1973 Grand National

The 1977 race saw two good horses (Winter Rain and Zetas Son) killed as well, and yet I haven’t met anyone who was soured by such an initial experience.

No. The ethos was different then. Death was an accepted fact of life, not something that only happened (especially to animals) if

.

People who had been through at least one and possibly two World Wars were more hardened to the idea of seeing death unfolding in front of their eyes. And because those older generations (50+) were stoic about it, and children were not taught as they are today that emotional display was

and valuable

, few if any were

by these experiences.

Today, although human nature has not changed, social

certainly have. A young person would fear to be thought heartless and cruel by his or her peer group, if they didn’t at least say they’d been

by seeing the screens go up, and put off this nasty sport for life.

Just a thought: was there perhaps something more honest about seeing it happen in the open? But of course there’s no going back……

Which does not explain why these "young persons" are a damn sight more violent in everyday life than my generation were.

I’m not sure they are,

Purwell

: much of that feeling is a perception, an urban myth rather than a reality.

There’s a hard core of inner city violence, sure, but then there always was – it’s just that it didn’t get splashed all over the papers in the 1950’s. Rereading

for example, acts as a salutary reminder that nothing much changes.

What does happen differently now, is that school children (as young as 5) are encouraged to sit round in a circle revealing and sharing their emotional feelings. The development of

is placed above development of the other sort. Thus also the green screens (round the jockeys now as well as the horses) so as not to risk upsetting people or disturbing their emotional equilibrium. All rather Disney….