Three weeks ago the Daily Telegraph carried a letter praising social workers. It is incumbent upon me to convey the news that normal service has resumed.
Today's edition carries a report of an autistic 12-year-old boy from Barking and Dagenham in London who died after ingesting bleach.
The family has been known to social services as well as the NHS and the police for several years. So Barking and Dagenham Council has rightly launched a serious case review.
The Daily Telegraph reports that police had been seen at the family home at least 12 times in seven years.
Although there will be questions as to why the boy was not taken into care, which social services might be able to answer, there should also be questions asked of the police as to why it has taken this long for a prosecution - any prosecution. The mother now faces a murder charge.
But the Daily Telegraph has already made up its mind about one thing.
The headline in the print edition starts "Boy poisoned with bleach was failed by social services..."
Okay, tell me more. "...say neighbours".
Neighbours? Is the Telegraph investing the entire angle of its story on the reliability of a bit of curtain-twitching gossip. It does look that way.
And there was I thinking a serious case review was needed, at the very least. As I say, normal service is resumed.
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