“If your fridge is full this Christmas, use nature’s refridgerator - your car” - Anthea Tuner on GMTV
Marks & Spencer Bag A Life Campaign
Workers sacked by Dervla Kirwan (6:30 ITV1) and David Jason (7:45 ITV2)
2009: Anorak’s Diary
Obama rising, Gore sinking, Jamie Oliver exported, Beckham chipping, Ledger returning
Terrorists Target Jews Sugar, Winehouse and Ronson: Blair Outraged
UK Jews on and not on terror list
Madeleine McCann: Baby P And Me
MADELEINE MCCANN & Baby P: What Did You Do For Them, Daddy?
The mawkish reaction to Baby P’s horrific life and death has turned into an ‘I was there moment’.
Up and down the land young faces are turning to parents and guardians and asking: “What did you do for Baby, P?”
DAD: “Well, I singed a petition in the Sun and online calling for social workers who let him down to be sacked.”
The child blinks.
MUM: “And we went on an outing to London the spot where the Sun says the majority of Baby P’s ashes landed.”
CHILD A(rmani): “Was the Queen there?”
DAD: “Not yet. There’s a plaque there the Sun put up that says ‘Baby P’. That was the codename for him used in the media and the courts. It means that Baby P final resting place was marked by the crime that killed him.”
Childs looks worried.
MUM: “We left a note. And you saw two-year-old Chloe, Sarah Heasman’s daughter, who told the nice man from the Sun, you know the one who stands among the gravestones with his camera:
‘When I told her we were going to see Baby P she thought we were going to play with him. I had to tell her he was asleep – it was the only way I could think of her to describe it.”
(Note to self: Do not tell the little kiddies that Baby P was tortured to death and left to die in his bloodstained cot. Tell them instead that he fell asleep. And with any luck all the visitors traipsing over his ashes will wake him up.)
CHILD A: “Does Baby P know Madeleine?”
DAD: “Yes. They are playing together in a big park.”
(Note to self: Better.)
The Sun says a million people have signed its “SACK THE SOCIAL WORKERS” petition.
A knee-jerk reaction to the Baby P tragedy risks derailing the work of those trying to protect vulnerable children, a local authority leader is due to warn.
Margaret Easton, chairman of the Local Government Association (LGA), will say that “irreparable, long-term damage” could be caused to the services that keep youngsters safe from harm.
She will voice concerns at a special summit on child protection that some staff could “walk away” from the profession following the tragic death of a toddler.
Hurrah for the Sun. Now let’s grab the kids and go and scream “paedo!” and boo and hiss at the van leaving the courthouse…
Of course, the Baby P story needs more. It needs a paedo:
DAILY MIRROR: BABY P STEPDAD HELD IN HUNTLEY’S OLD CELL
Baby P’s stepdad has been moved to a suicideproof cell which caged Soham killer Ian Huntley. The sadistic 32-year-old was transferred to the secure unit after getting death threats in Britain’s toughest jail.
A source in Belmarsh, South East London, said: “Prisoners are desperate to get their hands on him. He is despised. His life was under threat every time he left his cell. The last prisoner subjected to such hatred was Huntley.”
And if he survives the lags - how many fags is he worth? - there are the columnists to worry about.
Baby P needs celebrities:
THE SUN: It’s Coldplay…
Coldplay are proud to have their finger on the pulse of burning global issues…All four band members are parents to young children and the horror of the Baby P story reached them in America.
And?
Guy, 30, who has a two-year-old daughter, said: “One of the worst crimes anyone could commit is abusing a child. It’s saddening. I can’t actually believe that people could do it. I don’t know what must have happened for them to do something like that. It is beyond comprehension.”
Is there a song in it?
And what of our Maddie? Little news of late of Madeleine McCann. She’s missing. She is still missing.
THE AUSTRALIAN: “Caroline Byrne’s killer Gordon Wood sent email to Simon Butler saying he feared verdict”
Feeling hopelessly alone and fearing the worst, Gordon Wood sent one last email before a Sydney court found him guilty of murdering his girlfriend Caroline Byrne.
