THE public outpourings of emotion after the Hillsborough disaster and the Jamie Bulger murder are examples of a culture of over-the-top caring where people indulge in "recreational grief" to feel better about themselves, a new report claims.
The no-holds-barred analysis of 21st century Britain - published by social policy think-tank Civitas - said such "hollow expressions of public caring" had been triggered by the decline of institutions which once gave meaning to people's lives, such as the family, Church and neighbourhood.
The national mourning at the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997, was typical of such public displays of grief, which the report says are phoney exercises in piling up "damp teddies and rotting flowers".
But it also cites as further examples the laying of flowers and creation of shrines after 96 Liverpool supporters died at Hillsborough in 1989, and again four years later when toddler Jamie Bulger was killed by two 10-year-old boys.
The report's comments have provoked anger among those who have been campaigning on behalf of families who lost loved ones in the Hillsborough disaster.
Sheila Coleman, a member of the Hillsborough Justice Campaign, hit out at the comments in the report as they related to the 1989 disaster which cost 96 lives.
She said: "There was a genuine grieving in the city which was almost tangible. There had to be a focal point for that and Anfield was the most obvious place, and rightfully so.
"It offered tremendous comfort to both the bereaved and survivors of the disaster."
In the 80-page pamphlet, called Conspicuous Compassion: Why Sometimes it Really is Cruel to be Kind, author Patrick West said: "We live in a post-emotional age, one char-acterised by crocodile tears and manufactured emotion.
"Ostentatious caring allows a lonely nation to forge new social bonds. Additionally, it serves as a form of catharsis. We saw this at its most ghoulish after the demise of Diana. In truth, mourners were not crying for her, but for themselves.
"To judge by the 'outpourings of grief' ... one would have thought her memory would have remained firmly imprinted on the public's consciousness.
"Yet, on the fifth anniversary of her death ... th ere were n o crowds, tears or teddies. Diana had served her purpose. The public had moved on.
"These recreational grievers were now emoting about Jill Dando, Linda Mc-Cartney or the Soham girls."
He concluded: "Isolated and divided by consumerism and lack of traditional institutions, we desperately seek a common identity and new social bonds to replace those that have withered in the post-war era - the family, the Church, the nation and neighbourhood."
Civitas, also known as the Institute for the Study of Civil Society, was launched in 2000 as an independent registered charity.
The organisation's website says it is "politically non-partisan" and financed by private donations.
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