THE kids are alright, sang The Who.
But sometimes they’re not.
Sometimes they’re little monsters and, just occasionally, downright evil.
In such cases — as with Robert Thompson, Jon Venables and double child killer Mary Bell — it’s easy to blame the parents.
And we did.
But in the awful, heartbreaking case of Brianna Ghey, murdered by teenage fiends Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe, something else far more polluting was heavily to blame for their actions: Social media and the terrifying accessibility of the dark web.
The parents of all three parties — poor, blameless Brianna and those of the then-15-year-old killers — have all since acted with unbelievable compassion and kindness in the face of extreme evil.
Contrary to the victim culture in our society, Jenkinson’s parents have profusely apologised for their daughter’s despicable actions.
They even praised the judge for naming and shaming the culprits, and agreed wholeheartedly with the jury’s damning verdict.
No excuse, no distancing themselves from their kids’ abhorrent crimes and no blaming of any third party.
In turn, Brianna’s brave, stoical mum, Esther, who pleaded with the public not to turn on the killers’ parents, has said she is willing to meet Jenkinson’s mother — a woman, she pointed out, “who has also lost a child”.
But the common thread running through this tragic case, which saw Brianna repeatedly stabbed in a park in Warrington, Cheshire, is the accessibility of perverted filth on social media.
Which, of course, is readily available on smartphones.
Esther is campaigning for apps to be vetted on smartphones belonging to the under 16s.
The killers were both hooked on watching warped videos promoting killing and torture on the dark web.
Even on mainstream apps such as TikTok and Instagram, there is a terrifying subculture of perversion if you go looking for it.
The alpha generation — those aged 14 or under — use tablets and smartphones like a fifth limb.
In years to come their spines will doubtless be crippled by “tech neck”, permanent damage from being stooped over a device, thumbs riddled with RSI.
The reality is the Government needs to do more to protect youngsters — and ban smartphones for the under-16s altogether.
Sure, it’s not a vote- winner for the next generation.
But by the time they’re old enough to put a small X in a box, they’ll have been reunited with their precious iPhones.
Until then we should treat these £800 electronic devices with reverence.
Kids must wait until they’re 16 to have sex, leave school or order a glass of wine with a meal.
And sure, these “rules” get broken but they are generally accepted.
Imagine the excitement of waking up on your 16th birthday and being handed a first smartphone.
Delayed gratification, ultimately, is the best gratification of all.
And, as things stand, there is enormous pressure on both parents and children to compete with their peers and have the latest phones and coolest apps.
For those on the breadline, it’s yet another added pressure, one that such a law would negate.
Kids need to maintain their innocence for as long as possible.
At present, they’re seeing things no young, not-fully- developed brains should see.
Knife crime in the cities is at an all-time high.
Again, it is no coincidence.
Ban smartphones and we may just save a future Brianna Ghey.
2022
November
– The two teenagers discussed killing a child referred to in court as boy M.
December 5
– Girl X sends boy Y a video which was apparently an advert for an underground site for people who like rape, snuff, torture and murder.
December 15
– Girl X messages boy Y, telling him she is “obsessed over someone” called Brianna but did not have feelings for them.
2023
January 1
– Boy Y sends girl X a photograph of a hunting knife and tells her: “Spent my money. I bought a knife.”
January 23
– Girl X messages boy Y, telling him she gave Brianna so many tablets it “should have been enough to kill her”.
January 26
– The two teenagers compile a list of at least four people, as well as Brianna, they wanted to kill.
February 3
– Girl X sends boy Y a picture of a handwritten note of their plan of how to kill Brianna, titled “Saturday 11th February 2023. Victim: Brianna Ghey”.
February 11
1.41pm – Brianna sends her mother a message saying: “I’m on the bus by myself, I’m scared.”
1.53pm – Brianna meets girl X and boy Y at a bus stop in Culcheth.
2.30pm – Brianna messages a friend, describing girl X as “weird”.
3.06pm – Brianna sends a message to girl X saying “Girl where are you”.
3.13pm – Brianna is found lifeless by dog walkers Kathryn and Andrew Vize.
4.02pm – Brianna is declared dead at the scene.
February 12
– Girl X and boy Y are arrested at their homes.
February 15
Police find Brianna’s phone in a drain, stained with her blood in an area girl X and boy Y were seen walking shortly after the murder.