“Not confident, they are out to get me no matter what,” he wrote to one of his few remaining friends, British-born ski tour operator Simon Butler just before the guilty verdict was delivered last Friday.
“Despite ridiculous spear-throwing claims and ‘expert’ witness it’s still going ahead,” Wood wrote, referring to evidence he had thrown his former girlfriend over The Gap as a person might throw a spear.
A snappy headline. And Madeleine McCann?
Mr Butler said on the eve of the verdict Wood compared himself to Robert Murat, wrongly accused of kidnapping toddler Madeline McCann in a Portuguese resort.
Robert Murat was charged with no crime. Robert Murat was tried for no crime. Robert Murat was just a suspect. Those who did him wrong and set out to get him, were not in the police and the courts but in the media.
But Our Maddie is still making news. And when Baby P’s mother and step-father are tried and named, and the story has been replaced by those of Christmas being cancelled and a man with a million fairy lights on his garden shed, Madeleine McCann will return.
BABBLE BABY (Aus): “Angelina: I Turned My Life Around When I Met Brad”
That would be the married-at-the-time Brad Pitt? And this would be living saint and professional throat kicker Angelina Jolie…
She’s in a new film:
The Christine Collin’s story is similar to modern day Madeleine McCann case. Angie said, “My heart goes out to that family. Not to know what has happened to your child is just the worst thing in the world.
“I love Brad and if anything happened to him it would wreck me, but if anything happened to my kids… it’s something I can’t even think about, it’s so upsetting.”
But if you need to cry on demand, maybe you should think about it?
BLACK VOICES (US): “Black and Still Missing - Chioma Gray”
A teenage girl is missing. She has been missing for almost a year. Chioma Gray is black. Chioma Gray is not blonde…
From September 2008 - We are now approaching the 9 month mark since the disappearance of Chioma Gray, the 16 year old high school student who was kidnapped by Andrew Tafoya from her school in Oxnard California. 9 Months have passed… 9 months… and during that time we’ve heard countless cries and pleas for Stacy Peterson, Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, Madeline McCann [sic], and now, little Caylee Anthony.
JOURNALISM: ‘What Meyer didn’t say: a speech ignoring the real shortcomings of press self-regulation’
Even now the PCC has not examined the press’ coverage of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. As Brian Cathcart wrote last month in the New Statesman: “Not one editor and, so far as I know, not one reporter has lost his or her job or even faced formal reprimand as a result of the McCann coverage. There has been no serious inquest in the industry and no organised attempt to establish what went wrong, while no measures have been taken to prevent a repetition.”
The McCanns themselves, remember, did not even complain to the PCC about inaccuracy. They asked it for help on behalf of their children, but to address the widespread inaccuracies in the newspapers they went straight to their lawyer. Robert Murat and the so called ‘Tapas Seven’ did the same.
Madeleine McCann is missing from the press. Baby P is this month’s blonde victim…
*
Madeleine McCann - the story so far.
Mourning Sickness: Good Grief It’s Baby P
Baby P: Like Diana’s Death, I Was There
Baby P: Spot The Ashes, Protect The Mum And Kilo The Cat
Baby P: Socialist Liberal Conservatives To Blame And Sterilising The Guilty
The Columnists Do Baby P: Death, Middle Class Evil And Porn
Margaret Beckett, Baby P And Social Workers
Posted: 26th, November 2008 | In: Key Posts, Madeleine McCann, Media | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Comments
November 26th, 2008 at 8:48 am
Am I frist?
I’m so surprised I can’t think of anything profound to say.
November 26th, 2008 at 8:49 am
Second as well?
Hurrah for RSS Feeds.
November 26th, 2008 at 8:53 am
I accept being 2nd gratiously - but my good nature may not last !!
November 26th, 2008 at 9:02 am
Well Anorak, you’ve excelled yourself. Brilliant analysis.
