Hatred is constrained in politics by formal safeguards. Social media has let it loose | Simon Jenkins

Jo Cox’s killing doesn’t show that order has broken down, but when social media turns antisocial, some policing regime is urgently needed

There are two griefs at the death of a public figure. One is at the loss of an individual. The other is dismay at the apparent collapse – we do not know for certain – of the protections that should discipline argument in a democracy.

No one knows the motive for the killing of Jo Cox. As in Orlando, the rush to judgment on the basis of initial witnesses and ot...