The vice of accountability Joe Egerton

This week’s appeal by the former head of Haringey Council’s children’s services against her dismissal has once again raised questions about the accountability of those involved in the tragic case of Baby P. Joe Egerton challenges the demand for accountability in our society – does it legitimise our choices?

But is accountability a virtue at all? Does accountability make our choices right, in the way that justice makes our choices just and courage makes them courageous, and so on? Or might it be a simulacrum of a virtue, a vice masquerading as a virtue, a deceiver, encouraging us into error and sin, obstructing our efforts as individuals to realise our essential natures and poisoning our civic society?

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This is a good article on accountability and justice. For more details of the child abuse case of Baby P, read the Times (UK) account here