On walking into the Milestones of Flight building, one thing that struck me was that most of the aircraft displayed didn’t really seem worthy of the title of ‘Milestone’.

I think the problem here is that you’re confusing what it actually is as opposed to how it is ‘marketed’…

…after all ‘Milestones of Flight’ sounds a lot more catchy than ‘that new entrance lobby / display building thingy’! 😀

I think we have to accept that big, expensively funded, developments at national air museums aren’t really designed for those with a real interest in aviation; they are designed to attract those that have little to zero interest.

One thing though…..I can’t criticize the lighting! 😉

…your rather anemic “Yes, it was an evil crime and an innocent child was killed in most harrowing circumstances…” reveals you to be more analytical then empathic as regards the victim.

No it doesn’t, that is your interpretation. I deliberately chose my words carefully so as not to repeat unnecessarily the details of the torture and murder of James Bulger…..I’m not a tabloid journalist.

The problem with nice people like you…

Why do you say ‘problem’; do you think I am sympathetic to Jon Venables and Robert Thompson or am suggesting leniency in their case?

…if they are not removed from society forever they will continue to hunt until they finally are removed forever.

So your motives for wanting them removed, or killed (I didn’t read past posts to find your preference) is to ensure that no more innocent lives are lost to these two sociopaths (or vile murdering scum if you prefer)?

And that brings me back to my original question; if people are so concerned about the potential for more loss of innocent life at the hands of sociopaths why is there so little outrage at the thousands of innocent lives that are lost every year the easily preventable disease?

Where is the Mosquito analogy supposed to go in terms of feeling the affect?

My point (or rather question) was what is it that angers people (not directly connected) with this case to the point where some seem to be prepared to kill those responsible for the murder of James Bulger. Yes, it was an evil crime and an innocent child was killed in most harrowing circumstances, there can be no doubt there, but thousands of similar children die each year from preventable diseases (such as malaria) and yet these deaths do not seem to provoke the same angry response.

I’m not pointing a finger here because I myself do not feel the same anger over those thousands of preventable child deaths, as I do over the single murder of James Bulger, and I was wondering why that should be so. Is it because the malaria deaths are ‘natural’ (even if they are preventable) or is it because of an understandable intolerance of anybody who could murder a helpless child? Is it the media that fuels our thirst for revenge, or punishment, depending on your point of view?

As some have suggested, perhaps these two cases do not bear comparison, but I’ll guarantee that a thread here about preventable child malaria deaths wouldn’t have generated such heated debate.

As I said I’m certain that ‘justice’ as a mechanism wouldnt have been served. I certainly made no reference to it when I described the environment I remember. It would have been legally indefensible – no argument there. You asked whether those two 10 year olds would actually have been ‘strung up’ though. Going by what I remember of that time, simply, the answer is yes.

I’m sure you’re right that the mob would have ‘strung them up’.

Actually I was trying to understand if those who suggested ‘stringing them up’ were really prepared for the reality of capital punishment after proper legal process, when the condemned were two ten-year-olds. My suggestion being that, in the cold light of day, none of us would be prepared to see it happen, let alone, carry it out.

While it is a good thing that people do feel so strongly about such a wicked crime, sometime the wish to do harm (or ‘justice’) to the guilty does surprise me; I feel it myself, how angry it makes me, but when I actually think about it rationally, did this crime really effect me? I mean, for example, thousands of innocent two-year-olds die every year of malaria, and each of their lives could have been saved by a five dollar mosquito net and yet that doesn’t anger me enough to do anything about it (other than to make ‘normal’ charity donations).

….please lets be accurate with our flippancy Mr Door sir. I said the ’10 year old boys AND their parents’.

So it would have been fine if Jon Venables and Robert Thompson had murdered James Bulger’s mother too?

Yes, I know, that was flippant…..but my original point wasn’t meant to be.

I understand that public feelings were running very high but I cannot see the justification for any form of ‘justice’ by the mob in killing Jon Venables and Robert Thompson or their parents…..and certainly not by anybody who wasn’t actually related to James Bulger.

Are we back on the point of them being poor little 10yr old boys now?.

Absolutely not, there can be no excuses, no circumstances and no justification whatsoever for the calculated, and premeditated, torture and murder of James Bulger by Jon Venables and Robert Thompson. Apart from some concessions with regard to their age (in court and in prison) they should have faced the same charges and received the same sentence as a adult would have for their crime.

…in the community at that time though, and knowing what the mood was, both boys and both sets of parents would, I have no doubts whatsoever, have been beaten to death or hung…

And what punishment would you suggest for those responsible for ‘beating to death’ two ten year old boys?