the times | Tuesday May 24 2022 29
Leading articles
on the part of America. One of the reasons that
Vladimir Putin must be made to “pay a dear price”
for the invasion of Ukraine, he said in Japan, was
to steer China away from forcibly uniting with Tai-
wan. Seizing the island, the president said, would
“dislocate the entire region and be another action
similar to what happened in Ukraine”.
Beijing’s understanding is that America is
obliged to urge restraint on any Taiwanese move-
ment towards outright independence but is con-
vinced that the Biden administration (and the
Trump administration before it) is looking for a
path towards independent statehood for the is-
land. China yesterday expressed “strong dissatis-
faction” with Mr Biden’s remarks. “The Taiwan
issue is purely China’s internal affairs and cannot
be interfered with by any external forces,” a Bei-
jing spokesman said. China’s suspicion of the Bid-
en administration is deepened by the feeling that
the use of severe sanctions to isolate Russia is a
kind of dry run for economic war against Beijing.
There is, quite simply, no remaining trust
between the US and Chinese leaderships. Amer-
ican policy towards China remains one of contain-
ment, drawing on the so-called Quad, where it is
joined by the Indo-Pacific powers of Japan, India
and Australia. Beyond the military collaboration,there will be an economic framework pact that
will try to strengthen supply chain resilience.
Japan would like this forum to be as broad as poss-
ible, stretching across southeast Asia. This ambi-
tion is likely to be limited by Mr Biden’s reluctance
to risk American jobs by offering putative Asian
allies increased access to the American market.
Taiwan has not been invited into an economic
containment pact against China but the US is ex-
pected to deepen the economic relationship on
tech issues including semiconductor production.
There are clear overlaps between the Russian
and the Chinese crises. The US is urging Nato’s
European allies to spend more not only on the alli-
ance’s eastern defences but also to bolster the
Ukrainian army. And it is urging its security part-
ners in Asia to find similar, communal ways of de-
terring the military adventurism of both China
and North Korea. Yet it is unlikely that these crises
can be defused before the autumn when the US
holds midterm elections and Xi Jinping is set to
hold a nationalist-tinged party conference. All the
more important then that there should be plain
speaking between great powers. The times of
subtle signalling and strategic ambiguity have run
their course. Today the risk lurks in mis-
calculation, a blundering path into wider war.contact with family harder to sustain. Indeed, one
of the “missions” of the report is that everyone
leaving the care system should have at least two
lifelong loving relationships.
Mr MacAlister is seeking £253 million for new
social workers and £2.6 billion to enable 30,000
more children to live with their families. Much of
this money would be used to overhaul the way that
local authorities deliver care services by establish-
ing multidisciplinary “family help” teams consist-
ing of family support workers, domestic abuse
workers and mental health practitioners based in
schools and other community settings. They
would target about half a million children who re-
quire extra support and the aim would be to re-
duce the number of handovers between services,
which is how many of the worst cases of abuse are
missed. Data rules should also be reformed to
allow improved information sharing.
Where there are concerns about serious harm,
the report recommends that an experienced social
worker should work alongside family help teams.
Mr MacAlister also wants far more support to be
given to extended family members to look afterchildren. As things stand, they receive no financial
assistance unless they register to be foster carers,
which means they have to give up parental re-
sponsibility rights. Supporting kinship carers
could save the taxpayer money in the long run
through better outcomes. The report also urges
the government to launch a campaign to recruit
9,000 new foster carers over three years.
These are sensible recommendations, though
whether the Treasury will be willing to stump up
the money remains to be seen. Nonetheless, the
report has less to say about one of the biggest prob-
lems facing the sector: the soaring cost and inade-
quate care provided by children’s homes for those
who cannot be looked after by their families or fos-
ter parents. Following the decision by most local
authorities to close their own homes, these are
typically privately owned and run by poorly
trained staff. A recent report by the Competition
and Markets Authority concluded that many of
these were making abnormal profits, though Mr
MacAlister’s eye-catching suggestion of a windfall
tax is not the answer. Fixing this will require
tougher regulation, and even more money.tists have found in another species, jackdaws take
decisions by something analogous to voting. A
study led by researchers from the University of
Exeter finds that when jackdaws’ calls across a
colony reach a certain level, the birds leave en
masse. They are in effect reaching a consensus on
whether to leave the roost in search of food and to
escape predators.
