People are understandably emotional in the aftermath of the murder of Jo Cox MP. Her husband’s feelings right now are all too sadly familiar to me and I am sure all our thoughts are with him and his bereft children.
She was a political foe but her death diminishes us just the same. Nothing she sought to achieve by democratic means could ever justify any violence against her.
So much so obvious, one would have thought. And yet a shameful chorus of voices is trying to make her killer an emblem of Brexit. Even The Spectator has published a piece that despite some weasel words amounts to a smear on the Leave campaign.
People say in grief things they will later regret. The genuinely distraught must of course be cut some slack. No forgiveness should be extended however to wicked people trying to make political capital from murder.
It’s good that the official Remain and Leave campaigns were suspended out of respect. Let’s hope some civility can be achieved in the final days of this historic campaign. The nation’s future still depends on getting this right. A murderer must not be allowed to shape our decision.
The Last Ditch by Tom Paine 
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