Cobblers?

[Dave2002]

I listened to Sharon Shoesmith being interviewed by the rottweiler on Today this morning - admittedly in a half-awake state - and still don't know what to make of this whole matter.

Without straying into potentially actionable territory, what do others think?

S-A

I have misgivings about the "tradition" of chief executives resigning, though there may be justification. If there's also a tradition that resignations can be refused, or that further investigations are carried out, that may be OK, but in some cases - perhaps here, it may just be politically expedient. I would also have concerns about people lower down in an organisation being singled out for blame - so in that sense Truman's dictum that "the buck stops here" is reasonable.

In the Harringay case I'd still put the blame on the people who killed the boy, though there seems to have been muddle about how it could have been prevented.

Lastly, if we are to carry on with the "top person must go" strategy after events such as these, then who in their right mind would take on such a job?

[MrGongGong]

Surely if (to use the horrible phrase) if there is a place for the "buck to stop" then people responsible should resign when they have been in charge of things that have gone wrong ?

Lord Carrington gained respect by resigning
the head of the Metropolitan Police lost it by not resigning when Jean Charles De Menezes was murdered on the tube
and
Nick Clegg lost it all when he contradicted what he said he believed in

We could do with a bit more responsibility being taken rather than wriggling (in the Style of Blair et al )

[amateur51]

I have misgivings about the "tradition" of chief executives resigning, though there may be justification. If there's also a tradition that resignations can be refused, or that further investigations are carried out, that may be OK, but in some cases - perhaps here, it may just be politically expedient. I would also have concerns about people lower down in an organisation being singled out for blame - so in that sense Truman's dictum that "the buck stops here" is reasonable.

In the Harringay case I'd still put the blame on the people who killed the boy, though there seems to have been muddle about how it could have been prevented.

Lastly, if we are to carry on with the "top person must go" strategy after events such as these, then who in their right mind would take on such a job?

A very sensible summation, Dave2002