Baby Peeee
Sharon Shoesmith was adamant from the start that she would not be stepping down due to the investigation, and neither would anyone else on her staff - quite rightly too. So what happens? George Meehan and Liz Santry step down within hours of the inquiry ending and Sharon Scapegoat is removed from duty. Three other members of staff are suspended from child protection duty - with full pay.
When did we turn into this kind of society, fingering figures when things go wrong? It’s like a circus - something terrible happens, there’s an inquiry, people resign (complete with fat pay-offs) and go to work quietly in some corner of local government for the rest of their lives. The public are happy as someone’s ‘paid’ for what’s done (pun unintended although definitely relevant), and the problems at the heart of the matter remain - it’s just that someone else is at the helm now.
Removing Sharon Shoesmith and the others from their posts won’t do anything to address the failings of the system. Instead of treating the symptoms, like we always do, why not keep these experienced people in their posts and give them more resources to work with? Overhaul the system, but use their expertise?
With the exception of the doctor who failed to diagnose Baby P’s broken spine (I’m no medic, but I’d have thought that was a pretty basic thing to spot on an x-ray…), this terrible tragedy occured because of a failing of the system we have in place, not because Sharon Shoesmith is an evil witch who plotted with others to kill this innocent child. Does she (or her family) deserve the hate mail and threats they’ve received? Of course not. But it’s so much easier to rage against an individual than rage against a machine.
I’m not a religious person. But much of what I read in the papers these days reminds me of the bible. An eye for an eye. In cases like this, we all blind each other. It will be interesting to see how Ed Balls and co handle this. How much is just for show, to placate the papers, the opposition, the voters? Will anything actually change?
Sigh.
