A comment on this - I was going to hold fire for a short time before posting this up, but seeing what is happening online. I have decided it is pertinent to the present climate.
At the weekend just gone, there was some sad news which you all will know of. I am not going to comment on that as it is being chewed over incessantly online and in the media. I would, however, like to extend my sympathy to the sons and other members of the family. What I am going to say concerns certain issues that have surfaced as a result of this tragic event. First, we have the ongoing insistence that a particular poster is responsible for the dossier handed to the police, and that one or more forums colluded in this 'despicable' act. Then we have a FB page dedicated to hounding the reporter who 'outed' the deceased poster. Next we have a 'vexatious' (MET description, not mine) hounder sending demands re the Freedom of Information Act regarding this, we have tweets threatening this person and that person - in fact the deceased's actions seem to have opened up a veritable can, nay a barrel of worms. Then, nastiest of all, we have a certain failure starting a familiar routine. What is that, I hear you ask, and why the title of this Take? Well, let me take you back to a certain celebrity whose swimming pool became the scene of the tragic drowning of a guest, and a young man found dead in a concrete mixer. Both these cases have a common denominator, the kind solicitor who offered help and then took over. In both cases he was shown the door when it was realized all he wanted was fame and fortune. I have heard, but cannot corroborate, that he offered his 'help' to a family whose daughter went missing, was rejected and in retaliation embarked on a non-stop campaign of harassment and stalking. And now he is starting the same scam on the son of the deceased, by offering his condolences on the strength that his mother wrote a 'nice' post about him online. He is so predictable, this kind man, this paragon of virtue, this devoted Christian, this vulture who latches onto other people's misery and exploits it as much as he can. If he runs true to form the next step will be a 'civil' case against the reporter, Sky News, the concerned citizens who sent the dossier to the police, certain named posters and forums, in fact anyone and everyone who can be targeted. I hope I am wrong but going by what is now happening online I fear it can only get worse, not better.
At the weekend just gone, there was some sad news which you all will know of. I am not going to comment on that as it is being chewed over incessantly online and in the media. I would, however, like to extend my sympathy to the sons and other members of the family. What I am going to say concerns certain issues that have surfaced as a result of this tragic event. First, we have the ongoing insistence that a particular poster is responsible for the dossier handed to the police, and that one or more forums colluded in this 'despicable' act. Then we have a FB page dedicated to hounding the reporter who 'outed' the deceased poster. Next we have a 'vexatious' (MET description, not mine) hounder sending demands re the Freedom of Information Act regarding this, we have tweets threatening this person and that person - in fact the deceased's actions seem to have opened up a veritable can, nay a barrel of worms. Then, nastiest of all, we have a certain failure starting a familiar routine. What is that, I hear you ask, and why the title of this Take? Well, let me take you back to a certain celebrity whose swimming pool became the scene of the tragic drowning of a guest, and a young man found dead in a concrete mixer. Both these cases have a common denominator, the kind solicitor who offered help and then took over. In both cases he was shown the door when it was realized all he wanted was fame and fortune. I have heard, but cannot corroborate, that he offered his 'help' to a family whose daughter went missing, was rejected and in retaliation embarked on a non-stop campaign of harassment and stalking. And now he is starting the same scam on the son of the deceased, by offering his condolences on the strength that his mother wrote a 'nice' post about him online. He is so predictable, this kind man, this paragon of virtue, this devoted Christian, this vulture who latches onto other people's misery and exploits it as much as he can. If he runs true to form the next step will be a 'civil' case against the reporter, Sky News, the concerned citizens who sent the dossier to the police, certain named posters and forums, in fact anyone and everyone who can be targeted. I hope I am wrong but going by what is now happening online I fear it can only get worse, not better.
