Multi-agency blame shifting

Last month Dundee witnessed the annual mess of litter and other debris generated by festival-goers queuing for T in the Park tickets. This ritual gives the distinct impression of the authorities standing back and only getting involved to clean up the mess after the event. Indeed, in this context a Dundee councillor said that he had been "tremendously impressed" with police and other authorities as regards the organisation and clear up of the "phenomenal" amount of litter generated at the event itself.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and a much more serious example arose of the authorities giving the impression of doing nothing and intervening only after the event to clear things up - the killing of toddler Brandon Muir.

Cue the same (so-called) opposition councillor, who said he had always been "impressed" and "more than happy" with the performance of Dundee's social work team, who do a "really good job".

Indeed, the councillor seemed to blame the public for not being "brave enough" to speak up regarding the dangers facing Brandon. Hardly surprising, therefore, that Dundee's social work director declared himself the "right person to take child protection services forward" and claimed that more information from the public might have saved Brandon.

A police spokesman also suggested that those closest to the boy were responsible for his death, and First Minister Alex Salmond effectively absolved police and social workers from any blame.

And with an ex-chief constable appointed by Dundee City Council to investigate the case, doesn't this all suggest that officialdom has already been cleared of any culpability regarding this tragedy, and that at best process and protocol will shoulder the blame and perhaps recommendations like promoting a more "multi-agency approach" will be made, whereas maybe the self-evident multi-agency blame shifting betrays a bureaucratic and ultimately dangerous diffusion of responsibility.

Indeed, it's perhaps this kind of thing that engenders a public mistrust of officialdom and thus a reluctance to act as informants, and therefore the sense that the authorities have exonerated themselves from blame and pre-empted the investigations will only compound this.

Of course, as member of the public I would not like to rush to judgement while not fully appraised of the facts. However, given that UK social work departments debar people such as the overweight and smokers from adopting children it seems perverse that Brandon Muir could be left in such a self-evidently dangerous and now well-documented environment.