This Easter holiday on the 16th April, while we were all taking a well-earned break before the summer exams strike with avengence, 32 innocent students and staff from Virginia Tech University were senselessly killed.
In one of the most terrifying shootings in American history the face of terror is unmistakable, making the face of loss and grief all too common. What makes the story even more chilling is that this shooting was not in a place of war but in a place to be regarded as a sanctuary of safety.
There is never a shortage of celebrity news and gossip in today’s media. Who’s marrying who? Which designer made the dress so and so is wearing and how much did it cost? It seems the public can’t get enough of the trivial yet admittedly addictive world of celebrity.
This is at least the attitude supported by BBC director general Mark Thompson, who has disputed recent claims by the chancellor Gordon Brown asserting that the public mood is in fact shifting away from celebrity culture and towards a greater interest in serious issues.