Social work not working
In many social services departments, there seems to be an unspoken agreement that no one should strive to do the job better than anyone else, for fear of elevating themselves above the group and potentially humiliating colleagues, says Camila Batmanghelidjh. To survive the moral darkness of knowing that they are leaving children in conditions that they would not accept for their own children, social workers stop thinking, shut down their ability to feel and, in an emotionally cold state, numbly follow procedure. Not getting caught out becomes the aim. The real culprits are the politicians who for years have known that children's social services are not fit for purpose. Camila Batmanghelidjh The Times
Full article: The moral darkness that engulfed Baby P 
Parliament and the police
Does Green's arrest shows that we are heading towards a police state? asks Steve Richards. The arrest proves the precise opposite. Gordon Brown and Jacqui Smith have said unequivocally that they did not know in advance. The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, was told in advance and tried to stop it - in vain. As with the cash for honours arrests, the problem is due to a misunderstanding on the part of the police as to the way politics works. It seems they leap too quickly to an assumption of possible criminality, when the desperate amoral expediency of raising money for parties or the use of leaks to challenge a government are a part of politics. Steve Richards The Independent
Full article: Who is accountable for the police?
The Mole: Speaker wants inquiry
Green's arrest was dangerous, says Andrew Gimson. Parliament must express this - and this puts the Speaker, Mr Martin, in a dilemma. He cannot at one and the same time represent those MPs with a passionate determination to uphold our liberties and those who cannot see what all the fuss is about. Is he up to the job? To attack Mr Martin seems a bit like attacking the umpire in a game of cricket: the umpire's decision has to be final or the game becomes impossible. But there comes a time when the umpire turns out to be so blind and so persistently in error that the only thing to do is to replace him. Andrew Gimson Daily Telegraph
Full article: Damian Green arrest: Michael Martin must live up to office of Speaker
An electric car, please
Top Gear. The very name is a tribute to a technology that is increasingly archaic, says Boris Johnson. Yet on that show I test-drove an electric Mercedes, which cost about a penny a mile to run. It is that single factor - the relative cheapness of electricity - that makes me think we are on the verge of a huge change in our motoring, and a change that is long overdue. As they have discovered on Top Gear, electric cars are not just glorified milkfloats these days. I don't want to buy another internal combustion engine; there is a market waiting to be satisfied, and if that isn't an economic stimulus I don't know what is. Boris Johnson Daily Telegraph
Full article: Top Gear sways Boris Johnson to electric cars
Concept cars that consign Clarkson to the dustbin of history
We need emergency measures
Lord Turner's climate change report, published yesterday, is long, detailed and impressive, writes George Monbiot. It has the admirable objective of trying to cap global warming at two degrees or a little more. But it is about as likely to stop runaway climate change as the Maginot Line was to hold back the Luftwaffe. It overlooks the immediate emergency: the UK needs to cut greenhouse gases by roughly 25% from current levels by the end of 2012 - a quarter in four years. This requires radical measures, and a government that is brave enough to govern. Two decades of procrastination ensure that only emergency measures now have a chance of preventing a climate disaster. George Monbiot The Guardian
Full article: Long, detailed, impressive - but futile in the face of runaway climate change
Banks finally reforming
A rare silver lining in this recession is that the longstanding lending practices of British banks are changing, says Will Hutton. The Royal Bank of Scotland, now 58 per cent owned by the taxpayer, has promised to delay repossessions for six months, and to guarantee the level and price of its overdraft commitments to small business until the end of 2009. These are concessions of the sort that have not been made in any postwar recession. UK banks have hid behind the myth that, as their decisions are taken in markets, they are necessarily efficient. They are not. The next 18 months could see a transformation in British finance. It is long overdue. Will Hutton The Guardian
Full article: A late calling to account
Too much information
The truth is that the real target was much wider than the Shadow Immigration Minister. There is a growing frustration in Whitehall that the Government is losing control of the very thing on which its power depends - information. Rachel Sylvester The Times
Full article: The Memo Martyr was not the real target
Bad timing
Welfare reform, devised in a boom, looks perilous in a bust. Is this a clever time to summon many of the sick, and all single mothers with children over the age of 12, to oblige them to work? Polly Toynbee The Guardian
Urge lone parents into jobs. Just put away the big stick
Throw away the key
I would not regard it as inhumane if the Sheffield man who has brutalised so many lives was forced to spend the rest of his life in prison, without possibility of parole. For those children who are also his grandchildren, it would be a blessing. Dominic Lawson The Independent
Full article: When 'life' should mean life
Swiss kids have more fun
Chocolate advent calendars make children think that all wonder, all hope, all tradition and culture must be translated into cheap confectionery before it is worth having. In Switzerland, children crack whips and ring cowbells to drive winter out of the valley. If all ours can do about Advent is to rip open chocolates, they're a lost generation. Libby Purves The Times
Full article: There's more to Advent than cheap chocolate
New Labour is well
Too often, the Labour Party had made a fetish of state action when the means should have been whatever it took to get the ends achieved. In a time of crisis, what it takes is a public stake in banks and a sharing of the tax burden. That's not the death of New Labour, it's a pragmatic response to a crisis. It's using the power of government to make markets work again. James Purnell The Independent
Full article: New Labour is not dead and buried – it's in rude health
Unlikely motive
It is bordering on the absurd to imagine that the prospect of a book deal will incentivise people to commit crimes: if you're doing the sort of crime that would really command a big advance - a kill-hack-and-eat job, say - you're unlikely to be the sort of person for whom the book deal is the big thing. Sam Leith Daily Telegraph
Full article: Government plan to ban criminal memoirs is moronic
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