Britain's Moment To Reflect: What Would Jo Cox Want Us To Think About?

PA/Yui Mok

By Scott Lucas, University of Birmingham

I only met Jo Cox once. Among her numerous interests, the MP chaired Britain’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on Syria and she had asked me to present an analysis of the need for safe zones to protect Syrian civilians.

She was gracious, charming and animated by energy and passion. Jaded by years of failure to get any effective action over Syria, I felt a flicker of hope when she explained what needed to be done. We parted with a promise for a discussion in the near future.

We could never quite arrange that further meeting, but I was fortunate to know much more about Jo. I worked with her staff on the Syria issue, and they never stopped talking about her devotion and unfailing optimism, even in the darkest of moments.

I discovered more about her compassion and dedication to better the situation of immigrants and refugees, beginning with her humanitarian work at Oxfam and continuing into her parliamentary service. Through social media, I followed Jo in her constituency in West Yorkshire, from visits to schools and community centres to her camping trip with a Brownie troop.

On Wednesday, I read of her pride in her husband and two children: in the campaign over Britain’s European Union membership, they had joined a Remain boat in a jovial response to the invasion of a Leave “flotilla” up the River Thames in London.

Now Jo Cox is dead, shot and stabbed outside her constituency surgery.

UK: Carry Jo Cox's Banner Of Love This Sunday

Image via Avaaz.org

Dear Avaazers in and around London, 

Only light can sweep away the darkness, only love can heal hate. As we mourn for and honour Jo Cox, we also have to go on -- to carry forward the banner of love and hope for a better world that she carried so gracefully. To unite, as her husband Brendan said, “to fight against the hatred that killed her.” 

And to do just that, on Sunday hundreds will be kissing against Brexit -- attempting to break a Guinness World Record for the largest kiss! The kissing chain will be continued in Rome, Paris and Berlin, sending a powerful message that we're taking back our politics from fear and lies with beautiful unity and humanity. And it starts in London. 

Dear Donald Trump And The Dividers: We Are Europe!

Image via Avaaz.org

Trump is coming to Britain! He’s launching his global crusade of hate here, just when the far-right is rising and the United Kingdom could leave Europe. Let’s tell him and his European counterparts to keep their hate out of Europe -- we’ll deliver it directly to Trump and his divisive allies, and launch a world-record EU kissing relay - to flood the media with images of love and unity, not division. 

>> Click here to join the movement now! <<

The Name's Bond, James Bond ... Or Should It Be Jane?

Gillian Anderson as Jane Bond. @GillianA/Twitter

By James Chapman, University of Leicester and Shelley Cobb, University of Southampton

Amid reports that Daniel Craig has hung up his Bond boots once and for all, speculation about who will take his place is rife. Will it be Idris Elba? Henry Cavill? Tom Hiddleston? While Hiddleston dismissed his chances, X-Files star Gillian Anderson threw her hat into the ring. It was liked almost 30,000 times – many people evidently think it’s time for James to become Jane. Two academics with opposing views make their cases.

Euro 2016 Could Turn EU Referendum Result Upside Down

A political football? Karen Katriyan

By Simon Chadwick, University of Salford

When historians look back at the fact that the Euro 2016 group phase ended the day before the UK’s Brexit vote on June 23, they will think it almost deliberately mischievous. These could turn out to be the finals where British teams entered as fully fledged members of the European Union and then departed in more ways than one.