On a train in Cambridgeshire at the weekend a man committed multiple stabbings. The reasons for this atrocity are as yet unknown, but news travels so fast now it instantly attains what you might call the speed of stupid.

Answers are demanded as those injured in an incident are still being blue-lighted away. This shouty need to know often comes from far-right agitators who hope what’s unfolding might align with their prejudices.

Nigel Farage of Reform UK plays this game too, while pretending to do nothing of the sort. I dislike quoting that man and only do so in the line of duty.

Here’s what he said on X before anything was known: “The attack last night in Huntington was horrific. My thoughts are with all the victims and their families. We need to know who committed these awful attacks as soon as possible.”

If you spotted a subtext hoping to blame an ‘illegal immigrant’, you will not have been alone.

British Transport Police later announced two men had been arrested: a 32-year-old black British national and a 35-year-old British national of Caribbean descent. The 35-year-old was later released and was said not to have been involved in the attack.

Spelling out the racial background of suspects is unusual but is intended to scotch right-wing conspiracy theories and social media misinformation, as spread so rapidly last summer after the murder of three schoolgirls in Southport.

The far-right may have been disappointed to discover that the man arrested was a British citizen, but they were still able to make vile mileage out of his race, as evidenced on social media. There is no satisfying these people and attempts to do so will always fail.

This willingness, nay eagerness, to believe what you want to believe and never mind the evidence is becoming a defining curse of the age. The US even elected as President a man who is consumed by a raging sociopathic compulsion to be right about everything and suppresses or denigrates anyone who offers evidence to the contrary.

There are other ways that such a shocking incident as that in Huntington can be used to bolster belief or prejudice. Many posting on social media later pointed with something like glee to another aspect of this sad story.

The hero of the hour was a rail worker gravely injured while saving passengers on the train. Samir Zitouni came to the UK 20 years or so ago from Algeria. He represents the best of modern multicultural Britain, although some on the right won’t like such elevation of an immigrant.

We should celebrate this man – but even to do that is to bend him to your side of the wider societal debate while he still lies in hospital.

Sometimes our eagerness to have the last word can override our humanity, our thoughtfulness.

Amid all this, the dormant scab of racism is being scratched into angry new life, thanks to Reform UK and others.

In the Guardian today, the Health Secretary Wes Streeting says he has been shocked by the rise in racism faced by some NHS staff.

Streeting said: “I’m disgusted that a level of racism last seen when Britain was a very different country, 50 years ago, has made an ugly comeback and I’m frankly shocked by those in parliament who’ve leaned into it.”

More such statements from Labour ministers would help.

LET’S end with an uplifting story about an Afghan refugee who found sanctuary here in Yorkshire.

Nahid Hamidi, above, and her husband Ahmad were targeted by the Taliban thanks to Ahmad’s work as a British Army interpreter. They fled the Taliban and Nahid has thanked the UK for giving her family a home.

Now living in Harrogate, Nahid has set up The Afghan kitchen, which has “fed thousands of people and offers other refugees help with their English – and a route into work”.

She said: “I am really happy. We want to say thank you so much to the government for this opportunity to come to the UK. I can work, my children can go to school. We feel safe here. But in Afghanistan, people are in a really bad situation.”

We are lucky to have Nahid in Yorkshire. This is the Britain we should celebrate.

I’ve gone off the BBC due to its unhealthy Nigel Farage obsession. But this is a good story. You can read it here:

Entrepreneurial refugee says ‘thank you UK’ for giving family sanctuary – BBC News