The Today programme this morning carried a report on an incident in Greater Manchester in which David Askew, a 64 year-old man with learning difficulties, had been found dead outside his house.
According to a neighbour, Mr Askew had been subjected to many years of torment by local youths, who had picked on him because of his disabilities. The only way he could obtain temporary relief from their otherwise ceaseless bullying was by handing them cigarettes or money through the window of his home.
I can’t think of any recent news item that has made me angrier. The police, according to Mr Askew’s family, had done their best to protect him, but the problem persisted.
The trite, but nevertheless pertinent, question that has to be asked is: what the hell were the parents of these youths doing? Why did they apparently abdicate responsibility for their children’s appalling behaviour while this poor man was tormented to death?
No doubt there will be a trial and then, in due course, a report. We will all be earnestly told that “lessons must be learned”.
But the principal lesson is one of which we are all well aware: in many parts of Britain, the social fabric is so weak that it may be said to have broken down completely. It has taken generations to come to this and it may well take generations to repair. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make a start.
