In a story that combines parental perfectionism with systemic failure, the parents of Vincent, a teenager targeted by an online groomer, have revealed their unique parenting mantra: never say “good enough.” Instead, they insist on a diet of relentless improvement, presumably to prepare Vincent for a world where everything is shite and you have to be twice as good to get half as far. Meanwhile, the wider context of this case, as reported by the usual alarm bells, is that UK safeguarding protocols are about as effective as a chocolate teapot in a heatwave.
The online groomer, a shadowy figure with the charisma of a damp towel, exploited gaps in digital protection that could fit a cargo ship through. Vincent’s parents, bless their cotton socks, have turned their son’s trauma into a lesson in motivational overcorrection. “We never say ‘good enough’ because Vincent is never good enough,” they reportedly stated, though I’m paraphrasing through a gin-flavoured haze.
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) have issued a statement so bland it could be mistaken for a digestive biscuit. Meanwhile, the government’s Online Safety Bill is still wandering through Parliament, lost and confused, like a pensioner in a Lidl car park. The groomer, who shall remain nameless because I cannot be arsed to remember, used platforms that are effectively the Wild West with a T&Cs agreement.
Vincent’s parents now campaign for “good enough” to be struck from the vocabulary, as if language were the culprit. But the real issue is a safeguarding system that relies on parents being perfect in a world designed by the devil. The parents’ relentless drive has left Vincent with the emotional resilience of a gluten-free biscuit (crumblier than an overworked lecturer).
And the rest of us, well, we get to read about it in the papers, marvelling at the sheer Britishness of it all: a scandal, a mantra, and absolutely no change. So raise a glass to Vincent, the boy who will never be enough, and to the UK, the nation that is never quite prepared. Cheers.
