Sad to record the death of Jo Cox MP today.
Although only elected last year, she seems to have made an impression. More so she seemed like a good Labour MP….and GOD knows there are not many of them around.
While we cant lose sight of the fact that a 41year old woman…a wife and mother has been savagely attacked in a Yorkshire street, politicians tend to band together and claim it was an attack on the entire democratic process.
It may well be so.
But if politicians and broadcasters choose that narrative, they need to be consistent. So as BBC and SKYNEWS journalists conduct interviews with MPs and they recall that Stephen Timms, a Labour MP was stabbed while conducting a surgery in London about five years ago, it might be fitting to recall that Rev Robert Bradford MP for South Belfast was shot dead while conducting a surgery in 1981.
It might be that events of thirty five years ago have no resonance for the current generation. But just as likely anything Norn Iron means nothing to anybody in the Westminster village.
It is NOT the time to jump on a bandwagon. Some will do so…especially in the context of the European Referendum.
No side in that increasingly divisive and close Referendum should attempt to gain an advantage or demonise another side.
The best way to deal with this “attack on the democratic process” is to not let it affect the way we should vote.
Jo Cox RIP.
Keeping An Eye On the Czar of Russia 
Though of course the Remain camp will play this for all it’s worth if the lunatic killer turns out to be a Brexiter. Given the terrible context, who can blame them?
I am afraid that youre right.
And so it begins.
Ben Bradshaw MP for Exeter shows up on BBC with his “IN” badge. He tells us Jo “never lost her YOrkshire accent”
Patronising.
How quaint to have a Labour Yorkshire MP with a Yorkshire accent. Not like Yvete Cooper and Ed Miliband.
Ben Bradshaw does not have a West Country accent.
A terrible thought at this time, I fully admit it, but could this be the “event” that wins back the referendum for Remain after Sir Bob’s disastrous yuppie maritime antics on the Thames and the creeping Leave poll numbers?
It is not a terrible thought at all. Everyone is thinking the same.
Geldof is on Question Time tonight.
Ironic after Izzard last week.
Shades of Orlando also. The killer in Orlando is (per Fux News) a jihadist or a homophobe (LGBT) or indeed both.
Or possibly neither.
But the bandwagons roll. And people jump on board.
You have seen Twitter today.
The killer said (?) “Britain First” …or did he?
So that would swing things to REMAIN.
But he was an inadequate social misfit with learning difficulties. Which should (?) neutralise the political impact.
But I suspect the Remain side will play this up. It helps that Jo Cox was an authentic northerner….the very people that Labour-Remain are having difficulty with.
Yeah, saw the Twitter trend in the UK, was pretty crazy this evening. Leaning heavily to blaming Brexit camp, everyone from Boris to Farage. Leave camp v obviously on the backfoot. The old political adage, if you’re defending you’re loosing. Fair chunk of the crucial Undecideds must be moving to the stay group now.
My position remains that any result REMAIN or LEAVE produces chaos. And its like having a free each way bet in a two horse race.
If the polls move towards REMAIN then it indicates a sympathy vote.
But that means that LEAVE could lose on (what they would consider) an offside goal.
Does it make it easier or harder for the Tory Govt to come together on 24th June.
A death…a tragic death…a campaign suspended for three days. …its the Twitter Age,…somebody on the LEAVE side will say something crass. In the post-Diana Internet Age, people have to show public grief….its Candle in the Wind territory and that means normal service cant be resumed until about six weeks.
The LEAVERS will feel cheated of victory. And really it just makes it harder for Tories to come together after 24th June.
If REMAIN do win….we will never know how the result would have gone if this murder had not happened.
If the killer was unstable or political…but it is in interests of LEAVERS to play up the former and REMAINERS to play up the latter and somebody will say the wrong thing.
The bandwagon jumpers are there already. Youve seen Tweets that say it was an attack on Feminism (be ause some want that agenda) and Ive seen Congresswoman Gifford referenced. But wasnt there a right wing Dutch MP murdered a few years ago….but he is not referenced as he is the wrong kinda victim.
I wont watch Question Time tonight as its a script that any political observer could write.
A simple formula answer.
1 express sympathy wife and mother
2 talented young woman.
3 bright future.
4 lets not jump to conclusions.
5 jump to conclusions.
6 hope it wont affect rEferendum
(While hoping that it brings advantage to own side).
It’s strange how all these ‘lunatics’ and ‘fanatics’ strike at the best time to give the establishment a boost. A bit like ISIS. Unionists militia used to ‘randomly’ attack too at one time. Of course nobody was pumping them either.🤔
I think there is a real danger of a major incident in USA this year.
You can bet on it. My wife tends to not bother with politics much. But she asked me about two mths ago about the brexit thingy. I told her that there would probably be some kind of terror attack in Britain leading up to the referendum, especially so, if it looks like the remain camp were struggling. This shooting is too much of a gift to the remain camp in my opinion. I may be paranoid but there really is no level in which the establishment would stoop to maintain its hold. Some in the north still can’t get their head around the thought that their government would involve itself and indeed plan terror attacks to maintain its interests. Is it too much to believe that same government would involve itself in terror in Britain to further its own interests? They don’t have to carry out the act; they can just egg on the lunatic to do that. Job done.
i think the full picture will emerge during the trial (if there is one). The sub-judice law closes down real discussion as does the shock of the event itself and its exploitation by the REMAIN side and the reluctance of LEAVE side to say it is being manipulated (it would be counter-productive anyway).
Decency (and I am just about clinging on to it) inhibits me from saying what I really think.
Coincidence rather than Conspiracy but I would put nnothing past the Establishment. Surely Britain First is infiltrated by informers and there must be a “watch list”. There are police undercover.
Shades of “Lady Diana” I fear…..it will all look different in a year.
The REMAIN side will be happy with a victory. There is nothing “gentle” about that.
As the victory becomes clear as results come thru….there will be no overt celebration in the “political” REMAIN camp….obligatory references to “Jo Cox and her family…we dedicate this to Jo”. You can also see this.
But in the Banks and STockbrokers offices, champagne corks will pop and nobody will be thinking about Jo Cox and her family.