Politics
June 16 2016
There’s a grimness in Britain tonight. Jo Cox, a Member of Parliament, was stabbed and shot by one of her constituents, Tommy Mair. The motive is not known, but a number of witnesses heard him shouting ‘Britain First’. The attack was vicious, prolonged and deliberate. She was 41, and leaves behind two young children.
The backdrop to this horrible murder is the referendum, to be held next week, on whether the UK should leave the EU. In principle, referenda are the purest exercise in democracy a nation can enjoy. In practice, they are poisonous, divisive things. I hope we never have another.
