This is the text of an article requested by the Yorkshire Post and published this morning. I wrote it before the latest violence in English cities.
Southport is a place of grief and tragedy. It is a place I knew very well when I was young and growing up in Liverpool. Outings to Southport were slightly exotic – even if we thought we could dig deep enough into the sand to find oil. Stupid maybe, but it kept us occupied for hours and out of the adults’ hair.
Why has the violent and lethal attack on children in Southport had such a ...