Would a terrorist really post a warning on Twitter?

This following is definitely in bad taste, isn’t it? I don’t always have a working moral compass when it comes to black humour, but I think this is just the wrong side of the line. Although I’m not sure.

A disc jockey from Revolution Radio, in Manchester, played the song ‘Jump’, by Van Halen, as police attempted to coax a suicidal woman down from a nearby motorway bridge. The DJ, Steve Penk, had been inundated by complaints from motorists held up on the road while the police went about their delicate counselling work. Penk did not mention the woman when introducing the song. Somehow the case is not helped by the fact that the woman did indeed jump, although failed to hurt herself (I don’t know how. Maybe they had put mats out).

I only became interested in the story when it was reported in the press that mental health charities were ‘horrified’ by Mr Penk’s insensitivity and started calling for all sorts of action to be taken against him. I don’t know what it had to do with them. Luckily, the owners of Revolution Radio ignored their complaints (the owners including a certain Steve Penk). It was a callous thing to do and might convince you to stop listening to his station; alternatively it might make you more inclined to listen. It might be the sort of humour which tickles you, in which case I expect the mental health charities will investigate you too.

It is not quite as bad as the recent case in China recently where a suicidal man was crouched atop a bridge being spoken to by the police when a passer-by came along, offered to help, and pushed the bloke off. Let’s all agree that’s going too far.