Chavton Murder!

If you decide that you will not do something then it is surprising how often your attention will be forced on the very thing that you are trying to avoid. So my efforts to avoid the news and focus on other things have been thwarted by someone managing to get themselves killed not too far away from my front door.

A dad was stabbed to death during a street brawl outside anoff-licence. Liam Mearns, who was 21, of Sillet Close, Clacton, diedfollowing the fight involving two groups in Wellesley Road. Tenpeople were later arrested in connection with the murderinvestigation.

OK so it's not that close, but still close enough to muck up the traffic for the last two days, a minor inconvenience compared to being stabbed of course.

More information will emerge over the next few days, but I am willing to make a few predictions based on my own knowledge of the area.

The dead man will:

Have a criminal record, mainly petty crime.

Be the father of one or more illegitimate children.

Have had no meaningful employment record.

Be in receipt of various benefits.

Have achieved little or no success at school.

Own an extensive wardrobe of tracksuits and trainers – designer or course.

Excel at computer games.

I suspect that we will tick a few of the above list off over the next few days. None of which is a justification for being murdered of course. As we watch the floral displays pile up and listen to the comments from friends and family that Mearns was a 'diamond' and 'the room lit up when he entered ', as various rent seekers and professional whingers demand tougher sentencing for almost anything, we forget that Mearns was not just the victim of an assault that took his life he was the victim of a society that has accepted and glorified under achievement. A society that rails against financial poverty and provides generous benefits to alleviate that, but fails to address the poverty of ambition and self respect that goes with it.

For the last 30 years or more society has made excuses for its failings and put in place a social care system that strips away any drive or enthusiasm that the younger population may have had. We have created an underclass that is valueless, to itself and everyone else.

Liam Mearns was 21, his life dribbled away into the gutter in front of a shabby off-licence in a grubby seaside town on a cold night in December. The reason for the altercation is not known, but when we do find out what it was I'll wager that is a pathetic argument about a trivial matter.

UPDATE: He's fathered three brats!!