Society, Simmons and the Pilkington Suicide

[michael]

This is from the Mail but don't let that put you off too much, it's not badly written and seems to cover the situation quite well.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1217321/The-betrayal-white-working-class-boys-death-normal-society.html

 

Also:

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6854450.ece

 

What can be done now though? Is it too late to fix the rot?

[Animal]

Fucking dobbers. Gas the lot of 'em.

[stevie_b]

Of course, the police are right in protecting the chav family (no, honestly). If they didn't this country would be ruled by vigilantes, and they sometimes get it wrong. There's a fairly large part of me that would love them to be fed to the baying crowds and get a taste of their own medicine. They'd find out what it feels like to be afraid to live in your own home.

 

It seems clear that the authorities had plenty of opportunities to intervene to stop the bullying, but either didn't or felt they couldn't. We can expect a period of "pass the blame parcel" between the various public bodies involved. It's right that they try to find out where the process fell down and what should have been done (and when). However, 2 things spring to my mind:

 

1) You cannot completely legislate against the scumbags in society. Whenever an emotive case comes up in the news (abuse, etc), there sometimes follows some guidance or new legislation that aims to close a perceived loophole that "allowed" the crime to take place. Then people are outraged that a similar kind of thing happens again a few years later. It's my belief that you can't close all these "loopholes" (bad choice of word, but I can't think of a better one). It's futile trying to do so.

 

2) Finding out where the processes could be improved is one thing, but do the authorities up and down the country have the will, the legislation and the resources to deal with these types of bullying cases? This case has (rightly so) had a lot of press coverage, but I'll bet there are other similar cases happening right now. Are those people being assisted by the authorities as they should be? I fear they're not. The two Pilkington women cannot be helped now, it's too late for them, but it's not too late to help others who are currently victims of a similar type of bullying.