Lessons Will Be Learned!

 It has been a while since I posted anything here. Events over the last few years have persuaded me it may be about time I picked up the habit again.

So, where to begin? Let's be honest, there's plenty of scope out there! The number of things that I would classify as "annoying" to me seems virtually endless. In the end though, everything probably can be distilled down to the actions or even inaction of this poxy government and, in some cases, of previous governments. Take for example the recent tragic case of the 6 year old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes.

Those of us in the UK will be familiar with and disgusted by the barbaric actions of his father and his partner, culminating in his death. Their treatment of this poor soul goes beyond barbaric and inhumane; I struggle to find an appropriate term for either of this pair. They are wastes of space and oxygen thieves. 

Naturally we have had the usual phrases trotted out by politicians of all stripes, main among them being "our thoughts and prayers.." etc. I wish I had a quid for every time I have heard a politician utter those words! This is almost always followed by another favourite; "lessons will be learned". No, they bloody well won't!

Let's cast our minds back almost 20 years to the case of Victoria Climbié. Here, a young girl was systematically beaten and abused, ultimately dying of hypothermia. The subsequent inquiry found lots of people had a lot of responsibility and, of course, lessons were learned. This was the Laming Inquiry which published its findings in January 2003. The inquiry report included 108 recommendations in child protection reform. Plenty of lessons to be learned from that then?

Lessons were so well absorbed and learned that the same local authority involved in the myriad of failings in the Victoria Climbié case appeared in yet another child abuse horror show. That local authority, which had been busy "learning lessons" over a period of 3 years, seems to have been unable to read or understand the lessons. This was Haringey council and in 2006, a woman gave birth to a child who would become famous, known as "Baby P". The child was born in March 2006 and in December of that year the mother is arrested after a GP notices bruises on the child's body. In February 2007 a former social worker wrote to the Dept of Health, expressing concerns over Haringey council's failings in the area of child protection. Remember, Haringey council had been busy, beavering away dealing with "Lessons to be learned" since 2003. Presumably, the lessons had not yet been fully learned. The Dept of Health delegated the Commission for Social Care who had their inspectors meet with Haringey council. Haringey council appear to have responded by affirming that all was well with this case, everything was going swimmingly and they would deal with their whistle blowing former social worker, Nevres Kemal. (Why was Ms Kemal a 'former' social worker? In 2004 she had been reviewing some cases with which Haringey council was involved, alleging possible physical and sexual abuse at the hands of people nominated to take "care" of them by Haringey council.Of course, the council denied everything, all was rosy and she was fired after an unsubstantiated allegation was made against her by a third party. Ms Kemal eventually won an unfair dismissal claim against Haringey. Eventually, in 2008, Haringey council bought off Ms Kemal with a gagging order. So, there's one lesson Haringey seem to have learned over the years: you can bully people into shutting up. If that fails fire them. If you are found to have fired the person illegally, open the cheque book and buy them off.)

Meanwhile, a couple of weeks after the CSC had met Haringey council to discuss Ms Kemal's concerns, Baby P was readmitted to hospital with 2 black eyes and a swelling to the head. No doubt Haringey had found a new lesson to be learned: In Haringey 14 month old children are into boxing! Nothing came of this event. Within a month, the baby is once again admitted to hospital and this time, the mother is arrested. In June, a social worker noticed marks and bruises on the child and on June 4th, the injuries were determined to be due to child abuse so the child was placed into the care of a friend. On 25th July, Haringey council had obtained legal advice, 'confirming' it was nothing to do with them: "threshold for initiating Care Proceedings...was not met". Obviously, the lessons were being learned. At least, the lessons on covering your arse, that is.

On 1st August, the child is back at the hospital where a pediatrician didn't notice the broken back or broken ribs. Nor the gap where a tooth had been knocked out with a punch. Didn't even notice the mutilated fingertips or missing fingernails.(The tooth was found in the child's body during the post mortem). 

On 2nd August, the child's mother is informed she will not be prosecuted (presumably in relation to the earlier arrest in May.

On 3rd August, Baby P is found dead.

Weren't there some great examples of "Lesson learning" throughout this sordid story? It does look as if we may have years of "Lesson will be learned" ahead of us, on a variety of topics. MPs are saying now that lessons must be learned in connection with the disruption caused by the weather in Storm Arwen. 

Boris Johnson is telling us that lessons must be learned in connection with the current disgrace surrounding Arthur Labinjo-Hughes. In this particular case, I would like to see his school, his GP, local government officials, police, family and whole whole raft of others brought before the court of public opinion. I am sure there will be the odd protestation of "I reported what I had noticed to... "substitute the scapegoat of choice here).