How Many More 'Failures' Can Voters Take?

Lethal legacies of failures are coming back to haunt New Labour ministers, yet hypocrites hide behind a shield of spin, blaming everyone but themselves. How many more failures can weary voters take before realising it's not us - it's them.

Today it is more damning news on a dire economy limping along with frail and fragile failure despite all the Borrowing Brown sauce.

On Wednesday it was damning inquiry on needless deaths at Stafford hospital failed by an obsession with targets and trusts and shrouded in secrecy.

Yesterday the release of an equally damning ruling on a seven-year-old girl starved to death by her mother and failed by useless child protection.

Failures that let a seven year old girl starve to death were 'beyond belief' ruled a judge, with frightening echoes and damning parallels of the scandal of Baby Peter whose months of abuse and suffering caused a national outrage.

The secret ruling made last year laid bare the failures of local social services and welfare officers. Khyra would still be alive if officials had done their job, said the judge in a ruling released yesterday.

But that pragmatic and damning ruling was delivered without underpinning a political dimension outside the remit of the judiciary.

Khyra was failed by misguided political correctness and grossly overstretched social services and child protection teams. Loopholes in home education laws are only now set to be plugged.

Staff were brushed off and backed off amid fears of getting too involved in racial or religious issues when the protection of a vulnerable child should always be paramount.

And all this came on the 10th anniversary of the death of Victoria Climbie - the eight-year-old also failed by social services and starved to death, signalling the start of a decade of disaster and failures.

Meanwhile one of the worst scandals to hit the NHS is being brushed under the carpet with the devastating report into the Stafford Hospital disgrace laying bare a decade of New Labour's failure buried in secrecy and bullshit.

The arrogant response from ministers is to say 'sorry' but they steadfastly refuse to own up to their failures and mistakes.

Burying their heads in the sand, sweeping it under the carpet, forgetting about the pain, suffering and deaths. A tick-box and league table obsession and quango crony culture. Ministers hiding behind the lame excuse of not being accountable or responsible.

Burnham apologised for the appalling failings at what has been branded a 'Third World' hospital. Balls apologised for the "pain and anguish" caused in the Baby Peter scandal. And now young Khyra. What is the solution? Another round of useless reviews. How many lessons does it take before lessons are learned.

Deluded ministers reject suggestions any of their half-baked policies contribute to the problems in hospitals and child protection and are in any way to blame for the deaths of innocent patients or children. Instead blame it all on the staff.

As with the Baby Peter scandal, when Balls refused to shoulder any of the blame, ministers can play the blame game and pass the buck on to someone else. Time and again reports cite low staffing levels, inadequate and inexperienced staff, lack of leadership, poor training and ineffective systems for identifying when things go wrong. And that's down to government.

Once again the target driven, politically correct obsessed culture has been exposed as a sham, where ministers and managers are obsessed with the process rather than the outcome. A process where, if everything looks right on paper, then it must be alright.

Where managers spend their time looking over their shoulders sucking up to the very government ministers who hide away from responsibility.

Ministers have lost their grip on reality, preferring to drum up flagging support with meaningless message driven slogans. Slogans get in the way of reality, when people suffer and die as a direct result of those miserable ideals. A shocking indictment of a blind discredited vision which should be confined to the scrap heap, before any more pointless deaths.

There's something very sick about a government which allows its hospitals to kill patients and its child protection policies to kill vulnerable children then bury its head in the sand in denial, refusing to accept any responsibility or share the burden of blame.

A decade of disaster and failure and dreadful economic gloom. The economy's under the spotlight again with revised GDP figures showing the country limped 'out' of recession by a whopping 0.3 percent, rather than the piddling 0.1 percent in the last quarter of last year. If anyone dares to spin this as "good news", the Orange Party will have a duck fit.

Even that itsy bitsy teenie weenie upward revision to the official figures is meaningless. The rigged figures included for the first time 'government spending', using the freshly printed funny money, making a mockery of any spin that the recession depression is anywhere near over.

The economy has contracted by a massive six percent since the recession began - the deepest decline in donkey's years. A 'double dip' recession could still be on the cards for St George's Day.

Political strategists should be urging Bottling Brown to come off the fence and name the day soon before another fine mess and futile failure blows up in his face.

