Glasgow’s disaster shows we find it easier to grieve for places than people | Simon Jenkins

Collective grief is a strange emotion. Why is it we reach out to suffering communities yet individual pain is not our concern?

The people of Glasgow are today grieving for six people who died as a result of a traffic accident in their city centre. A year ago they grieved the 10 deaths in the Clutha Vaults helicopter accident. Last week we grieved for Sydney and for Peshawar, as we once grieved the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, or those of Dunblane, Penlee and Aberfan.

Any comfort of...