Letter: Pop-sociology that caters to the ghoulish

IS THE Independent on Sunday now competing with the tabloids? I can think of no other reason for your serialisation of Alexandra Artley's lurid tale of 'real-life crime' (Review, 18 July). The author of this piece of sensationalism seems to have some odd attitudes. She even manages to be outraged that a member of the family whose tragic history she is exploiting should show 'rudeness and aggression' towards her.

It is sheer hypocrisy to pretend that Ms Artley's lip-smacking descriptions of violence and pop-sociological 'explanations' offer anything more than prurient entertainment. At least the Sun's headline, 'The family they called the Munsters', was honest about its appeal to its readers' ghoulish appetite for melodrama.

Paul Barlow

Liverpool