Khyra/Baby Peter graphic: Telegraph

Cartoon: Scarfe, Sunday Times

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Lethal Legacy Haunts Ministers

A lethal legacy of misguided failures is coming back to haunt New Labour ministers, yet these hapless hypocrites hide behind a shield of accountability, blaming everyone but themselves. Shuffling up and saying sorry to parliament just isn't good enough.

Last week it was a damning report into the scandal of Baby P, this week an equally damning report from health watchdogs on needless deaths at a Staffordshire hospital. 

The arrogant response to both from ministers was to say 'sorry'. Burying their heads in the sand, sweeping it under the carpet, forgetting about the pain, suffering and deaths.

Both Brown and his health secretary, Alan Johnson, were quick to say sorry to parliament today. But not for the sorry state of their misguided and useless policies in the NHS which has left 400 dead. 

Brown apologised for the appalling failings at what has been branded a 'Third World' hospital. Johnson waded in and apologised for the "pain and anguish" caused.

But both steadfastly refused to own up to their  failures and mistakes. 

The deluded prime minister rejected suggestions NHS targets had contributed to the problems, instead blaming it all on "low standards of management."

But the damning report from health watchdogs exposed a bunch of health chiefs obsessed with form-filling and targets, while squirrelling away millions of pounds which could have been spent on helping patients. 

As with the Baby P scandal, when children's secretary, Ed Balls, refused to shoulder any of the blame, ministers can play the blame game and pass the buck on to someone else. 

Yet it is the obsession with form-filling, targets and a hospital more bothered about saving cash for a trust status bid than spending taxpayers' money on patient care, which is at the heart of the problem.

Tuesday's healthcare commission report revealed deficiencies at "virtually every stage" of emergency care and managers pursued targets to the detriment of patient care.

And NHS watchdogs said Staffordshire Hospital put the bid for foundation status ahead of patient care and up to 400 people died needlessly.

The report cited low staffing levels, inadequate nursing, lack of equipment, lack of leadership, poor training and ineffective systems for identifying when things went wrong.

But it's that pursuit of targets and a form-filling culture which are at the heart and that's down to government policy.

Targets and the application for foundation trust status are no excuse for neglecting responsibility to patients' safety but clearly they were.

The catalogue of failings identified by the report is a horrifying indictment of the way targets are placing financial goals ahead of the patient.

Once gain this exposes the target driven culture, where ministers and managers are obsessed with the process rather than the outcome. 

A management process of hospital or child protection administration, rather than putting the patient or the child as the number one priority. 

A process where, if everything looks good on paper, then it must be all right. Where managers spend all their time putting the final touches to some ludicrous trust status bid imposed on them by the very government which now hides away from any responsibility.

Arguing the toss over the rights or wrongs of Blairite New Labour policies and vision is one thing. Letting that get in the way of reality, when people suffer and die as a direct result of those miserable ideals, is a shocking indictment of a blind discredited vision which should be confined to the scrap heap, before any more pointless deaths. 

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Balls Gets Off Hook In Baby P Whitewash

Years of failed government child-care policies and social workers overwhelmed by red tape and the burden of bureaucracy lie at the heart of the Baby P scandal but ministers obsessed with a tick-box culture who've driven through and imposed the changes are let off the hook in Lord Laming's whitewash which is published today. 

At the heart is a government obsessed with the child protection process, leaving the critical outcome, the interest of the child, to take second fiddle and go to the wall.

Confusion over a whole raft of child protection changes, which left social services departments overwhelmed by government imposed bureaucracy, are at the centre of the tragedy in an obsessive drive with that process. 

Too many changes in the past few years have led to confusion. Now that's set to lead to just more changes and more confusion. Too often those on the front line and the firing line - the social workers and health workers - are distracted by the changes and chained to their computers, when they need to be able to get out and focus on the child.

The blame game gets into full swing today, spinning away any accountability from children's secretary Ed Balls, who's been careful not to set his sights too hard on local council's child protection systems nor to scapegoat social workers with their managers having to take the rap. 

The tired old "doing a difficult job under difficult circumstances" line for social workers is being trotted out, ignoring the fact that when things go wrong, there must be accountability and the buck ultimately stops with Balls and his department. 

Millions of pounds have been thrown at useless child protection initiatives which failed to put the interests of the child first, departments are bogged down with paper work, form-filling and unrealistic targets. Social services chiefs can hide behind a smokescreen of targets, performance indicators and meaningless Ofsted reports. All geared to the management of the process. 

