I found much to dislike in the English press in the week I was back in Manchester, but there was also plenty to praise. The coverage of the Breivik trial was uniformly excellent in the papers that had articles covering it. I was particularly heartened to see at least one paper assiduously listing the names of his victims, with photographs and a little background on each. It was a reminder of how much more worthwhile, indeed genuinely interesting, these ordinary folk were compared to the fanatic/madman in the dock. Good to hear about the torchlight processions in their memory also.
I'm not much interested in the psychology of the murderer to tell the truth. A poverty of imaginative understanding of others as evinced in this man's case is, disturbingly, all too common - almost banal. But I am interested in the workings of the Norwegian system of justice which so far has proceeded in a deeply thoughtful, civilised fashion. And it was good to see the papers showing awareness of that.
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