Priorities

Ours is an interesting country, as least as far as the politico-media establishment goes.

Two vastly-paid blokes abuse just about everything and everyone possible, and after a while get suspended on full pay, while the liberal luvvies of London anguish over the fairness of it all still.

Meanwhile a woman 'blows a whistle' about a mammoth systems failure in childcare, and is sacked within days and then has a gagging order slapped on just for good measure, to protect... er...?

I guess it matters who you work for, and in what cause.

Lessons are being learned, apparently. I just hope it's by the public, and they will be able to give their verdicts in an appropriate manner at the right time. Though, for some, tomorrow would be too late.

Newsnight

Telegraph - Baby P was a victim of the quango state

Indy - Too many cooks

Gaurdian - Gordon Brown remains on top form in New York

Gaurdian - Where does the buck stop in Baby P case?

As the step-springed, sparkly-mooded, awesomely-adorned Mr. Brown bestrides the world stage in other pages here...

The only use of the word 'buck' needed here is tied to 'up', though I remain unsure whether the first letter of the first word is yet quite right

The author has posted an odd distraction by way of justification for the chatterati defence..

'Our first step towards understanding the death of this child should be not to blame social workers but to face the mother's experience of childhood...
Rather than dwelling on the horror, we should try to learn from the killing of Baby P'

I fear I then stopped reading this 'terrific piece', because I was getting my head round any number of crimes that may yet be committed, which I may be in a position to prevent and/or call upon paid professionals to resolve, but which instead I should sit back and observe dispassionately to first fully understand where the perp's coming from such that lessons may be learned.

As opposed to moving asap to stop it happening now, or again.

Which may, to the frustration of some posters, suggest getting back to those persons and systems and persons who make systems that failed before, failed this time and, without some kind of adequate response will fail again.

Hope pondering the dark side of humanity doesn't put a dampener on the Islington dinner parties ce soir. Or give pause to wonder how many other innocents may suffer (and never enjoy a nice Chablis) whilst good men... and women... engage in endless debate.

Gaurdian - This frenzy of hatred is a disaster for children at risk

I agree, if you mean the immediate, knee jerk frenzy of one media extreme (a sorry Guardian default these days) and its supporters against another, without actually addressing sensibly the problem of how protect at risk children now and in the future.

The tabloids are a fact of life, unfortunately. And equally at fault in using this, latest, situation to do the only thing their ratings require, namely stir up the mob.

However, two wrongs do not make a right, and getting distracted by, or using their behaviour as a distraction from the core issue, is disingenuous at best.

Ms. Toynbee, you are, lord knows why, in a position of power, if only through the influence and reach of these pages.

I can only thank heavens that you have no direct responsibility over the future of my children's generation if the immediate reaction to a catastrophic failure is to dive off and seek out those not helping the cause of sweeping the actions of those who have failed under the carpet.

Sadly, this role is still being ably carried out as we speak from Ed Balls up... and down... as more fingers point at ever more stats like a stat makes a damn bit of difference to a dead child.

As with any job, there are good workers and not good ones. In my line of work the not good ones usually don't progress too far and/or end up in other employment. And the worse that happens if they remain is profits are lower.

It would appear that across public service different systems, and standards, apply (well, other than internally in top level where you can bully scores of staff out of your departments at whim for not bearing a 'team player' with a single shriek or lob of a mobile phone. Naomi Campbell should go for high office), but the consequences can be more severe, and enduring, if not allowed to be resolved.

It seems a simple, inconvenient fact that, under the same council regime, under the same government of all the talents, with all the same, lame defences I read here, it took but 8 years for no more lessons to be learned than I believe will be this time, as the backside-coverers and excuse makers scamper about the print media and airwaves cited 'successfully-followed' procedures.

The system is failing, if not an ex-system. It needs changing. Deal with it.

Telegraph - Parents should be allowed to smack without ending up in a police cell

Telegraph - Ofsted points out failures - but too late for Baby P - What does that Of- prefix stand for? Obfuscate?