27 asylum seekers drowning reacted to with laughing emojis

Six miles off the coast of Calais a crumpled inflatable was sinking to the sea bed. Baran's lifeless body was one of 27 floating in the icy water.

A KentOnline article about the shipwreck popped up on Steve's timeline. He laughed.

But Steve, who calls me a "jumped up little ****" and tells me to "jog on" when I question him, wasn't alone.

He was one of 96 who chose to react to the news with a laughing emoji, one of several ways Facebook allows users to engage with posts... More here.

Brilliant journalism. The people who do this are almost always anonymous, they like a few flags in their profile name and they roam around without masks and generally looking angry for no particular reason. The only way to deal with them is to question their motives (they won't understand why they are doing it) and at least give them the chance to realise just how pointless they are.