My wife Jo Cox was murdered in her constituency in 2016. The alleged attack on Helen Haines is a punch to the gut | Brendan Cox

Moments like these can reinforce our divisions or remind us of what we stand to lose when hatred and intimidation are allowed to brutalise our democracy It’s never a good sign when you turn on your phone to find a dozen messages asking if you are OK. For reasons you will come to understand, I only get those messages when something awful has happened. So on Monday, when I came out of an all-day meeting on antisemitism and picked up the messages from friends, I clicked across to check the news with real dread. The last time I’d received a similar barrage of messages was when former UK MP Ann Widdecombe was killed earlier this year.