November 26th, 2008 at 9:15 am
Thanks - it;s all so hideous
November 26th, 2008 at 10:11 am
It’s hideous we’re talking about it - or hideous it happened? Haringey Council was rubbish - it should expect protests. Our council has to brace itself evey time it wants to cut down a few trees…
November 26th, 2008 at 10:30 am
The ‘angst’ in the Press. It hardly benefits the missing /dead children , its just a wallow that sells their product.
The Govt guidelines for social welfare do need sorting.
The bastards who commit these crimes are something else again, and their human rights should not be a feature for addressing their punishment, but the human rights of the children destroyed should be.
November 26th, 2008 at 10:41 am
There is a difference between discussing what, if anything, could be done to minimise the abuse of children, and increasing the abuse of children ourselves. I cannot see how any small child could be helped in any way by taking him or her to see a stack of teddies patrolled by a Sun reporter, and a number of ways in which they could be harmed…
November 26th, 2008 at 11:20 am
In this case I think the cause is more important than the coverage - and the coverage isn’t any more manipulative than a pressure group’s leaflets or an advert for the NSPCC or Barnardos would be.
Sometimes the moralising/sentiment formula is disproportionate and unfair (and if it was solely aimed at demonising Baby P’s killers - who are going to prison - it would be gratuitous) - but sometimes it’s worth it - and it works both ways, the social workers are already claiming that the furore will prevent them protecting kids (even though - how could they be any more useless???).
November 26th, 2008 at 11:36 am
But the charities you mention use anonymous child actors, and they do it to raise funds which is for the benefit of children.
The papers do it to sell more papers.
A lot of the faults with the welfare organisation just comes from Govt interference and so called’ intervention’ where obsessing with targets and excessive paper work is the primary aim and not being able to function properly in the original remit because of this.
Its also felt that more mature people could handle and spot abusive parents better than young inexperienced graduates can. Also the nature of their job means they can face verbal and physical abuse and should be protected against this. As hospital staff are meant to be.
The govt should also stuff the human rights issues of offenders where the sun doesn’t shine
November 26th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Karen, those are sweeping statements about Social Workers / Child Protection Workers without any knowledge of how it works from the inside. Demonising all those who work bloody hard to protect children 24/7 because some didn’t do their jobs properly is disproportionate and unfair.
The campaign should be for a complete review of the Childrens Ac, that way it would serve some useful purpose.
November 26th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Where ever the faults are from they need corrected and they’re not going to be corrected if no one is demanding they be corrected.
People are doing similar things to the tabloids on Facebook and they’re not being paid and it’s not to sell anything.
I’m even hoping Jimmy McGovern does a docu-drama about it (and I hate docu-dramas).
November 26th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
coolandcalm
I wasn’t demonising or making sweeping statements - I was saying Haringey were rubbish in this case and they were rubbish in this case.
I didn’t say anything about ‘all’ social workers - or any social workers outside of this case.
November 26th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
I posted this as a link yesterday but it was spammed so here is a bit of cut an paste……….. (Maria Colwell Wikipedia) The media furore and public demands surrounding the murder of this little girl was supposed to ensure it would never happen again yet 35 years on we’re in the same place.
………………………
[edit] Life and death
Born in 1965, Maria was fostered at an early age and her surrogate parents found her a happy normal little girl.[2]
Her situation changed drastically[3] when she returned to live with her biological mother Pauline[4] on the Whitehawk council estate in Brighton, in England.
Pauline was no longer living with Maria’s father, and she now had a new partner called William Kepple. He had children of his own and had no compunction in favouring them,[5] for example buying them ice creams and requiring Maria to watch as they ate them.
A notable fact about the case is that concerns were communicated to various agencies by many neighbours and teachers[6]. Nevertheless somehow she was allowed to remain with Kepple and her step siblings, almost a walking skeleton.[7]
On the night of 6 January 1973 she was wheeled in a pram to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton with horrific injuries, which proved to be fatal.
