There is blood being spilt every day, but more often than not away from these shores: Syria, Iraq, Palestine or Pakistan, but even in these battlefields the human body is generally maimed at a distance, this shielding the killer from his grisly work.
So it comes as a particularly revolting shock to see the bloodstained murderer dripping with his victims blood and spewing his angry words into the cameras on a London street on a sunny day.
The Sun described the murderer as a crazed and vile thug, and who can object to such language as we recoil from the horror of his act?
But it transpires that the perpetrator was himself the victim of a ferocious knife attack at the tender age of sixteen. He narrowly escaped death, but witnessed the hacking to death of his two companions by, yes, you've guessed it, a crazed and vile thug.
Our villain was living a chaotic life at this time: it was three in the morning in a council flat drug den when the assailant entered the flat supposedly to buy drugs but in fact intent on robbery and carnage.
So perhaps our killer was a traumatised young man, deranged and set off on a course towards mayhem and wild revenge by an incident and a life that might have tipped any of us over the edge? (A strange and incomprehensible brand of political Islam merely provided the encouraging cloak and found him a victim.)
We must be much more careful, all of us, everywhere, of the lives of others.
There is no excuse or justification for murder, we tell ourselves, and yet we often manage to find an excuse to invade another country, fire missiles from drones, invest trillions in weapons of mass destruction which we effectively wave at our potential enemies, saying, like a drunk in a pub brawl, you'll get this if you come any closer. Only when we say 'You'll' we mean entire nations.
Careful and sensitive reasoning has shown that even economic theories designed to pay back debts can be careless of peoples lives, as well as fail to pay back debts.
'The Body Economic' by Stuckler and Basu has used empirical evidence to demonstrate that, for example, ten million (yes, ten million!) Russians died as a result of the attempt to turn Russia into an experimental free market in a very short period, and they have shown how careless reasoning by our own Mr Cameron has killed innocent citizens (yes, his own people!) from heart attacks.
Of course, nobody meant these things to happen in the way that the deranged young man in Woolwich meant to murder a soldier. But maybe they didn't care enough that they might happen?
And if we don't put people first, their health and happiness, then there is much more chance that they will happen.
So next time you are responsible for a policy, ask yourself if you would do it to your nearest and dearest, or if you would like someone to do it to you?
It's amazing what a difference asking these questions can make to the paths open to us.
Yesterday we were surrounded by love and affection in the happy home of my brother's daughter, Joy, her husband Robert Jones (Bobby), their two young sons Charlie and Harry (two and four) and Bobby's father Alan.
Whilst we chatted and were worn out by the boundless energy of Charlie and Harry, Bobby, who is a spectacularly good cook, prepared a barbecue so delicious that it would have united the world's religions, Sunni and Shia, Protestant and Catholic, and brought about peace on earth.
Love is like the sun, it will burn forever in the human heart, but too many of us are kept forcibly away from its caressing touch or thrown into the shade where its warm rays can no longer soften the human heart.
Statesmen and women, I beg you, all of you, examine all of your policies and proposals to see if they carry forward the loving warmth of the splendid sun above, to see if they soften the hearts of those who will be affected by them.
Be kind, be generous, be careful, we are all easily damaged.
And if you want great food to bring people together, Bobby will cook for you and come together they will. He will cook while you relax, entertain and reconcile your guests. Text him on 07849864500
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