Sharon Shoesmith

[HST Power]

I've been incompotent when I used to drive trucks. I was disciplined a number of times, but I was never sacked. I accepted responsibility and moved on.

You can hardly compare driving a HGV to failings which allowed the torture and murder of a seventeen month old baby.

 

[Greenback]

I think we need to question how many fo the failings were due to Sharon Shoesmith's management, and how many were due to systemic failings in the way socials ervices in operated and funded by central government policy.

It can be very handy for any government to distance itself from services delivered through local councils, even where funding cuts and policy directives may contribut eto the oepration fo a department.

I don't know enough about Haringey social services to comment on whether the sacking was fair or not, but I agree with the majority here that it was not carried out in the correct manner, and that is what the court has concerned itself with.

 

[passmore]

You can hardly compare driving a HGV to failings which allowed the torture and murder of a seventeen month old baby.

I think both jobs are dangerous to some degree. If I hit a schoolchild accidentally, I'll be worried about the child I've hit and the parents suing. If I'm head of childrens services for my local authority, I'll be worried about the parents of the child suing in case, one day, I'm incompotent and that child is left without any substantial care.

And I agree with Greenback, it's impossible to say whether the failings of the childrens services in question were due to one individual or the way social services in general are funded and operated. It just suits the agenda of the 'lynch mob' bandwagon to blame one person. Sadly, it's not that simple.

 

[HST Power]

I think both jobs are dangerous to some degree. If I hit a schoolchild accidentally, I'll be worried about the child I've hit and the parents suing. If I'm head of childrens services for my local authority, I'll be worried about the parents of the child suing in case, one day, I'm incompotent and that child is left without any substantial care.

Of course HGV driving is dangerous. It's a very difficult job. I'm a bit of a truck enthusiast and my heart goes out to the lorry drivers who have to work long and hard night shifts yet cannot afford to pull in for a kip.

Yet still, knocking over a child would be completely different to breaking its back, breaking its ribs, having the tips of its fingers sliced off and pulling its nails out as did the cruel and heartless parents of Baby P. It'd be a completely different story in court.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I think the right outcome was reached in the wrong way. If it had been done properly, then there wouldn't have been the media effectively beating down her front door, for which, I think compensation is appropriate for the way she was shoved through it all. Whether or not loss of earnings is appropriate, I don't know.

I think that you would find the media using the terms "Freedom of the press" and "In the public interest" as justification for the methods used by reporters in any type of high profile case that they see as having the highest possible headline value in order to increase their market share, albeit for a short time period.

 

[SS4]

I think that you would find the media using the terms "Freedom of the press" and "In the public interest" as justification for the methods used by reporters in any type of high profile case that they see as having the highest possible headline value in order to increase their market share, albeit for a short time period.

I love the irony between your post and your sig here

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I love the irony between your post and your sig here

This is because I view the British media as one of the lowest form of life and I aspire to the truth being paramount at all times.

 

[NSEFAN]

Given how willfully deceptive the media are, I would hardly say they are the lowest form of life. That title goes to those who blindly believe what they say.

At the end of the day, the press will hound whoever they see fit, so long as it generates readership. If somebody is in the public eye, then I guess this sort of thing is to be expected, but distorting the truth and making scapegoats in order to entertain the readership and make money is one thing about the media that really ticks me off. The worst part is that Joe public falls for it time and time again!