Sacked director of Haringey children's services, Sharon Shoesmith, who has been demonised as the fall-guy after a damning report into the death, has already accused Balls of acting with "breathtaking recklessness" and sees herself as the scapegoat. 

But the remit Balls gave to the Lord Laming review was very tightly controlled to avoid any finger of blame pointing at government ministers. And the children's secretary has refused to publish the Serious Case Review into Baby P which begs the question what have ministers to hide? 

At the heart too is the quality and status of social workers and senior managers. The answer from the government? Another 'task force' and Common Purpose-style leadership courses for senior managers and directors.

More mindless changes, more re-organisation will lead to more disruption. It's excessive bureaucracy which is hindering efforts to look after vulnerable children. But the children's secretary can hide behind the whitewash of a report and blame it all on a bunch of social workers and their managers, trotting out the tired old line of 'accountability'. 

Laming's review was commissioned by the government after the brutal death of 17-month-old Baby P in the north London borough. But Lord Laming had already called for reforms of child protection with his inquiry into the horrific death of Victoria Climbie in the same borough four years ago. Nothing much happened since then. 

Once again ministers can hide behind a mask of smug arrogance and escape any accountability. What is required is a change in culture but woe betide anyone who has the audacity to have a go at them. 

Laming's report into the death of Victoria Climbie didn't make much difference to the suffering of innocent children and nor will this, until the government and children's secretary Balls wake up to a few home truths.

A clear failure of years of misguided child protection policies and culture, red tape, form-filling, the overwhelming burden of bureaucracy and a government obsessed with that process not the outcome are at the heart of a systemic problem which led to the shocking death of Baby P.

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Dad's Army Ministers Don't Like It Up 'Em

Jackboot Jackie got a taste of her own medicine when a protester lashed out at her lies and spin during a conference on - domestic violence. Meanwhile Mr Brown goes off to town having lost it in a fit of air-rage, blaming everybody but himself. This Dad's Army government don't like it up 'em. 

Two homes secretary Smith had the wind knocked out of her sails leaving her pale and shaken at the launch of the government's domestic violence campaign, accused of using "gimmicks" and "spin".

Smith was no match for formidable Refuge boss, Sandra Horley, who stunned ministers with a verbal assault on the government's track record.

Branding government action as "piecemeal" and condemning plans for a database of serial domestic abusers, she said: "We have had enough talking - we need action. As for the perpetrators' register, it is a gimmick and doesn't address the root problem."

Horley put the boot in: "The Government is hoping to get away with useless initiatives like this register and it is hypocritical to sound tough and do little."

According to Ananova, Smith threw her toys out of the pram as she tried to interrupt the tirade but was shouted down before the solicitor-general stepped in to save her face.

Meanwhile deluded Brown has returned to his own Westminster bubble not a happy bunny after providing the in-flight entertainment on his trip back from Washington. 

Throwing his toys out of the pram, Brown was caught out, stabbing his finger at the poor tired hacks, descending into the default of deep denial, blaming everyone but himself for the recession.

In a fit of recession depression he snapped: "You want me to go on television and apologise, but I am not going to do it. I have nothing to apologise for. It is not my fault. Get in the real world."

Er, isn't that real world just where everyone is at the moment, bar one? 

The Orange Party's chuckle-point came when Guardian political editor, Patrick Wintour, is reported to have snuggled up to Brown: "May I just make it clear we are not all saying that..." 

Clearly in line for a knighthood, which is more than can be said for ITN's Tom Bradbury, who blew the gaffe on Brown's air-rage in the first place. 

All that while the truth about how those nice people at the ONS have been flexing their muscles, refusing to cow-tow to Downing Street's lies and spin over Smith's home office knife crime figure was being exposed, with spinners declaring war on this supposedly independent body. 

And in the middle of all that, Mandy gets slimed for the hypocritical way he's trying to come over all green. 

So what next for the hopeless bunch of have-a-go has beens? 

The bankers ban on big bonuses was at first easy fodder. Until the bankers fought back, pointing out that the government seemed to be quite happy to suck up to their pals in the City at the time. 

The green custard will turn to whitewash as Lord Laming's inquiry into the scandal of Baby P is due to be published later this week. The spin away from Balls has already started.

