Gaddafi photos - enough already

I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling disgust at the proliferation of photographs of the last moments of Colonel Gaddafi's life. Yes, he was a tyrant; he inflicted terrible punishments on his people; he was, in short, a hideous human being. But photographs of him in his dying moments serve no useful purpose, except to pander to the worst in those who view them.

The Times, after rather pompously saying that it "wouldn't normally publish such pictures" (yeah, right) but that this was "an historic moment", jumped on the grisly bandwagon, and added some more today for good measure. Okay. We know Gaddafi's dead. Many of us will be very relieved that the world it now rid of such a man, and his country free to rebuild itself. But we don't need to see his body.

Having seen many people dying, and many shortly afterwards, I have always felt that death - anyone's death - should be a private affair. Whatever has happened, has happened. For our sakes, never mind that of the deceased, there should be an element of dignity.

But no doubt these pictures will continue to roll across our screens until the next catastrophe, because that's the media, isnt' it?