A reasoned analysis, indeed, Bob, but from what I have read and seen it is clear that Haringey Social Services is mired in beaurocracy. Yes, the Government introduced it but good managers interpret it well, and bad managers badly. Individual social workers are not and should not be blamed - "there are no such people as bad soldiers, only bad officers". And in the Army they are fully accountable for the life and death of all their soldiers, believe me. The same should apply here.

Excellent article by Unity. A bit unfair I think to include The Guardian in that rollcall of shame, though The Times and ITV News can be included. The Guardian has in fact published some very good articles on this issue including one today by Polly Toynbee.

Shocking but not for the reasons you hint at.

Unity exposes semantic sleight of hand, lazy journalism and outright untruths in the service of defending a system that failed a vulnerable child. The MPs, journalists & others he attacks were acting (however ineptly) in the service of making that system work better. For all their agreed flaws and his high-minded observations that's an infinitely more honourable position than his - shame on him....

The MPs, journalists & others he attacks were acting (however ineptly) in the service of making that system work better.

Your innocence is touching.

Or your cynicism is corrosive.

These things reduce to erring on one side or another Bob. I'll hold my nose and side with the tabloid nutters and the idiot journalists in the belief that however offensive their motives the outcomes they seek will in the end be for the greater good. Quite what outcomes those siding with Haringey Council are seeking to advance I don't know but I'm pretty certain thay can't hold their head high in doing so...

Ah, I see. I'll side with those who are working in the public services alongside the poorest and most deprived of our communities... and you'll side with the hacks on grub street working for Dacre and Murdoch's money in the interest of the greater good.

OK... I can live with that.

"I'll side with those who are working in the public services alongside the poorest and most deprived of our communities"

Typing that sentence (with a presumably straight face) this week of all weeks Bob rather makes my point - Dacre & Murdoch's foibles haven't left a small child in her grave...

No, neither did anyone else leave a small child in their grave other than those directly responsible, (and there was a time when the right wing hang 'em and flog 'em's at least accepted some concept of personal responsibility - but now it has to be the state to blame, because that is so much easier) and I have no shame in saying it.

Even the bloody useless tabloid hacks had the dignity to get the child's gender right though.

An honourable reaction to this recognises both the human tragedy at its heart AND the overwhelmingly good and decent people in our social services. Distort or misrepresent either and you do a diservice to both which is why I'm taking issue with very little of what Unity actually has to say.

But everyone commenting on this has a responsibility to get that balance right and those who err on the side of letting the human tragedy dominate at least have compassion and understandable grief on their side - they should be rebutted with that in mind.

Unity (and Polly T, Yasmin Alihbai-Brown etc.) think with the child in his grave just over a year that journalistic or political failings need more attention than the systemic failings at the heart of the case (and conceeded by the council). That's a bl**dy strange set of priorities Bob...

Liam
To improve things there must be an understanding of what actually happened. A lot of the media have put forward incorrect and misleading statements. For example, The Sun's petition to sack at least 5 people in the Baby P case states
"The fact that Baby P was allowed to die despite 60 visits from Haringey Social Services is a national disgrace." This is a statement that has been repeated many times. However, Baby P was actually seen 60 times by social workers, health visitors, doctors and the police combined. The Sun can't even get the most basic facts correct, health visitors aren't employed by Haringey Council, nor are Doctors or police. The Sun calls for the sacking of the Director of Haringey Social Services but doesn't call for the sacking of the bosses of Great Ormond Street Hospital? Why not? After all, they were the employers of the Doctor who failed to inspect Baby P just a couple of days before her death.

It seems clear that mistakes were made but I am not sure that those mistakes would justify sackings. I would prefer to await the results of the enquiries that are now happening.

I agree Matthew & as I pointed out in my exchanges with Bob I share Unity's revulsion at the way the media have handled this - almost everything he highlights is correct and deserves attention.

My objections revolve around the timing and scale of that sort of response. 'MPs & Journalists lie for effect' is hardly a hold the front page sort of story and there will always be opportunities to address those shortcomings. I simply thought everyone would agree that addressing shortcomings in our child protection regime (shortcomings Unity, Bob and many others all agree exist to some extent) would be a more pressing need that lengthy diatribes about the quality of our journalism or political representatives.