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The political pressure cooker is rattling, steaming and whistling. MPs on all sides are venting outrage over the language used by their opponents. It\\u2019s like a real-life Twitter. The PM\\u2019s chief adviser Dominic Cummings has said the atmosphere in the country will get ever more toxic unless the result of the referendum is delivered. Meanwhile, opposition MPs blame the current fury on what they see as the government\\u2019s pig-headed refusal to compromise. Aristotle said: \\u201cThose who do not show anger at things that ought to arouse anger are regarded as fools.\\u201d Is fierce public rhetoric at a time of political crisis justified or counter-productive? When does the healthy expression of political anger become incitement to riot or murder? Anger is often described as \\u2018the moral emotion' \\u2013 the one most likely to affect our behaviour for better or worse. It can be constructive if it\\u2019s harnessed to redress an injustice, but what if the fight against the \\u2018injustice\\u2019 is driven by the destructive desire for revenge? Is there a moral distinction between anger expressed in solidarity with the oppressed and anger directed to punishing our enemies? Is it always virtuous to control our anger? George Orwell defined the English character as one of extreme gentleness, \\u201cwhere the bus conductors are good tempered and the policemen carry no revolvers.\\u201d Is that national character now changing? Is it too late to recover it? And should we even try? \\n \\nGuests: Brendan O'Neill, Mark Vernon, Rosie Carter and Thomas Dixon.

Producer: Dan Tierney