In my view this deserves its own thread, it happened today, a british MP was shot three times and then stabbed on the face, apparently by a person who "One eyewitness told the BBC they heard her attacker shout "put Britain first" at least twice beforehand." (BBC quote, from http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-36550304)
MP Jo Cox was a young woman who (afaik) recently was elected for the first time. Her death is obviously very tragic. An issue is why this death now seems to be a deciding factor in the referendum to happen in a few days (23rd of June), on whether Britain remains in the EU or leaves it.
From the BBC quote i read that both Remain and Leave campaigns stopped their campaigning as a direct result of this murder. But doesn't this taint the referendum beyond repair? This female MP's death is a horror, but not one which is logically to decide how people vote in a referendum which won't happen again (if it does happen again) for a decade or more.
-Do you think the media and politicians in Britain were way too happy to feed into this personal tragedy, as a bid to force a Remain outcome? Polls from the last days prior to this murder showed a win for Leave, while now the campaign has frozen.
I think that this is not good for a referendum. I also am very wary of how this killer happened to be so bizarrely persistent in trying to kill the MP given he shot her three times and then pulled out a knife to stab her on her face?! And "one eyewitness" says he heard him shouting "two times" the words "Britain first"? But this female MP was from middle England, white, young, native of the area, it makes next to zero sense to be 'patriotic' for 'Britain' and so go on to kill an english MP who would not be deciding any outcome of the campaign.
I hope we get some answers as to what exactly happened, and why. But i fear the referendum is effectively going to be a charade now.
And British treasury secretary makes it now very obvious he wants to market this murder as a result of the mentality people on the Leave side supposedly have:
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RIP Jo Cox.
BBC said:Vote Leave and Remain have both suspended campaigning in the EU referendum in light of the attack.
Mrs Cox, 41, is the first sitting MP to be killed since 1990, when Ian Gow was the last in a string of politicians to die at the hands of Northern Irish terror groups.
The man taken into custody was arrested in Market Street, not far from Birstall Library where Mrs Cox was holding a constituency surgery. He has been named locally as Tommy Mair.
Dozens of Mrs Cox's friends and colleagues gathered later for a vigil at St Peter's Church in Birstall.
BBC said:An MP has died after she was shot and stabbed in a "horrific" assault in her constituency, police have said.
Jo Cox, Labour MP for Batley and Spen, was left bleeding on the ground after the attack in Birstall, West Yorkshire. A man was arrested nearby.
One eyewitness told the BBC they heard her attacker shout "put Britain first" at least twice beforehand.
Tributes flooded in from politicians including David Cameron, Jeremy Corbyn and US Secretary of State John Kerry.
Mrs Cox's husband Brendan said she would want people "to unite to fight against the hatred that killed her."
MP Jo Cox was a young woman who (afaik) recently was elected for the first time. Her death is obviously very tragic. An issue is why this death now seems to be a deciding factor in the referendum to happen in a few days (23rd of June), on whether Britain remains in the EU or leaves it.
From the BBC quote i read that both Remain and Leave campaigns stopped their campaigning as a direct result of this murder. But doesn't this taint the referendum beyond repair? This female MP's death is a horror, but not one which is logically to decide how people vote in a referendum which won't happen again (if it does happen again) for a decade or more.
-Do you think the media and politicians in Britain were way too happy to feed into this personal tragedy, as a bid to force a Remain outcome? Polls from the last days prior to this murder showed a win for Leave, while now the campaign has frozen.
I think that this is not good for a referendum. I also am very wary of how this killer happened to be so bizarrely persistent in trying to kill the MP given he shot her three times and then pulled out a knife to stab her on her face?! And "one eyewitness" says he heard him shouting "two times" the words "Britain first"? But this female MP was from middle England, white, young, native of the area, it makes next to zero sense to be 'patriotic' for 'Britain' and so go on to kill an english MP who would not be deciding any outcome of the campaign.
I hope we get some answers as to what exactly happened, and why. But i fear the referendum is effectively going to be a charade now.
And British treasury secretary makes it now very obvious he wants to market this murder as a result of the mentality people on the Leave side supposedly have:
http://www.bbc.com/news/live/uk-politics-36454645BBC said:British values will 'prevail' despite killing, says Osborne
Posted at 23:38 16 Jun
The attack on Jo Cox was an assault on the values of "freedom, liberty and justice", Chancellor George Osborne has said in an emotional speech at Mansion House, in the City of London.
People are free in this country to live their lives as they choose and express themselves without fear. Society will protect their right to do so and hold to account those who disregard our laws. Today's horrible events are an assault on all of these values. But we know that these values, no matter how they have been challenged in the past, have always prevailed, prevail today and they will always prevail. For they are the values of Great Britain, our great democracy.
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RIP Jo Cox.