No doubt the children's secretary will be able to hide behind the whitewash of a report and blame it all on a bunch of social workers trotting out the tired old line of 'accountability'. Neatly forgetting that the buck ultimately stops with him and his department. 

Isn't it a failure of years of misguided child protection policies, throwing millions of pounds at useless initiatives which failed to put the interests of the child first, encouraging  a tick box culture, which is to blame here? 

Demonised and sacked fall-guy, Sharon Shoesmith, has already accused Balls of acting with "breathtaking recklessness". Social workers in the front line and the firing line won't be too far behind. 

It's a sign of the times when ministers of a fag-end of a government try to hide behind a mask of smug arrogance and self-serving interest, then come over all hurt and innocent when someone has the audacity to have a go at them. 

But with a government in collapse, more and more people are refusing to be brow-beaten by the lies, deceit and clap-trap. A healthy media and political bloggers are happy to report when people stand up to the bullshit. 

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Can Brown Survive Without The Economy?

The government has been pinning its hope of revival on one man who can save the world. But without the relentless spin on the economy, the government is starting to flounder, as time and again a crisis of confidence rears its head. 

Events over the last week or so have brought into sharp focus the old political adage that government's can be brought down by events leading to a lack of confidence and trust.

Time and again opinion polls, reminiscent of US-style push polls placed for political advantage, seem to show the political gap narrowing, as Brown was positioned as the only man capable of saving the economy, the world and global warming on the way.

Then out of the blue came the crunch. 

The pre-leaked pre-budget Budget sham did nothing to enamour the government with voters. That exposed the government track record of relentless borrowing and just borrowing more in these debt ridden days was hard to swallow. No amount of leaks or spin could mask the silly little VAT gimmick for what it was. 

The Baby P case rightly caused public indignation but here Brown totally misjudged the mood of the country, leaving it up to his school secretary to try to recover the moral and political high ground. But at the centre is an incompetent local council department, the failure of Ofsted to uphold standards, failed government child protection policies and no hint at accountability at any level.

Then some fool came along and lit the fuse of Greengate. In one fell swoop that achieved a rare sight in politics with all opposition parties and many true Labour voices united in utter condemnation, while the prime minister maintained his state of denial. 

The Queen's Speech tomorrow signals the start of a new round of parliamentary legislation as ministers desperately try to re-focus on the economy to take the government up to a general election. 

But the rumblings of discontent amongst MPs over Greengate show no sign of abating with talk of a commons rumpus and Cameron and Clegg trying to force a debate with an early day motion of no confidence in speaker Michael Martin.  

The shallowness of the government has been exposed over and over again in recent weeks. Even with the economy to fall back on, it is doubtful no amount of spin can recover confidence. Other events may be just around the corner and now it doesn't take much to tip over the edge. 

Even up to the weekend, Brown's newly installed deputy prime minister, Lord Mandleson, was making hilarious comments, comparing the prime minister to Moses leading his children to the promised land. 

This little ditty from Singin' In The Rain springs to mind. 

Moses supposes his toeses are roses


But Moses supposes erroneously


And Moses, he knowses his toeses aren't roses


As Moses supposes his toeses to be


Maybe the Lord of the Merry Dance could bear that in mind when he next tries to trip the light fantastic.

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Baby P Case Must Not End Here

Outrage over the death of Baby P should not be allowed to end with a few words from schools secretary, Ed Balls. At stake is the future of children let down by his government's miserable and weak child protection policies.

Only when the full facts are made public will lasting lessons be learnt.

Announcing the outcome of an independent investigation, schools secretary told the public nothing they didn't know already. "Things went tragically wrong". The findings, were "damning" and "devastating." There were "clear failures in practice and management." The serious case review was "inadequate."

Fine words from the cabinet minister who after all has ultimate responsibility for child protection and whose department has ultimate accountability. Words the school secretary was quick to throw around earlier in an effort to switch the blame to others.

For two weeks the inspectors have been examining why the toddler was not taken into care, despite numerous injuries including broken ribs and eventually a broken back, while the council department was allowed to carry on as normal.

Balls was only stung into ordering an independent inquiry after the abysmal and inhuman performance of the prime minister in the commons, branding the Conservative leader's request for an inquiry as party politics.

The Orange Party never subscribed to that view nor did the public, outraged and left numb wondering how on earth this could have happened in the first place.

