Of course, they are silent. The girls have no voice and no power. One can hardly begin to guess at how scary the world must seem to them. In this wretched affair we glimpse a portrait of modern Britain, in which a dysfunctional family, the shameless media and the cornered social services compete for the sympathy of the public and the lives of two sweet-faced girls, ruining their futures in the process. The Bramleys set themselves up as representatives of humanity, love and emotional common sense.
Many people feel out of control of their own lives, and want to be heard.
The populist media exploit such people, making a mint out of their vulnerability. The media is today's fake therapy. Everyone wants to tell their stories, and the media wants stories, the more dramatic, tragic and confrontational the better. The Bramleys can leapfrog over the social services and appeal to the parents in us all. Of course, the social services' decision may be grotesquely wrong.