The Middlesbrough carnage is just the beginning
The much-missed Rod Liddle, who knew Middlesbrough so well, would have had exactly the right words to describe the aftermath of last month’s catastrophe on the A66. Five men slammed headfirst into a marked police car carrying Constables Matthew Blades, a former teacher and father of two, and Tom Clough, an Iraq veteran – killing both officers as well as themselves. PCs Clough and Blades were the very best of Teesside. The five other men who died represent the worst PCs Clough and Blades were the very best of Teesside. The five other men who died represent the worst. Yet if this incident and its aftermath have shocked the country, for people in the area, it represents a grim escalation in a rising tide of violence.
