Blood of a social worker

The hysteria surrounding the Baby P case has reached new lows. As the Sun calls for direct action, the crowds are baying for blood.

In the midst of the mass hysteria surrounding the Baby P case, a balanced, informed and well-documented article feels like a rare moment of sanity. Because, in the meantime, it's all becoming surreal.

You may be excused for wondering whether this is Britain in the 21st Century or some medieval land where witches are routinely burnt at the stake by baying crowds. We go from the ludicrously hysterical yet harmless "re-post Derek the Mystical Gnome and raise Baby P from the dead" on Facebook (look here) to the truly vicious vigilante calls. As if plastering lamposts with posters calling for mob lynching is going to achieve anything.

Because aside from Dereck the Mystical Gnome, the now ubiquitous Facebook is hosting about nine groups whose names range from "Justice for Baby P" to ""Baby P killers should be hanged Drawn and Quartered" (see this), containing threats of violence and the addresses of the three involved in the child's death. They are literally salivating for "people to be killed".

Who knows, perhaps the inspiration was the Sun's Blood on their Hands headline, though it referred mainly to the social workers. And if you thought that was bad, have a look at the balanced service to the community coming from Carol Malone in the Sun's sister paper, the News of The World. "Baby P: they're all guilty", shouts the headline, with, on the side, the photographs of all the social workers and doctors involved, however peripherally, in the case. Here we're bordering on horror-film material and the demonising likes of The Wicker Man or Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Look at Malone's piece: "I don’t give a toss how low their wages are, how hard their job is or how understaffed they are. A vulnerable baby’s life was in danger and they left him to die out of stupidity, ignorance or because they just didn’t care enough. And if these social workers and their bosses can’t spot a child four days from death then they’re not just in the wrong job—they’re dangerous as well". The only consolation is in the fact that a picture of Carol Malone is on the same page. In this witch-hunt hullabaloo, she may run the risk of being mistaken for one of the "guilty ones" and slain by the mob too.

And she continues, working herself up against the "people who have sponged off the welfare state their whole lives", "political correctness" and "this underclass [that] will become even more savage, more feral—and more innocents will die". And then the creepy "Inquiries don’t save children’s lives. Direct action just might". Remember it's the News of the World, so I'll leave you to imagine the comments posted by the goaded pack. Dante's Ninth Circle of Hell comes close.

And so back to sanity. We mentioned at the beginning the importance of balanced, well-informed articles. Rob Williams in today's Independent may not satisfy the rabid packs, but it explains why it often happens that "children at risk are not put into care". You can do a Malone and write "I don't give a toss" as much as you like, but the under-funded reality of social care is absolutely crucial.

But the best analysis comes from Peter Corser on The Social Care Experts Blog: "The singling out of individual workers in the campaign/witch hunt by The Sun is certainly not going to make the children of England and Wales any safer. And presumably that is what The Sun wants". Corser is not calling for his category to be let off lightly. "We do after all get paid to do a job and we should do it well", he says. "In the case of gross negligence then people should lose their jobs. But that needs to be done in a considered manner. Not in the white heat of a witch hunt".