IT was like the Ozempic Olympics – Olempics? – on Sunday night.
The Grammys, a celebration of the world’s greatest musical talent, was filled with suspiciously thin men and women.
Kelly Osbourne, whose TalkTV mum Sharon lost three stone on the drug, showcased her own remarkable weight loss.
Kelly also admitted to dabbling with the stuff but insists she’s now off it as it left her “feeling like s***”.
Tempting though it is to highlight other stars’ dubious weight loss, I’d rather not get sued.
So I won’t.
I’ll let host Trevor Noah take the hit instead.
He quipped: “Dr. Dre is here, but please stop asking him for a prescription for Ozempic.
“He’s not that kind of doctor.”
AMERICAN philosopher Eric Hoffer once said: “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business and eventually degenerates into a racket.”
Never has this been more true than in the sorry tale of (the brilliant) Captain Tom Moore and his less-brilliant daughter.
Yesterday workmen began demolishing the £200,000 spa complex that had been set up using the late hero’s fundraising coffers.
Meanwhile, the foundation is the subject of an investigation by the Charity Commission amid concerns about its management and independence from Sir Tom’s family.
LAST week my male friend texted me for advice.
“Help!!!!” he WhatsApped.
“My mum, who turns 75 in March, wants a VIBRATOR for her birthday. WHAT THE HELL DO I GET HER?”
The message was accompanied by an aubergine emoji – and a vomit face one.
Putting aside for one minute that clearly he thought I was some sort of Rampant Rabbit doyenne, neither of us really knew what to do.
Anyway, happy birthday Nathan’s mum – ya son’s buzzing.
IN the wake of Kyle Walkergate, a man who can, by now, almost field a seven-a-side football team with his own offspring, Women’s Aid believes Premier League clubs should offer relationship counselling to these pampered, millionaire love rats.
The theory, presumably, being that these spoilt, working-class lads are too indulged and narcissistic to consider the feelings of their various ladyfriends.
But hold on.
Let’s examine the evidence.
Former PM, Boris Johnson: Ex-Eton and Oxford, is known to have fathered EIGHT kids by three different women.
Elon Musk, the planet’s richest man with a degree in economics and physics: 11 kids with three women.
Rod Stewart: Eight children, five mums. AND SO ON.
To suggest this is a football problem is both patronising and wrong.
Maybe, just maybe, it’s simply a man problem.
PERUSING London’s Evening Standard on Friday, there was an article suggesting rugby for youngsters is a form of “child abuse”.
(On the next page was an excitable curtain-raiser to the England Italy Six Nations game. The paper taking academics’ claims about as seriously as the rest of us.)
Researchers have argued the risk of major injury defies child abuse laws, and claim sporting bodies have persuaded families to accept brain injuries are a “side- effect” of competing.
But so is tree climbing.
Or hula hooping.
Stop nanny-stating sport.
We should be encouraging kids to burn off excess energy and get outdoors.
The alternative is more screen time and a lifetime of inactivity and waddling obesity.
ON Sunday night I received notification that my fit-as-a-fiddle (touch wood) dog would see her annual pet insurance rocket to £84 a month.
Dora the miniature dachshund has just turned three.
There’s not so much as a hint of grey whisker.
She’s never claimed on her insurance and eats like a queen.
(Last night’s supper was pan-fried salmon, with a spot of Greek yogurt).
Yet, in three years, her premium has almost doubled.
I’m now expected to fork out £1,033 a year on this barky, ball-obsessed little beast.
The company, ManyPets, claims “higher inflation” is the cause.
No wonder more and more poor families are having to rehome their beloved pets.
As things stand, pet insurers are able to get away with blue murder.
They know that starting a new policy with a different company will see owners having to pay a higher rate regardless, and lose all no-claims benefits.
It’s a wild, wild west in the world of animal insurance.
And deeply unfair.
COLEEN ROONEY started something when she strutted into the High Court wearing a moon boot after breaking a foot.
That most unlikely of fashion accessories has caught on.
Last year her court nemesis Rebekah Vardy was clad in one after falling off a horse, and now we see Elton John gingerly sporting some sort of raised-heel platform monstrosity as he limped into church on Friday.
For a man who prides himself on his “quirky” sartorial choices, that must have pained him.
Still, he managed to perform remarkably, singing Skyline Pigeon at Derek Draper’s funeral, and leaving not a dry eye in the house.
