JONATHAN Ross has twittered in support of Baby P: The Single…
As Ross might say: “As a father, who knows grandfathers, I understand the pain of…”
On Monday 16 March the re-release of Chris Rea’s ‘Tell me there’s a heaven’ became available as a download to buy in memory of Baby P. All proceeds from the download are going to the NSPCC.
The campaign to re-release the single was driven by a group of six ordinary mums. Louise Ashby, Lisa Cosburn, Gail Townsley, Carla Bailey, Mary Harrison, and Lynsey Macdougall, who had never met before but were joined in grief over the reports of Baby P and his harrowing ordeal, desperately wanted to do something to help the children who are still suffering in similar situations but also wanted to remember his short life and find a fitting tribute to him.
A song?
Louise Ashby said: “We came up with the idea of a song release and I suggested Chris Rea’s ‘Tell me there’s a heaven’, a song written by Chris for victims of abuse, with words that were painfully real to Baby P’s plight.
Is this mourn porn, intruding on grief to feel more alive? Or is anything fine so long as some good is done to someone?
Posted: 23rd, March 2009 | In: Media Comments (11) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
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March 27th, 2009 at 10:36 pm
Anorak - It wasn’t just Jonathan Ross either…. Scott Mills twittered about it too - as have many other people that want to help raise money for the NSPCC.
March 27th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
Dairy - I don’t know how it works exactly, other than it clearly isn’t working at all.
But the fear of ‘interfearing’/putting your neck on the line all started someday when some idiot decided to sue someone for something ridiculous like ’splashing them with water from a puddle’ and an even bigger idiot let them do it. Some greedy people then thought, I know I can jump on this bandwagon too and the compensation culture began, an invidious disease, spreading like wildfire and eating up common sense and decency on the way through. Now the professionals are screwed until someone, important/influential at the top says ‘STOP IT, NOW’. Where an earth will we find a politician with the balls to do that?!
March 27th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
C&C - I agree with you that there is far too much bureaucracy around in general these days and paperwork seems to be on the rise, which is ironic in this age of computer technology….
I would never suggest that ALL social workers are inept, but in this instance there was a life at risk and that life was lost, therefore surely for the child’s sake there has to be some accountability somewhere…? Ms Shoesmith doesn’t seem to think that it is anything to do with her and is more concerned about her payout - with someone like that in charge of them, I feel sorry for her staff, but the fact remains that in these particular cases, where there is a “potential” for serious abuse or even a fatality, you have to take it back to the people who had contact at the time and address the problem at source.
in my book it’s not good enough to say “there was too much paperwork” or “they didn’t have enough training”… the kids are dying time and time again because the “professionals” are too worried about offending people or being accused of being interfering or heavy-handed, rather than doing the job properly.
surely, if a child is sufficiently threatened to be placed on an “At Risk” list, the niceties should be going out of the window? why should the parents be given the benefit of the doubt in that circumstance…?
please, someone explain to me how it is supposed to work, because I for one do not understand this at all.
March 27th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
I think it’s amazing that they have done so well and done this because they care so damn much. It’s about re-raising the profile - the whole country (and others) went nuts when the appalling details of poor Baby P’s life were revealed - everybody cared so much and demanded change. Well, where have all these demanding people gone - I’ll tell you where - We are becoming desensitised to shocking stories in the media, our outrage is all too quick to fade away to be replaced by this weeks ’disaster’ because we see it over and over again. What a sad state we have gotton ourselves into.
I believe that, whether they realise or not, these girls are keeping this story in the publics eye to ’start the ball rolling’ - so that we can all feel inspired to take part and help the ‘professionals’. The responsibility to keep our children safe, does not solely rely on them. For every one carer’s pair of eyes and ears, there are 10,000 of ours. As a nation, we used to stand together and I believe it is only by engaging all of us in caring for each other, that we can support ‘the Professionals’ in successfully eliminating these horrible events.
Baby P’s ‘carers’ will be sentanced soon and some people will all be at it again, “isn’t it terrible, the poor, poor boy, now let me just roll over, put my blinkers on, make a cuppa and forget all about it”. Where has the common sense, ‘fair-play’ and decency gone that has formed the backbone of our country for so long? The times when we wouldn’t just walk on by, whether it be holding a door open for someone who’s struggling, saying ‘Thank You’ or speaking up to protect someone so small that they do not have a voice.
Effort is required from everyone, whether it be taking a child into our homes to love and protect them until a ‘proper’ permanent family can be found, or a Professional having the strength to put their neck on the line and say “This is wrong and this is what we HAVE to do to change it”.