It has taken today's report before the leader of the council and the cabinet member overseeing social services in Haringey eventually resigned.

But, clinging on to the end, director Sharon Shoesmith was eventually suspended. So much for the backing of the 61 Haringey headteachers who crawled out of nowhere to back the director in that shameless piece of party politicking.

What is still left in the air is the future of the original serious case review into this awful case and whether that vital report will ever be made public.

And the central issue of how on earth did this Haringey department receive such a glowing Ofsted report, just a year before the tragedy.

Balls announced there would be no public inquiry into this case. After all, the last one didn't do much good so why even bother with another.

What is required is a long hard look at what went wrong, to learn lessons and perhaps this time to make sure it can never happen again. For that to happen with public confidence, the department should not be allowed to continue in its present form and should come out of direct council control.

Lessons will be learnt only when all the facts are made public. Not least the original serious case review which must point to these failings. And some hard questions need to be asked of the standards watchdog, Ofsted.

Just what is the point of this quango if all it does is hand out praise to a council service while a child was tortured to death.

This afternoon the shadow children's minister, Michael Gove, made a telling statement, when he said: "I'm in constraint in what I can say because I have received information which is not in the public domain and it should be. It should be a public process. At the moment, we're not allowed to know what went wrong, therefore we're not in a position to put it right."

This case had a child's death at the centre but it was all about party politics from the outset in the Haringey political minefield, a New Labour government, a Labour local council and a government sympathetic quango. And time and again the Orange Party asked just what did ministers know about Haringey.

Balls must show that he can take some decisive action in the public interest and share responsibility and accountability instead of just talking up to his name.

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Haringey Heads Support Smacks Of Politics

Haringey head teachers swift support for beleaguered child services head Sharon Shoesmith smacks of political skulduggery. What were teachers doing sticking up for a social services boss who faces harsh criticism over the Baby P case? 

The Orange Party smells party politics at work at this Labour-run council, something Brown was quick to criticise during his robotic commons performance.  

Haringey is a political battleround. New Labour and the LibDems slug it out both on the local council and between its two politically astute MPs, New Labour's David Lammy in Tottenham and the LibDems Lynne Featherstone a former Haringey councillor over in Wood Green and Hornsey, a fierce critic of both the council and Shoesmith. 

The letter of support from the heads was released through the Press Association news agency. The identical story was taken on face value and quickly did the rounds of the news and media world wide. Few if any further checks were made on where and how the story originated.

The letter says Shoemith is an "outstanding public servant," despite calls for her to resign over the death of Baby P. Both the council and government are at the centre of this storm.

This comes after schools secretary Ed Balls was forced to say he's sorry and ordered an independent investigation into child protection at the council. And the government faces searching questions after being warned about Haringey months before the toddler's death.

There's no indication as to whether the heads are speaking independently, as a Haringey Headteacher's Federation or as members of the education group, Common Purpose.  Nor any indication who wrote the news release, who instigated it and how was it was distributed.

BBC News was one of the few to quote one of the heads, Alex Atherton, of Park View Academy in Haringey. The excellent Newssniffer tracks the BBC version as it changed in content.

A look at Haringey schools shows the extend to which they are embedded in the New Labour obsession with academies, school targets and spin. 

In 2006, Tottenham MP David Lammy, heaped praise on Haringey schools and pupils including Atherton.

Only last year Haringey was at centre of a row over paying a headteacher a whacking £40,000 golden hello to attract the right candidate. Aydin Onac, head of Fortismere school, was forced to defended his pay package. 

With more than 60 head teachers from Haringey coming out in support of Shoesmith, that begged the question, just what has the whole question of child protection got to to do with a bunch of teachers? 

LibDem Norfolk blogger described this as "an ill- thought out letter of support from head teachers in Haringey". TES community bloggers asked if Haringey heads should be involving themselves in the Baby P affair.

The fact that more than 60 heads can organise and be orchestrated in this way in a north London borough riddled with party political infighting, shows more political damage limitaton than genuine concern. 

If this was a simply a case of party political squabbles, it wouldn't merit national attention but the shocking case of Baby P and its consequences caused outrage.

As national journalists got their teeth into this whole case and dug underneath Haringey, the whole issue uncovered a can of worms which is only now beginning to unravel, with further shocking revelations in today's Times, Mail, Telegraph and many others. 

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