Monthly Archives: March 2009

Dennis O’Neill, Maria Colwell, Jasmine Lorrington – a generation of child abuse and lessons still not learned

Posted by Wendy on March 26, 2009 8 comments

Before the ‘Baby P’ Inquiry and before the Victoria Climbie Inquiry there was the Maria Colwell Inquiry.

This public inquiry, it’s report published in 1974, questioned why seven year old Maria was battered to death by her step father in 1973. It led to the creation of area child protection committees which are in place, supposedly, to oversee the protection, health, education and safety of children in danger.

Prior to the Climbie case it was the most significant inquiry ever undertaken – and yet still the situation exists that children are being abused and killed by their carers.

A Tale of Ten Children is a report which shows just how obvious it is that authorities still have not learned any lessons at all. The names of the children are:

1945 – Dennis O’Neill

1956 – Toddler Holdsworth (name has been withheld)

1967 – Micheal Buckingham

1973 – Maria Colwell

1984 – Jasmine Lorrington

1991 – Martin Nicoll

2000 – Victoria Climbie

2000 – Lauren Wright

2002 – Ainlee Labonte

2003 – John Gray (an unutterably heartbreaking case – 200 injuries to 92 parts of his little body)

A litany of failings that we as a society must all take responsibility for. I think we do – it’s those who CAN make a difference who pass the buck.

Updated article: Out of Sight Out of Mind

Copyright © 2007-2012 Cultured Views. All rights reserved.

Mo Mowlam to be subject of a film.

Posted by Wendy on March 25, 2009 No comments

Here in Northern Ireland the late Mo Mowlam, former Secretary of State, is regarded with an affection and respect that few politicians enjoy.

Mo was simply…Mo. She was down to earth, straightforward and honest, and very much a believer in the future of Northern Ireland being a secure one for children and families.

She could speak and relate to anyone from any part of society and was, from time to time, involved in controversy – this stemming from her habit of tellin it like it is.

She was at home with politicans and constituents alike, no airs and graces – what you saw was what you got from Mo. When she was installed as SoS here it is rumoured she replaced the fancy Sferra sheets on the bed in her new house with those of her own – she was a no frills woman who did not stand on ceremony.

And now her life is to be the subject of a film. Mo played a key part in the Peace Process here, she opened Hillsborough House to a massive childrens garden party with Prince Andrew as the invited guest. She even personally escorted the kids around the Hillsborough grounds.

Arnold met Mo on a few occasions, once she even cooked him some breakfast while he did some work for her – how many Secretaries of State would do that for a civil servant…?

Every week we take our children to a lovely park on the Stormont Estate; it is a very popular park with families and children – of course, it is named after Mo…the Mo Mowlam Memorial Park. It is a wonderful place for children to play and I think she would totally approve of it. It is just so sad she never lived to see how popular it would become.

But she made it happen. It’s a great park – thanks Mo.

Copyright © 2007-2012 Cultured Views. All rights reserved.

Will there be any sympathy for Jackiey Budden…?

Posted by Wendy on March 25, 2009 No comments

I pity the poor woman right now. I watched her emerge from Jade’s house on Sunday morning to make the announcement that Jade had died and it was a truly broken and devastated woman standing there in those baggy, striped pyjamas. Not an easy task at all to have to do such a thing.

One has to wonder if all this is some kind of penance that Jackiey has been given for giving Jade the hellish childhood and upbringing that she experienced. For choosing a fellow drug addict, Andrew Goody, as a father for Jade – for the filthy squats she made her daughter live in, for submitting her daughter to the selfish lifestyle that is one of a drug addict. The violence, the foster homes, the abuse…

Thats where I admire Jade and felt so sorry for her. She could easily have gone the way of her mother; many do repeat the mistakes of their hopeless parents with their own children. The enormous amounts of money Jade came into after BB3 could easily have been squandered on a drug fuelled party-lifestyle for herself – like Amy Winehouse – but it didn’t. Instead it went on investments; real estate, a nice home for her children, their education. And no doubt Jackiey benefitted as well…

 So while we can feel sympathy for Jade and her children, I really feel only pity for Jackiey Budden. Jade, so distressed at leaving her young children and doing everything and all she could to secure their future before she died. Jackiey, who so selfishly placed herself and her needs first for so long that her one and only daughter had to use her own tragic childhood as a reminder of what she did not want for her own children.

Maybe this has all changed Jackiey for the better, then again maybe this could be the breaking of her. Maybe Jackiey is wondering why Jade has gone while she managed to beat the odds and survive. And how unfair that is that Jade was the one who lost out in the end.

Related Link: Andrew Goody dies from overdose

Copyright © 2007-2012 Cultured Views. All rights reserved.