[edit] Aftermath
The tragedy captured the public’s attention and the press called for action.[8] Despite the publication of a book urging the tragedy not to be forgotten[9] it took over 30 years before agencies were required by law to guarantee the free-flow of information.[10]
The Report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Care and Supervision Provided in Relation to Maria Colwell chaired by Thomas Gilbert Field Fisher, a Recorder of the Crown Court identified three main contributory factors: the lack of communication between the agencies aware of her vulnerable situation; inadequate training for social workers assigned to at risk children; and changes in the make up of society.
“It is not enough for the State as representing society to assume responsibility for those such as Maria” Fisher[11]
[edit] Subsequent developments
Despite the local authority commissioning its own response to Fisher’s findings Children at risk : a study by the East Sussex County Council into the problems revealed by the Report of the Inquiry into the case of Maria Colwell[12] and repeated “it must never happen again” press articles][13] there were several high profile cases after the Colwell case (for example Heidi Koseda[14] , Jasmine Beckford[15] and Toni-Ann Byfield) before the Victoria Climbie findings[16] finally generated the government legislation known as Every Child Matters.
November 26th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
nobody doing their job properly
November 26th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
too busy surfing the net!
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1972758.ece
November 26th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
exactly
November 26th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
coolandcalm
What’s your point? It never improves so don’t bother complaining?
I have a friend who works in Social Policy for a Scottish council - and they’ve intervened to sack incompetent social workers - it’s a difficult job but there’s no excuse for missing 8 broken ribs and a broken back.
November 26th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
i wondered about that, do they not pick up the child and engage with it on their visits ? how can a doctor miss such injuries ?
November 26th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
sam
The last doctor to see him wouldn’t complete her examination of him because he was distressed and cranky. Great Ormond Street isn’t renewing her contract for obvious reasons.
November 26th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
it does not make sense karen, if the child was distressed and cranky all the more reason to examine him properly, especially considering the history and reason for the examination. and what do social workers then do on their visits ? drink coffee and natter or grab a flannel and wipe the child’s face clean and explain that if its face isn’t kept clean it’ll be prone to face rashes. i don’t know.
November 26th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
lack of basic common sense
November 26th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
or leave of senses
November 26th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Sam
It is senseless. And wrong.
I don’t know anything about England though - my friend has followed social workers around on their visits and written up reports & made recommendations and stuff like that. And they have a zero tolerance policy on domestic violence.
Coolandcalm - do they do that in England???
Moderator - I suggest you read C&C’s post number 11 again
November 26th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Why read post 11?
Moderator - you may find that Cool and Calm agrees to an extent with you are saying.
November 26th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
mod
I wasn’t arguing with her - I was asking a question about day-to-day working practise on English councils because she knows about that sort of thing & I don’t know anyone in social work outside of Scotland.
November 26th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
The New York Times has a great article on holocaust movies that touches on the same problem the tabloids have with tragedies - how to keep it in the public eye without it becoming a travesty (although I don’t know if tabloid editors think of it as a problem…).
I don’t know how to do links though.
November 26th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
I just found this item, it does explain and answer quite a few questions about Baby P, the welfare and also that man who raped his daughters repeatedly
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markeaston/2008/11/spotting_a_sociopath.html
November 26th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
There’s another great article (same paper - it’s what I’m reading at the moment) about the film ‘Milk’ and gay rights activists staging anti-Proposition 8 vigils outside screenings - which is also kind of on the same publicity/exploitation theme.
November 26th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
June
According to my friend (the one in the policy department) - social workers are well meaning but fey - that’s why they keep an eye on them.
In Baby P’s case though the mother was questioned by police twice and the baby was taken away once - so they weren’t clueless - they just believed it was better to keep the family together & that was the wrong decision.
And in the rapist case - it would explain them believing him - but it wouldn’t explain them not noticing that the daughters were distressed esp. as they were being abused at the same time as the Rochdale and Orkney abuse scandals - when it looked like every kid in Britain was going to get snatched in a dawn raid.
It does seem to be one extreme or another - too much interference or none.