Toulouse school shootings: let's keep politics out of it for a few hours

• These shootings in Toulouse are unthinkably horrible. I honestly can't begin to know what it must feel like for the families, or for the teachers, or for the whole city, and of course its Jewish community.

• It's the Jewish aspect that is particularly distressing. In Britain, and perhaps especially on the Left, we like to imagine that anti-Semitic attacks are a thing of a sordid past, expunged with Nazism in the fires of the Second World War. But they're not; there were 270 recorded anti-Semitic incidents in this country in 2009 alone. In other European countries, it's even more common.

• In this country, the increase in anti-Semitism has been largely driven by the Muslim population. And you sense that commenters on both sides are gearing up for a battle over the French killings. I've seen on Twitter at least one Left-leaning commentator quickly blaming the "far Right"; meanwhile, lots of Right-wingers are blaming "radical Islamists" and "Muslims".

• As hideous as it is, the killings will provide political capital for someone. If it was a Muslim gunman, then people will use that as evidence for the failure of immigration policies, and the Left will be blamed; if it's a far-Right extremist, then the moderate Right will be tainted by association. The finger-pointing blame game will begin at some stage. But for now, for just a few hours, while the sirens are probably still blaring in Toulouse and wounded children are being treated, can we all just agree that whoever did this – Muslim, neo-Nazi or garden-variety psychopath – is an extraordinarily evil person, and leave the political manoeuvring out of it. ~THE TELEGRAPH