https://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/2009/02/08/the-buck-passed-here/feed/PJ Media is a leading news site covering culture, politics, faith, homeland security, and more. Our reporters and columnists provide original, in-depth analysis from a variety of perspectives.en-usFri, 12 Jun 2026 13:00:24 -0400<![CDATA[The newspapers in the UK were recently full of stories about the death of a certain Baby P, a 17 month old baby boy who was progressively killed by his mother&#8217;s boyfriend while she watched, apparently amused at the proceedings. Over an extended period the little child had his fingers lopped off, bones broken, teeth punched in and spine snapped until finally he died. What made the story resonant with the British public was how it went on undetected despite at least 60 visits or interviews between the child and welfare professionals. It was like a play full of motion where everything stayed still. Child protection people, for example, would make inspections yet fail to cross the room to look closely at the child. At other times, the infant was presented at arms length smeared in chocolate by his monstrous guardians to obscure his injuries, all of which seemed to escape the notice of the social workers. When the child was taken to a government health care doctor for examination shortly before he died, the doctor didn&#8217;t examine the child because it seemed inconvenient to do at the time. &#8220;The doctor, who qualified in Pakistan and worked in Saudi Arabia before coming to Britain in 2004, spotted bruises to his body but decided not to carry out a full systemic examination because the boy was ;miserable and cranky&#8217;.&#8221;]]>Sun, 08 Feb 2009 05:51:18 -0500<![CDATA[Richard Fernandez]]>https://pjmedia.com/richard-fernandez/2009/02/08/the-buck-passed-here-n187229