the result is the same, a family bereft and a loss to the country. It's a wonder anyone puts their head above the parapet to fight for the disadvantaged.

ab you can't blame anyone, we simply do not know at present.I wish that everyone would try and stay calm about this, on here at least. We expect the papers/ Twitter etc to be spewing all sorts of stuff, but if we add to it what does it do to help?It doesn't, it just gets people worked up.

So so sad - she was a beautiful mother, wife and daughter as well as being a politician who was doing such good work in her community. My heart goes out to them all especially the little ones.