I, like you, I am sure, was appalled to hear about the young girl in Wolverhampton who died recently from suspected starvation.

Starvation?

Starvation, in Britain in the 21st century?

Perhaps the most most upsetting part of this tragedy for me, was the fact that the family's neighbours admitted seeing this little girl scavaging for food from dustbins and bird tables in recent months – yet, it appears, they did nothing.

Of course I understand all the details of this case have yet to emerge, but why did these neighbours not interfere?

Even if they weren't prepared to report the incidents to the authorities, couldn't they have given this poor child some food?

I just don't understand it.

And, this morning on my way to work I heard a moving and deeply unsettling interview with Bertha Climbie – the mother of Victoria Climbie, the little girl who was systematically abused and finally murdered by her great-aunt and her boyfriend.

Bertha Climbie, who lives in the Ivory Coast sent her daughter to live in England to give her a better life. . . instead it was cut violently short by the very people meant to be looking after her.

An investigation into Victoria's death found serious shortcomings by the local authorities who had visited the little girl 12 times but failed to get to the root of the problem before it was too late.

Mrs Climbie was concerned that eight years on, children were still dying because of the same failures at a local level.

I know what she means.

Just after this interview there was another news item about how the Government was planning to change the law to make it illegal for people to have any images of children being sexually abused. (At the moment it is not a criminal offence for people to have computer images or cartoon drawings of child abuse.)

The concern is that although these pictures are not of real people, so no one is actually being hurt, they may lead to something more sinister in the future.

Well, you don't say?

All I can say is I hope this law is changed and quickly because parents are already paranoid that prowling paedophiles are going to snatch their children off the street – even though the reality is they are, tragically, more likely to abused by someone they know than an opportunistic stranger.