We need change for all of us, as neighbours, visitors, parents, uncles, people who breathe the same air…as human beings. We must, for once, actually put our indifference aside, work together to save the terrible lives of many, many more children, suffering from unimaginable torture as a result of those amongst us who do not live within the bounds of decent behaviour. Many are suffering right now, as you read these words. Many have been persecuted for hours, weeks, years and for some, the horror is just starting. For all of us, this is happening in our country and it seems, for quite a lot of us, it is happening right next door. No ‘miracle’ is going to happen to stop this and sadly, as proven, over and over again, ‘other people’ cannot fix it on their own.
This does not just apply to child abuse but almost everything now-a-days, we must fight this pathetic and invidious culture of ‘compensation’ and ‘claim’, freeing all ‘Professionals’ to take action without the fear of unreasonable legal action against them. Please.
If these girls save one life, ‘just’ one - won’t it all have been worth it? What if it was your grandchild, niece, brother - would you feel the same way?
Goo on you ladies! Keep up the great work.
March 27th, 2009 at 9:10 am
Dairy… incompetent Social Workers are in a minority.
The biggest problem is hard-working and dedicated Social Workers trying to work within the Childrens Act which puts too much emphasis on paper accountability and not enough on face-to-face contact with children at risk.
Social Workers spend three quarters of their working week writing notes and attending meetings. That doesn’t leave much time for checking out the suspicious and often deceptive parents / guardians who can be brilliant at covering their abuses.
Instead of the government blaming individuals and tinkering around with minor ineffective procedures, the whole system needs a complete overhaul.
Just like nursing which has become obsessed with paper to the detriment of patients.
But I won’t start on that one at this hour of the day!!
March 27th, 2009 at 1:33 am
Anorak, I cannot see your reasons for disapproval to this. I am seconding what Nemrac said, Baby P’s family are happy that the song is being released to raise money for NSPCC, I am also privileged enough to know that personally. May I suggest that if this song or song release offends you in anyway, just leave well alone. If, like many people, you care about child abuse then buy the single, knowing that all proceeds are going to preventing the awful abuse of children in our country.
Calling peoples willingness to change our society for the better ‘Mourn Porn’ is frankly offensive. I would much rather be a part of the community trying to prevent abuse of children, than part of the community that pours scorn on those trying to make a difference.
Dairy, there are many people working to try and change the current practices in place. I have just received a personal reply from Baroness Delyth Morgan, the Under Secretary of State for Children, Young People and Families, stating that mandatory checks by health visitors of children at 2yrs are being reintroduced. This is a small step in the right direction, but people like Louise, Menrac and I are actively campaigning to change things for the better, to try and ensure there isn’t another Baby P.
March 26th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Song aside for a moment - with regards to the website that you are quoting from, hard work and dedication has seen over £12,000 raised for the NSPCC since December from this fund alone. How can this possibly be looked upon as a bad thing? It is quite simply a positive reaction to a terrible story which highlighted to many of us that were not aware, just how great the problem of child abuse is in our society.
This has nothing to do with mourning for a child that we never met - or indulging in others’ terrible grief. This is to do with helping to prevent abuse time and time again to defenceless babies and children who don’t stand a chance. The money we raise will be used on services that directly help children and also assist with the NSPCC’s relentless campaigning activities.
I am not directly involved with the song that has been re-released very kindly by Chris Rea and his record label but I do know that the NSPCC are going to benefit greatly from the proceeds which will in turn benefit so many abused and vulnerable children. I would ask that you help raise awareness of it rather than turning it into another negative story.
Finally, in reply to a comment from Diary, this particular fund has one main objective and that is to raise money for the NSPCC but we do work with and support many other campaigns that are working directly on Health Visitors/Social Worker issues as we agree this is an area just as important as raising money for children’s charities.
March 24th, 2009 at 10:46 am
The other thing I might add here is that you are not reporting the whole story behind this initiative.
March 24th, 2009 at 10:35 am
Anorak, I don’t know how you can downplay the efforts of people who are trying to make a difference for abused children. Louise and the others have come up with a unique way to raise funds for the NSPCC, and you know what - Baby P’s family supports this initatitve. (Yes, I am privy to that information.) It’s just amazing that some think people who were moved and acted on Baby P’s ordeal are a bunch of grief tourists. Think about this - the way that we can network these days didn’t exist a few years ago… How would we be making all of this effort if Facebook and other social networking sites didn’t exist? I doubt the effects of Baby P’s ordeal would not have been as far reaching as they have without this technology in our hands. It allows us to get things done - so it pisses me off that people think that others are overreacting. We’re acting! Nobody would act unless we knew the full details of Baby P’s ordeal… everyone would still be in their little worlds not giving a damn - at least some people give a damn now!
March 24th, 2009 at 9:40 am
Seeing as the money raised is going to the N.S.P.C.C (an established childrens charity) I don’t see what your problem is, if you dont want to listen to it dont download it, free will and all that.
March 24th, 2009 at 8:38 am
it’s a nice idea, but what does it do to address the problem of incompetent social workers…?