Rage is easy. Reason is harder. Be careful when politicians ask us to choose, writes Shelagh Fogarty

Throughout the investigation, the trial and the sentencing, they have conducted themselves calmly, publicly and, above all, reasonably. They have made their views known, without calling for vengeance, without inflaming tensions, and without abandoning their faith in the legal process.

That is why I found Nigel Farage's response so jarring.

After praising the Nowak family for the decent and honourable way they have handled themselves, he called on "the rest of us" to respond with "pure, cold rage".

Well, if it's all right with Nigel, I'll stick with reason.

That is not to say people should not be angry. Of course, they are angry. Cases like this provoke powerful emotions. Anger can be entirely justified. It can be a force for good. It can galvanise people, focus attention on injustice and drive change.

Some of the most memorable speeches in Parliament have been fuelled by anger. You can hear it in the voice of the speaker and feel it in the force of the argument.

But there is a difference between anger and rage. There is certainly a difference between feeling angry and encouraging hundreds of people to take to the streets consumed by it.

The scenes in Southampton should make that distinction obvious.

Three or four hundred people gathered on residential streets. Wheelie bins were thrown. Windows were smashed. Cars were climbed over and damaged. Police officers were injured. Police dogs were injured.

That was not a protest.

It was a riot.

Imagine living on one of those streets and looking out of your window as it unfolded. Imagine watching bins flying towards houses, hearing glass shatter and seeing a crowd behaving as though normal rules no longer applied.

Words matter when tensions are already running high.

Which is why I find some of the political rhetoric around this case so troubling.

Tommy Robinson was quick to return to familiar claims about two-tier policing. He also called for the family involved to be driven out of Southampton. Driven out of town. It is the sort of language that belongs in an old Western, not in serious public debate.

Farage's language was different, but it pointed in a similar direction. Not towards patience or due process, but towards emotional escalation.

What I find particularly striking is how selective some of this concern about policing appears to be.

Britain has spent decades grappling with examples of poor policing, including racist policing against black and Asian communities. Those debates have been going on for years. Yet many of the people now expressing outrage about policing seemed remarkably quiet then.

That does not mean there are no legitimate questions to ask in this case. There may well be.

It is possible that, in trying to address historic racism, some police forces have got things wrong. It is possible that public confidence has been damaged. If so, those concerns need to be examined properly.

Trust in policing matters.

But the way to establish the truth is through evidence, investigation and accountability, not through rage.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct is investigating. Keir Starmer has said that if further scrutiny is required, wider inquiries should be considered. That is how serious questions should be handled.

Rationally. Carefully. Reasonably.

The Nowak family seem to understand that. They have sat through a trial. They have watched the justice system do its work. They have asked for answers, but they have done so through lawful and peaceful means.

Their example is worth following.

Because when public debate becomes a competition between reason and rage, the consequences are rarely abstract. They are measured in smashed windows, frightened residents, injured police officers and communities pushed further apart.

We saw that after Southport. We have seen it again here.

Which is why politicians should think very carefully before encouraging public anger, particularly when events are already close to boiling point.

Rage is easy.

Reason is harder.

At moments like this, it is also far more valuable.

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Listen to Shelagh Fogarty from 1-4pm Monday to Friday on the LBC app.

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