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 Comments (79) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
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November 29th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
This year? how wonderful
November 29th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
“i believe jo left of her own violation”
How true, how very true
November 29th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Meanwhile, the trial in Portugal plods on, with witnesses for the defence, including a psychiatrist to comment on Leonor Cipriano’s mental state -not good-, a photographic expert to comment on the pictures produced -not good- and a prison officer to comment that it was not until the female director of the prison suggested to Ms Cipriano that she could get money if she had been attacked by the police that Ms Cipriano decided that she had been attacked by the police -also not good.
With any luck it should be all over by Christmas…
November 29th, 2008 at 2:55 am
suzi, i believe jo left of her own violation, and quite some time ago, there is a difference between knowing something and proving something.
November 29th, 2008 at 1:28 am
Lola
Re Jo.
Dunno but from what I gather/have read probably banned like all the others I guess?
End of MM forum on Anorak? It appears that’s what they want?
Who knows?????
Shame cos they don’t have much else going do they!
Sorry Anorak but you don’t, do you??? (check out the posts elsewhere??)
November 28th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Where is Jo, who used to post here all the time?
Have you seen that Amaral will also sue the British papers? (mccannfiles.com). What fun!
November 27th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
&&&&&&&&& whoever you are?
Your crass question is not worth a reply.
Please refer back to what was said & not try & put words into my mouth!
November 27th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Moderator.
Not strange to you as you obviously know.
Others however do not know. Therefore it can be strange to others perhaps?
November 27th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
38 suzi Says:
November 27th, 2008 at 7:27 pm edit
Both of my remarks were regarding the Mc’s.
all66 June Says:
November 27th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
“The second point with the McCanns was that it was and is a personal matter, and not a medical or professional matter”
—————————————————————————
Sorry June! Don’t buy that. “They” could have chosen to make/keep it a personal matter. “They” chose not to.
We will have to wait & see what, if any “medical or professional matters” arise. Won’t we?
&&&&&&&&&
Suzi could you explain how mislaying your child is a professional matter? I’m intrigued. I thought parenthood was an unpaid vocational choice, but if you say its paid ….
November 27th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
coolandcalm
I was never comparing. I was only refering to the Mc’s on a MM forum.
Will have to wait & see what evolves regarding “holidaying” Docs.
Coolandcalm & June..Am I speaking to the same person? Are you one & the same I mean? Most strange.
Moderator - Cool and Calm and June are both seperate posters, hardly strange
November 27th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
The McCanns were not working/on duty. They were on holiday and it was a family issue.
The doctors who missed the ongoing incest/abuse by a father of his daughters were on duty, being paid by the NHS to do a job and they didn’t do it.
No comparison at all.
November 27th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Both of my remarks were regarding the Mc’s.
all66 June Says:
November 27th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
“The second point with the McCanns was that it was and is a personal matter, and not a medical or professional matter”
—————————————————————————
Sorry June! Don’t buy that. “They” could have chosen to make/keep it a personal matter. “They” chose not to.
We will have to wait & see what, if any “medical or professional matters” arise. Won’t we?
November 27th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Suzi says:
‘Weren’t backward in coming forward though were they?’
——–
Quite so.
There is a well acknowledged problem in accuracy of eye-witness identification; that is very different to the scientific basis of a genetic defect which should have been followed up rigorously. It wasn’t, and the GMC is right to come down like the wrath of Dog on the people responsible, or, as it would appear in the Sheffield case, irresponsible.
There are a lot of very fine doctors working their rear ends off, just as there are a lot of very fine social workers working their rear ends off, and they do not deserve to be tarred with the same brush. They are, though, since it sells newspapers, or, in the tabloids’ case, makes them easier to give away…
November 27th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Your first point, well in medicine yes, they do have more knowledge than we do, and in the case of the two daughters and their unborn childrens health matters had every good reason to explore further, or even raise the matter with the hospital authorities, H of Depts or consultants in genetics, and it will probably be this that the GMC will be enquiring about.
The second point with the McCanns was that it was and is a personal matter, and not a medical or professional matter.
I witnessed a crime as an inpatient in hospital, the police were called by non medical staff
November 27th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
1. Doctors are always Doctors.
2. Weren’t backward in coming forward though were they?
November 27th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
and to be strictly accurate, was it not Lori Campbell who pointed out Mr Murat? not the McCanns
November 27th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Not really, as that wasn’t in a professional capacity, it was a personal matter
November 27th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
“It’s not for doctors to question someone re: a suspected crime but it is for them to inform the police.”
Bit like the Mc’s re Murat??
