The murder of Charlie Kirk exposes an old truth about what we've always been like, says Mark Smith

A man is shot and killed under a banner that says “prove me wrong”. Videos and posts emerge, on TikTok and Bluesky, of people laughing and dancing and celebrating the murder. I feel sick, and I want to write a column about it. But now here we are, a little bit later, and it isn’t going to be quite the column I thought it would be. I’m surprised by that, and a bit disturbed.

I suppose, if you haven’t seen them, I need to tell you more about the videos and posts on TikTok and Bluesky. What they say, one after another, is that Charlie Kirk got what he deserved and they say it often with smiles on their faces. Some of them even come up with suggestions of who deserves to die next: always commentators and public figures with conservative or right-leaning views, sometimes a famous children’s author who’s become a leading figure in the debate on trans issues. You can see why I felt sick.

So here’s the column I was going to write, based on my first response to the videos and the posts. I was going to write that the vile reaction to the death of Charlie Kirk, or anyone – the celebration of a murder because the victim has opinions you disagree with – is a particular problem of the left and the ‘progressives’, the type of people who post on Bluesky rather than X because they think it is nicer and that they are nicer. It isn’t and........

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