Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Baby P 'story' on TV tonight
BBC1 8.30 to 10pm Monday 27th
I dont know what they have to say, I just spotted this in the listings.
Tags for Forum Posts: baby P
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Gordon T on
-
Thanks for the alert - I'd assumed it was a normal 'Panorama' running for 30 mins, but as you've indicated it runs for 90 mins.
-
Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
-
"It is essentially an anatomy of an establishment cover-up, aided and abetted by an incurious, opportunistic media."
Hmmm.... nothing new there then.
-
Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
-
The programme dovetails with Ray Jones' book "The Story of Baby P." Unsurprisingly, Professor Jones' name appears in the programme credits. He recently talked eloquently at the Big Green Bookshop about the events described in his book. (If you're thinking of getting a copy, please order it from them.)
The allegations of cover-up and political interference are less shocking because, as John McMullan implies, many people now assume that's the diseased way things now work. Even so it was good to have the public record corrected - especially with regard to Dr Kim Holt, and Dr Sabah Al-Zayyat.
John, I don't know if you watched the Newsnight interview with Sharon Shoesmith after the film. Presenter Evan Davis probed Sharon on the question: if and when someone at the top of a hierarchy - politician or the most senior manager - should lose their jobs when things go this badly wrong.
It was a central issue in the Victoria Climbié Inquiry, as well. And as the QC to the Laming Inquiry remarked, every senior person called to give evidence ducked their responsibility.
Clearly, there are sound arguments both for and against this interpretation of accountability. So I was surprised that Sharon wasn't able to put her case effectively.
-
Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
-
YESTERDAY, an old schoolfriend who now works for a Shire Council in mid-north-west New South Wales (Australia), emailed me to say:
just been watching on the news about “baby P” from the Haringay Council
He told me because he knows I'm a councillor, but I hadn't prompted this in any way. It was either on TV or the Internet. It's a pity that our Borough is not so widely known for better reasons.
-
Permalink Reply by DavidJ on
-
Good programme.
I am not sure that my memory is quite serving me well - but were there people on here actively promoting The Sun's campaign and petition? I wonder if they now have any reflections on that?
-
-
"Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof." — John Kenneth Galbraith. (In the New York Times Magazine.)
-
-
Clive, I used to criticise your description of the Haringey People magazine as "Haringey Pravda". I now take this very seriously. Because much of what our publicity staff produce is no more than propaganda for the Labour Leadership. Or as they might say, using the current weasel words, a "narrative" that puts the Council's (i.e. Claire Kober's) viewpoint.
What happened after the death of Peter Connelly is that the "narrative" was shaped by others who had a different agenda. The programme suggests that in the propaganda war, much of the truth was obscured.
So in the next four weeks, with the benefit of the BBC's iPlayer, i think it's worth seeing the programme. And re-viewing it with your finger over the pause button. - stopping to reflect at various revealing points.
For example, watching the exchange between Barry Sheerman MP (former Select Committee chairman) and Christine Gilbert then Head of OFSTED. With Sheerman's incredulity that OFSTED had deleted the evidence files on which it made its assessment of Haringey.
For people who don't know, as well as her subsequent job as Chief Executive of Brent, Christine Gilbert was later appointed to work part-time as Haringey's "Schools Champion". Her brief: to "scrutinise and challenge and provide an expert perspective".
When I get a few spare moments and have worked my way though other Freedom of Information Act requests I'm drafting, I plan to ask what valuable scrutinising and challenging Ms Gilbert has done; where and when this took place; and how much Haringey paid to Christine Gilbert Associates Ltd.
-
-
ALAN, thanks for the link, that I've now seen. I believe that for those of us at the time who followed the Baby P case more closely than average, the documentary added little new information. I do agree that the deletion of evidence files – portrayed before the Select Committee as routine or normal – was worthy of reflection: even astonishing. The timing and editing of the documentary surprised me, although as a summary, I thought it was still more useful than most articles in Haringey People magazine.
-
-
Clive
Now that you have seen the programme you will be aware that the target is the press hysteria mainly whipped up by The Sun that was put to political purposes that completely distorted the truth of what happened. It suited many people to batter Labour run Haringey council.
I don't recall 'Haringey People' covering the Baby P story but I remember the Sun's appalling coverage at the time. Even Rebecca Brookes managed to make some apology for their coverage at the Levenson enquiry: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jul/15/baby-p-book-examines...:
"[Brookes] admitted "balance had gone right out of the window" in the attacks on Shoesmith and the paper's pursuit of her had been "cruel, harsh and over the top".
It was hardly an apology but it is probably as much as we will get in the way of contrition for what looks now like a staggeringly cynical and ignorant piece of tabloid journalism, one whose poisonous, agenda-setting legacy is still felt across children's social services."
I do remember your active promotion of the Sun's coverage on this site. I believe that you are now a Lib Dim councillor. Do you have any reflections on that?
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
