Sun agony aunt Deidre to ‘step into lion’s den’ at CC Live

The Sun’s problem page editor, Deidre Sanders, has agreed to “step into the lion’s den” and appear on the Question Time panel at Community Care Live in May.

Sanders’ appointment to the Social Work Taskforce in January sparked fury among Community Care readers, after The Sun had subjected social workers involved in the Baby P case to a relentless attack in a campaign to get them sacked.

Readers’ anger about the tabloid’s coverage has inspired Community Care’s Stand Up Now for Social Work campaign, launched last week, which is seeking to improve media and public representations of social work.

Sanders, a trained counsellor and sex therapist, said social workers should not adopt a “bunker mentality” when under attack from the press and that her decision to go on Question Time was based on a desire to follow her own advice.

“If I want social workers to be more open and proactive, I can hardly justify adopting a bunker mentality myself,” she said. “So in spite of a fortnight of pretty vitriolic comment on the Community Care website, I thought I should step into the lion’s den.”

Question Time takes place on 13 May, the first day of CC Live, which is free to attend. Register for your place now. To pose a question to this year’s panel, simply video yourself asking your question and upload it as a response to our video on Question Time. We will show our favourite video questions at Question Time on the day and make sure the experts answer them. Alternatively you can email your questions in writing to penny.macoustra@rbi.co.uk

• Read our open letter to The Sun’s editor, Rebekah Wade, calling on her to back social workers.

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