Yet the same evening I was treated in the Ashton Hall, by a hundred and more musicians from the Lancaster and District Choral Society and orchestra, to a sublime performance of The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace – a moving oratorio denouncing violence.

The contrast between these diametrically-opposed expressions of human emotion, both emanating from the self-same society in this fairly small local authority area, was shattering and difficult to reconcile.
In London – where I lived for many years, and where 'culture' is rather more synonymous with cut-glass rather than cockney accents – the contrast might have passed without comment.

But here, where social divisions are less apparent, must we accept that these destructive youngsters are so far alienated from the more creative population that we cannot bridge the gap?

Perhaps we should be spending more time encouraging these kids to become engaged in live music from an early age. I've seen it work with a young choir and band in inner London; maybe it could work here?

Peter Brown
Address supplied