A phone call and a tragedy

That phone call about the Duchess of Cambridge  and it's tragic consequences must have come as a terrible shock to everyone involved, especially the bereaved family of the poor nurse who took the call and then apparently committed suicide. And yet...

Pranks - and  so many things in life - are judged by their consequences. A few years ago, a man managed to roll his car down an embankment (an accident). But people in a train were killed, so he was jailed for manslaughter.

But then there was the "prank" phone call made by Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand. I've just read a transcript of that, and it was outrageous; malicious, nasty, crude and very unkind. But nobody died,  and after a brief suspension, Ross was back again.

The perpetrators of the Australian phone call were undoubtedly wrong. A tragedy ensued. They will have to live with that for the rest of their lives. But  I think that Jonathan Ross, older and probably a lot more experienced, was very lucky to get off so lightly, for his conduct was, if anything, worse. By now, for him at least, what happened is more than likely a distant memory.