Friday, November 14, 2008

Right-wing bile on the Baby P case

More nanny state, less nanny state. From castration to welfare layabouts, how the depressing tragedy that took place behind close doors is fuelling the tabloids' rage and anti-working class bias

In Haringey, North London, a 2-year-old child died after being tortured by his scummy parents. The resulting blaze of finger-pointing is reminiscent of an incoherent pub talk amongst pissed-up geezers. "This beer's fookin shite, ennit?", says one. And the other slurs "Yeah mate, 'know what you mean, it's ace, love it".

Look at this. David Cameron, the man who suckled his political milk from the tits of there-is-no-such-thing-as-society, now is making the government accountable for anything dysfunctional that may go on in our society, even if it's behind closed doors. The high ranks of the anti-"nanny state" brigade are asking angrily where nanny was. At a guess, the implication is, if the Tories were in power, no family violence, no barbaric cruelty, would take place.

But Richard Littlejohn, in his Daily Mail bilefeast, decides instead that nanny is too overbearing. There are too many social workers, "legions" in fact. Not to mention "welfare layabouts". And of course the next step is that, with all those benefits, some scumbag may feel encouraged to kill their 2-year-old kid. Logical, isn't it?

Suspended radio presenter Jon Gaunt, from the Sun, slams the "elected and unelected metropolitan elite [who] impose their warped views and social engineering on our country". Perhaps he was referring to his colleague Patrick O'Flynn from the Daily Express, who calls for the state to "take action now" and "curtail the rights of everyone to have children", while pointing the finger at the "skewed benefits system in this country [that] provides massive incentives for the most dysfunctional people to have loads of children they cannot care for". Likewise, Kelvin Mackenzie in the Sun is indignant at the authorities who allowed the child's mother, "this disgusting piece of humanity [...] to have the child in the first place".

Needless to say, nobody explains how such vetting would work exactly. Do these people think at all before spitting rage and writing such shite? Still, they all pontificate, they all know better, they all have a solution - they love playing their who-shouts-it-louder little game. Even if it's in total contradiction with one another, or even with themselves - within the same piece. As long as they rant against liberals, 'PC' councils and the "benefits system".

In the excellent words of Simon Jenkins in The Guardian, suddenly "we want nannies galore. We want nannies with whips, nannies with locks, keys and public inquiries". Like he puts it, "the response to the case of 17-month-old Baby P has been a classic of incoherent social comment".

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

They really hvnt a clue, like having The Sun now barking about the Shannon Matthews case when they were making such a big deal out of their REWARD

Anonymous said...

Believe it or not, the Telegraph featured the most rational reaction of the lot. have a look here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/11/13/do1307.xml

Anonymous said...

But you can't deny a circle of welfare dependence. Alright, you dont like the Daily Mail, but can you tell me why this country has the highest rate of teenage pregnancies in what is commonly known as the western world?
What is it? Are we better at shagging? Our condoms are badly made? They can't take a pounding?
Or is it something to do with benefits?

Madam Miaow said...

Truly barking. Yes, let's impoverish these people further, pile as much economic pressure as possible on them, and watch them turn into perfect little families.

More like, light the blue touchpaper and stand well back.

Economic hardship can drive even the middle-classes mad. Remember the recent shooting of a wife, her daughter, the horses and the dogs by a businessman who was going bust?

claude said...

Excellent point, madam miow, in fact I was tempted to write a post about it. How come when that father killed his entire family and set fire to his mansion (in September, I think it was) Littlejohn and Jon Gaunt didn't write that wealth and entreprenurial life can turn you into murderer?

And do you remember that property tycoon Nicholas Van Hoogstraten going on a killing spree? Should Kelvin Mackenzie write about wealth turning you into a monster???

How does that work?

Johnny T said...

Neil Tweedie makes an excellent point in the Telegraph, Sat 14 Nov 08. For once it's not a lesson on how to be a social worker (because all hacks know best don't they).

The article WHERE NO ONE WILL HEAR YOU CRY is a poignant report on the loss of community where the residents of Haringey themselves say that "it's not a neighbourhood and we don't have neighbours".

And this is the thing. How many knew? How many hear something and chose not to do anything? Don't we all fear for no.1 ? Where is our sense of humanit going?

Here's the link.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/3461938/Haringey-where-no-one-will-hear-you-cry.html