Sacked head of children's services in Harringey Sharon Shoesmith, head of the department which failed to prevent the death of 'Baby P', has come out fighting today in interviews, saying the Government, in particular children's secretary Ed Balls, was "reckless" in its treatment of her and her department and social workers generally. And Sharon has a point. Shoesmith was sacked without compensation by Balls in a kangaroo court routine which won't stand up in a real court if Shoesmith finds the money to challenge it. Balls was more concerned with finding a victim to deflect attention from the dire state of social services than he ever was with the tragic case of Baby P. And he was also distressingly keen to kowtow to the Sun newspaper which was launching one of its regular witch hunts against errant public servants. At one press conference Balls allowed a reporter from the Sun to decide the agenda. Compounding the felony, he also allowed discredited supervisor Ofsted, supposed to be the body that assesses schools, and which has no expertise in social services, to pillory Harringey when in fact it was just protecting its own back. Ofsted has since admitted that loads of public authorities are running regimes in which parents abuse children, if only because they don't know how to stop them. At the time it agreed with Ed that Harringey was worse, which is nonsense. The feisty and vain Shoesmith is her own worst enemy in many respects but she's thought to have done a good job in Harringey by social workers and head teachers. Balls, on the other hand, has engaged in the lowest form of political life, abusing civil rights procedures for his own political advantage It's Balls who should be called to account.