I was going to write my column on the horrific events in Connecticut - and the bewildering responses of the pro-gun lobby in the US.
However I was scooped on that one by my colleague Barry Gibson who penned an excellent piece yesterday which included the fact that some in the US have said that this sickening attack on innocence could have been mitigated (if not entirely avoided) if teachers had guns.
Yes in the classroom. Yes guns. Yes, I know.
Anyway I can't write any more on that because the theory that arming teachers will somehow reduce the number of people willing to shoot schoolchildren dead is so bewildering/sickening/annoying/idiotic (tick one or all of the choices) I would have to resort to swear words, which the Examiner editor isn't keen on.
Despite the media coverage the shootings in the USA aren't the only multiple child murders this week.
In Afghanistan ten young girls were blown up when one of their number was collecting firewood and somehow struck a landmine.
It's unclear whether the mine was a modern Taliban piece of kit or from the conflict in the 1980s between Mujahideen and Russia.
Either way it managed to snatch ten lives away.
There have been many words spoken this week on the pain felt by parents in the US but here's something from Afghanistan which lacks any emotion, but is all the more powerful for its straightforward nature.
Speaking to a BBC reporter, a tribal elder said: “Most of those killed were aspiring engineers, doctors and teachers. Only four bodies can be recognised.”
