IT seems the whole world is in shock.

Could it be because more refugees have died trying to make the perilous journey to Europe and safety?

Is it because of the deadly attack on an aid convoy in Syria, the humanitarian impact of which will be devastating?

Or is it because another black man has been shot dead by police in the USA?

Nope.

The news which has pulled the emotional rug from under our feet and sent palpitations through our collective broken heart is that Brangelina are no more.

Angelina Jolie’s decision to divorce Brad Pitt has prompted a wave of despair on social media (though a certain Jennifer Aniston is probably finding it hard to suppress a smirk).

Singing sensation Adele even dedicated her concert in New York to the couple, saying she was “shocked” by the news. George Clooney is deeply saddened. Flags at celebrity mansions around the world are flying at half mast and pampered handbag pooches are donning diamond studded black armbands out of respect.

Now of course any family break-up is sad but there does seem to be a touch of hysteria-cum-nuttiness in the reaction to the news.

It’s a shame, it’s going to be rough for the kids — but nobody has died.

Unlike that black man in America.

Keith Lamont Scott was 43. He was shot by a black officer in Charlotte, North Carolina, and died later in hospital.

The police say he was carrying a gun and that he posed an “imminent deadly threat”.

Mr Scott’s family say he wasn’t carrying a gun — it was a book. He was reading in his car while waiting for his son’s school bus.

The police say they were actually looking for another suspect at the time. They were not after Mr Scott at all.

This latest tragedy comes just one day after police in Tulsa, Oklahoma, shot dead a black man called Terence Crutcher. Mr Crutcher was unarmed and was walking away with his hands in the air when he was killed.

These are just the two latest deaths in a long string that has alarmed and devastated people on both sides of the Atlantic.

Statistics show that in 2015, young black men were nine times more likely than other Americans to be killed by the police.

According to a study by the Guardian, an astonishing 1,134 people died at the hands of officers last year — and despite accounting for just two per cent of the population, black males aged 15 to 34 accounted for 15 per cent of those deaths.

You would think that with such an important problem which so desperately needs tackling, there would be information galore about how many are dying, similarities in circumstances... anything to help identify trends and potential causes, which in turn would make it possible to work on ways to stop these deaths.

But shockingly, this is not the case.

In a speech at Georgetown University last year, FBI Director James Comey said: “Not long after riots broke out in Ferguson late last summer, I asked my staff to tell me how many people shot by police were African-American in this country. I wanted to see trends. I wanted to see information. They couldn’t give it to me, and it wasn’t their fault. Demographic data regarding officer-involved shootings is not consistently reported to us through our Uniform Crime Reporting Program. Because reporting is voluntary, our data is incomplete and therefore, in the aggregate, unreliable. I recently listened to a thoughtful big city police chief express his frustration with that lack of reliable data. He said he didn’t know whether the Ferguson police shot one person a week, one a year, or one a century...”

Doubtless over the coming weeks and months we will know every iota of Brangelina’s relationship — Brad’s shortcomings as a father, Angelina’s slovenliness when it comes to cleaning behind the toaster... and yet we know hardly anything about this epidemic of police brutality that is putting black lives at risk.

Now that really is shocking.

Carving out some happiness

A FEW weeks ago, I mentioned the snivelling prats who vandalised the war memorial at Penhill.

Well, yet again, out of misery has come joy, for upon reading about the damage, a couple of local stonemasons stepped up and volunteered to fix the memorial for free.

It seems that for every ignorant single brain-celled waste of space there is a kind-hearted, generous soul with decent morals and a desire to help his fellow man.

British Legion branch treasurer Carole O’Sullivan said the memorial now looks even better than it did before the vandalism attack.

I do love a happy ending.

<li>GOOD riddance to that unspeakable piece of excrement Christopher Halliwell.

Having already been sentenced to life for the murder of Sian O’Callaghan, he will tomorrow be sentenced for the murder of Becky Godden.

This week’s verdict of guilty brings to an end a long and painful saga for the families and friends of both of Halliwell’s victims.

We hope they can now find some peace and comfort to help them face the future without these two bright and beautiful young women.

May Halliwell be locked up for ever in a damp and draughty hole and left to rot on a diet of gruel. And may he never be thought of again.