The commentator, Francis Wheen, has labelled the frenzied pilgrims that trekked to Soham the "grief tourists". Grieving over two girls they didn't know and a tragedy they couldn't possibly understand. Trampling on a tiny village's space and memories, full of Tennyson's idle tears, to gratify some need in themselves.

He courted the attention of the Press, proffered unsolicited information, sought to listen in on police conversations and behaved with the same bottomless vacuity as the busloads of gawpers who descended upon Soham last year, the so-called 'grief tourists', whose attitude transforms murder into a shameful entertainment.

Of course what happened to those two children was horrific beyond belief. But we are kidding ourselves if we think that what we feel is anything at all compared with what the families of Jessica and Holly are going through.

The senseless slaughter of these two children was a very private tragedy. The rest of us can sympathise, it would be strange if we did not, but we should go a little easy on the public weeping and wailing.

It is good that we have become more demonstrative of our emotions over the past 10 years.

But let's not become a nation of grief tourists.