Yesterday we learned that the Ministry of Defence is considering co mpensating the families of Bloody Sunday victims … I don’t think any precise sums have been released yet, but it raises the question again of the value of a human life, and whether all victims should be compensated equally – the rock upon which the Eames-Bradley proposals on dealing with the past effectively foundered. There has been emotive talk of “blood money” - yet this is a phenomenon that goes back to the ancient law code of Hammurabi and beyond… And like it or not the issue of how much a life is worth comes up in many ways at many times. Where tourists are kidnapped for ransom by Somali pirates … Where footballers are bought and sold in the transfer window at ridiculous prices… Where the unemployment of millions of people and the effect it has not only on their livelihoods, but their personal sense of worth, is regarded as a “ price worth paying ” for the sake of the economic wellbeing of the country… alth...
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