Bad news to end the year: attacks by young men on young men

We could not have missed, over the so-called “season of goodwill”, the number of appalling attacks carried out by young men on young men in Northern Ireland and also, in some particularly high-profile cases, elsewhere in the UK.

Those which result in deaths understandably hit the headlines, and yet those which end in so-called “critical injury” are often almost passed over the in “news in brief”. Yet that criticial injury can be life-changing, it can even lead to direct life or death choices being made by mothers and fathers, it has a different impact from headline-grabbing “murder” but its impact can be just as grave on relatives and loved ones.

So what is going on? Why are there so many angry young men out there, prepared to go to such outrageous lengths, even over the Christmas period? What are they thinking about when they inflict life-changing injuries of such magnitude not only on a fellow human being but also on their families? What is going through their heads as they commit such horrendous acts? And how do so many get away with it, their crime conveniently never to be heard about again?

It is not a gratifying thought at the end of the year, but if those in positions of power are not thinking of ways to tackle this appalling scourge before yet another young man suffers and yet another mother grieves, then they are not worthy of those positions.