In an essay in 1999 , he identified what he saw as the harmful role played by sentimentality in a case involving Stephen Lawrence . Lawrence , a young black British man , was murdered and the subsequent case was mired in accusations of racism among the investigating police . Dalrymple wrote that " the response to the Stephen Lawrence case is another example of how the rule of law is to be supplanted by the rule of sentiment — and it is yet one more instance of what one might call the Dianafication of British public life , in which transitory popular enthusiasm trumps venerable tradition " . In a 2004 essay , he analysed how sentimentality towards children was closely linked with violence and neglect , particularly in the poorest sections of British society : " The upbringing of children in much of Britain is a witches ' brew of sentimentality , brutality , and neglect , in which overindulgence in the latest fashions , toys , or clothes , and a television in the bedroom are regarded as the highest — indeed only — manifestations of tender concern for a child 's welfare "
a case involving Stephen Lawrence
Murder of Stephen Lawrence
Spoilt Rotten