LONDON: CHILD PLAY ON LINE CAUSES LETHAL TRAIN CRASH

A high-speed train was derailed today as it left London for Leeds. Travelling at nearly 300 kilometres per hour, the train seems to have hit debris on the line. The result was six dead and 88 injured. The impact of this collision with debris on the line is shown by the hundreds of metres of damage to the track as the train’s wheels were derailed. There are various indications that this accident was indeed not an accident – it was criminal behaviour by teenage delinquents who, instead of being at school, placed branches of trees on the lines, along with heavy stones. In short, it was premeditated murder. It is said that in this part of north London, such attacks on train lines have been taking place for some months and it was only a question of time before disaster occurred. However, concrete evidence is more difficult to collect. Exactly what possesses teenage youths to miss their classes at school and to purposefully place heavy objects on a railway track to cause a serious accident has until now belonged to horror films. Unfortunately, this is not a film and six families are in mourning as this article is being written. What a sad comment this is on our modern societies, that potential murderers and delinquents are being produced at such a young age, with no possible method of detection or deterrent being offered as a counter-balance. The role of the family, and the responsibilities of parenthood, need to be carefully studied so as to provide a model which responds to the demands of an ever-changing social model. If families are failing to socialise their children, then society has the obligation to familiarise them with the rules of common decency, whether through corrective, or preventive, action. Tim Bancroft-Hinchey, Lissabon, 2000-10-17