Unlike the words in the song where one can cling to a tendril of hope, the gruesome killing sprees in the Syrian town of Houla belie that hope most absolutely.

The sun is down and the night has ridden in. Death was the currency in that quiet township on Friday, its normality shattered by the echo of guns. The stench of cordite stung the air when it should now sting us into acknowledging reality.

The wanton and cold blooded killing of over 90 innocents must prick the global conscience into wakefulness. It cannot keep seeking the refuge of words like atrocity and condemnation. This daily blood-drenched litany of deaths has blurred into a sort of dangerous acceptance and no longer freights the world with the level of responsibility demanded by the toll, not just of the hourly knell but also the count of the bodies. When women and children are the targets and the defenceless and the weak become martyrs without knowing why in a war which is not theirs, then the time has come for an awakening and it is up to the UN to initiate moves that immediately end the spill.

This is no longer a question of holding on to power at all costs or even one of the regime being pitted against the ‘rebel’ groups or freedom fighters but one of pure civilised conduct where no one can look the other way as the bullets pierce human flesh and babies lie in the sands riddled by gunfire…how many more Houlas are needed before we say enough is enough.

Today, as we deliberately decide to keep from you the more grotesque and horrendous photo-coverage of the madness in Houla not out of squeamishness but merely because in the current state of fatigue where Syria is concerned it may not hit you in the solar plexus as hard as it should. It is gut-wrenching ugly. Put it this way, if this was a film any right-minded person would censor its screening. Most regrettably it is real life, it is just that now the spiral has crossed every boundary of human decency and time has run out for anything but the boldest of initiatives that can hasten the silencing of the guns and the saving of lives.