November 27th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
as incest is a crime with no grey area I’d have expected the doctors to call the police and let them investigate. It’s not for doctors to question someone re: a suspected crime but it is for them to inform the police.
They have to report any other possible crimes that warrant a hospital visit.
OR the father was SO very good he really did convince them otherwise and they were satisfied?
and again, why not life means life? why nineteen and a half years? grrrrrrrrr.
November 27th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Seems a little naive of the doctors to ask directly if the father was the father, be more than likely to not ask and call welfare at least, and do dna tests anyway. But after repeated histories they should have been alert to something being extremely wrong.
November 27th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Karen
According to the Times
‘Doctors treating two daughters who were made pregnant 19 times by their abusive father failed repeatedly to follow professional guidelines on alerting the authorities to suspected rape.
Failings by the authorities in the case of a Sheffield father who forced his daughters to bear him nine children included breaches of medical codes and ignoring the recommendations of an inquiry into a recent incest case.’
I doubt the GMC is going to be sympathetic to the doctors in question…
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article5240901.ece
November 27th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
In the Sheffield case the Doctors did ask if the father was the father (
) & the girl said no - I’m not sure what else they could do? Are they allowed to demand DNA tests or call the police? If the victim is old enough to deny being a victim - it does make it more complicated.
November 27th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Given that the mothers were related should have alerted the medics to some family trait which seemingly had missed a generation, and I agree the scientist in the doctor should have been interested if nothing else….
But it leads back to sociopathic tendencies too that all welfare people wouldn’t like to admit to seeing.
With still births is there a registration necessary? and would it carry the paternal name?
November 27th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
June
I wonder whether the publicity over the Sheffield case, which also appears to have involved one or more doctors failing abysmally to follow the standing instructions, has inspired the GMC to up the stakes from ‘working under supervision’ to ’suspended’.
There has been a lot of recent coverage of the way in which societal attitudes to people with Downs Syndrome have advanced out of step with the medical profession, many of whom still seem to hold an eugenicist view. And yet when babies with severe genetic conditions died, as in the Sheffield case, the doctors didn’t follow up the obvious explanation.
No wonder the GMC is worried…
November 27th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
June,
Well that’s one good thing!
November 27th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
The link is to say that the GMC have suspended the BabyP doctor
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7752231.stm
November 27th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
I put a link in yesterday about sociopathic behaviour, and the general drawback for social workers doctors etc that most are the exact opposite and are therefore unable to see their clients with 20/20 vision. It isn’t a fault, its the way they are made.
But Govt interference especially T Blair’s ‘targets’ do mess things up, and too much paper work and talk talk.
But I don’t think they could work as individuals, as that could really mess things up as it could allow the wrong type let loose on Joe Public. But I think Govt MUST listen to experienced social workers and the practical difficulties they face, especially the threats of violence where a lesser mortal would understandably quail and thus affect what action needs taking.
When you see the harm Baby P’s family did to him, they would have no worries about harming an adult at all.
November 27th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Coolandcalm
I know - but I was talking about the theory. And it must have some effect when things are written down - the rules and procedures - and that must hamper what individual social workers can do (like Judges not being able to impose harsher sentences).
November 27th, 2008 at 11:39 am
Theory and Practice in Social Work bear no resemblance to each other in real life. I’ve worked in that field for so long I know that idealism goes out of the window once one leaves uni and enters the real workplace. Dissertations become a distant memory!
The problems often occur with the young newly qualified idealists straight from uni who read the books and write the papers but don’t have a clue about the general dysfunctionality of most Social Service users. But they soon learn……
.
November 27th, 2008 at 11:30 am
There’s another sociology book where figure 5 is called : Base and Superstructure and it’s got arrows going from Ideological Subsystems (Religious, Political and Cultural Institutions - the superstructure) to Economic System (Means and Relationships of Production - base).
Imagine trying to work that out post-Blair…
And there’s one on ‘Scapegoating’ that more or less implies that if someone questions what you’re doing they’re bullying you.
November 27th, 2008 at 11:11 am
coolandcalm
I didn’t call them fey - my friend who works in the social policy department of the council called them fey & he works with them all the time.
The post-Marxist thing was about the underlying ethos of social work - and it is post-Marxist - lying in my flat we have ‘Women, Oppression and Social Work : Issues in Anti-Discriminatory Practise’ and ‘Social Work Practise: Assessment, Planning, Intervention and Review’ among others & their theories are all over the place (Marx, Max Weber, Stanley Cohen, feminism, gay rights, Children’s Act, Community Care Agenda, social contract, third way, Emile Durkheim, minority rights, youth culture, the media… endless stuff… ).
So I don’t think I was being insulting or naive.