Society daily 25.01.10

Van carrying boy charged with Bulger murder is stoned — A vehicle carrying one of the boys charged with the murder of James Bulger is stoned as it leaves court in Liverpool in 2001. Photograph: John Giles/PA

Today's top society stories

Parents of Edlington boys may sue

Shortfall of 500,000 affordable homes if budget is cut, warns housing group

Tories back plan to extend "sarah's law" sex offender checks

Public services inefficency "wastes £11bn" in London alone, says report

Religious charities face EU crackdown over equalities laws

Full coverage of the Edlington case

All today's society stories

The Edlington attacks - what the papers say

"Time to tell all," says The Sun, which leads calls for the full serious case review (SCR) into the Edlington case to be published. It says concerns that full publication could lead to the identification of vulnerable children is "nonsense"

"Protecting children's IDs should hardly be beyond politicians who have hidden their expenses scams for years. And any social worker, police officer, doctor or other professional withholding information should be fired on the spot," it says.

The Daily Telegraph agrees: refusal to publish the full SCR makes it difficult for lessons to be learned. Transparency and openess, it argues, are essential:

"This is not about bashing social workers or seeking scapegoats: the people who were really to blame here are the brothers' parents, who so far have remained hidden behind a mask of anonymity. But the country needs to be assured that the summary is an accurate distillation of the full report, shorn only of the most sensitive details. Without such accountability, it will not be long before ministers are once again promising to 'learn the lessons' of another avoidable calamity."

Giving in to calls for the identities of the two Edlington torturers to be revealed would be pandering to the basest instincts of the mob, says the Times:

"The manipulative tactics of the campaigners are designed to induce in the public a failure of nerve. They seek to undermine our faith in mercy, rehabilitation and the rule of law. They play on the misguided idea that the social breakdown underlying the Edlington crimes would be cured by a harsher criminal justice system. They are wrong. The Edlington case reveals a startling degree of neglect which demands society's attention, not its knee-jerk vengeance."

Despite the horrific nature of the case, we must keep sight of our ideals, it argues:

"Above all, the campaign to reveal the names of the Edlington boys strikes against the sense of hope which sustains our ideals. These are children, no matter how gruesome and depraved their crimes, and they may yet, with luck and hard work, live good adult lives. That hope underpins not only our system of justice but also our society. It is a hope with which we must persist."

The Dail Mail smells what it call "the growing stench of a cover up" over the failure of publc agencies in the Edlington case. The failure to name officals in the SCR means the "guilty are being protected" it claims, and only one child protection worker has been disciplined. It calls for social workers, police and other public servants involved in the case to be held to account. "How will these catastrophic mistakes be avoided in future, if those who make them know they can escape censure?"

Other news

• A group of former top civil servants is this week to publish a "withering attack" on ministerial practices past and present, identifiying "notorious examples" of bad government, including the Poll Tax and the Child support agency, reports the Financial Times

• Highly paid public servants face losing performance related bonuses, and may have their salaries cut, reports the Daily Telegraph

• A branch of the Alzheimer's Society has broken away and formed a rival group in protest at the charity's plans to streamline its 240 local groups, according to Third Sector