Melanie Phillips reviews the tragic story in yesterday's Daily Mail (U.K.): The more we learn about the behaviour of Haringey Council, which failed so grossly in the horrific case of Baby P, the more apparent it becomes that our so-called welfare state has turned into something truly monstrous.
First, we heard from its children's department head Sharon Shoesmith that neither she nor any of her staff accepted any responsibility for what had happened. This was despite the fact that it seems not one of them had noticed that, over a period of several months, this baby was being systematically neglected, attacked, tortured, mutilated and finally left to die - all on their watch.
Then we read that during this very period the department was receiving a glowing accolade by Ofsted inspectors, who awarded it top marks for its general performance.
And then we learned of the treatment meted out to former Haringey social worker Nevres Kemal, who sent seven letters to government departments and the Commission for Social Care Inspection warning that Haringey's child protection department was out of control.
The result was that she herself became the target of a witch-hunt, subjected to entirely trumped up allegations of child abuse - for having warned that the department was failing in its duty to protect children from abuse.
Ms. Kemal called this behaviour fascism. It is actually more akin to the Kafka-esque abuses of power under Stalinism. It is certainly the kind of behaviour one associates with totalitarian regimes.
Of course, we must not lose sight of the fact that the people who actually caused the suffering and death of Baby P were his mother, her boyfriend and their lodger. But what this whole sickening story tells us is something much bigger and profoundly disturbing about the state of our society...
Here's the rest of the article.