A mass departure is almost instantaneous, with
all the birds taking flight within a few seconds of
each other. And if the calls don’t reach a sufficient
volume, then co-ordination doesn’t take place. In-
stead members of the roost will, in a commendablydemocratic way, tend to leave in small groups. The
researchers posit that the mechanism of calling is
an efficient way of spreading information rapidly
across a large group and generating a complex
social outcome.
Birds acting collectively is all very reminiscent,
in fact, of Daphne du Maurier’s 1952 novella The
Birds, which inspired Alfred Hitchcock’s celebrat-
ed film of the same title: “They were rooks, crows,
jackdaws, magpies, jays, all birds that usually
preyed upon the smaller species; but this after-
noon they were bound on some other mission.”
Don’t say we haven’t warned you.War Drums
China would be reckless to write off Biden’s warnings against invading Taiwan. The
proxy war in Ukraine has given the US leader confidence as commander-in-chief
Joe Biden has made it clear to Beijing that the US
would be ready to take military action to defend
Taiwan if China uses force to grab the island. The
US president’s warnings yesterday were read by
Chinese propagandists as sabre-rattling. In fact
they were a laudable attempt to introduce some
strategic clarity into the increasingly tense Far
East. America officially accepts Beijing’s “one
China” policy, which means it stops short of recog-
nising Taiwan as a separate state. The 1979 Taiwan
Relations Act, moreover, does not require Wash-
ington to defend it from attack though it does
allow for the supply of military equipment.
China has been exploiting this apparent ambi-
guity to intrude in Taiwan’s air space; its military
exercises have been plainly geared to a future am-
phibious landing. The island’s cyber defences are
under persistent attack from the mainland. The
abrupt US exit from Afghanistan last summer
could have suggested to Beijing that America had
no appetite for war. And the mounting costs of
American aid to Ukraine in its fight against Russia
may have encouraged Beijing to believe President
Biden would be unable to afford a two-front war.
Now Mr Biden is using his first presidential tour
of East Asia to persuade Beijing to ease its pressure
on Taiwan and not to assume weakness of resolveUnhappy Families
Fixing the crisis in children’s social care will require significant investment
The publication yesterday of the Independent Re-
view of Children’s Social Care is a “once-in-a-gen-
eration opportunity” to reset a failing system,
according to Josh MacAlister, the report’s author.
A reset is certainly needed. The number of looked-
after children has risen by 24 per cent over the past
decade to 80,000 and is likely to rise to 100,000
over the next decade at a cost to the state of
£15 billion a year, up from £10 billion today. Too
many of these children experience poor outcomes
which heap further costs on society, which the re-
view estimates to be £23 billion a year. An estimat-
ed 26 per cent of the homeless population has
been in care and 24 per cent of the prison popula-
tion, while 41 per cent of 19 to 21-year-olds who
have been in care are not in education, employ-
ment or training; just 6 per cent go to university.
This wide-ranging report, which includes more
than 80 recommendations, rightly puts families
and communities at the heart of its vision for im-
proving the system. Too many children are sent far
from where they live, to homes that cannot pro-
vide them with what they need, and breaking rela-
tionships with friends and teachers and makingBird Brain
Jackdaws turn out to be highly efficient in taking collective decisions
In John Wyndham’s science-fiction novel We b,
posthumously published in 1979, a tropical island
is overrun by millions of mutant spiders that have
learnt to hunt in packs and destroy all other forms
of animal life, including humans. The evolution of
species to co-operate has many counterparts in
real life that are of a fortunately less harrowing
kind. Ants co-operate and communicate by using
chemical signals that alert others to sources of
food. Bees convey in great detail, through the
medium of dance, where nectar may be found.
Then there’s birdlife. If bees’ messaging is as
close to the human faculty of language as scien-UK: The Elizabeth Line, the new east-west
cross-London rail link, officially opens.
World: Amnesty International publishes its
annual report on the death penalty.
Greater butterfly
orchids start
flowering this
month in what is
left of our ancient
woods and
traditional hay
meadows, particularly on chalky soils.
Growing from a pair of smooth basal leaves,
the tall flower spikes can reach 60cm (24in)
and bear up to 40 small, greenish-white,
long-tongued blooms with a vast spur
behind each one. They emit a vanilla-like
fragrance at night designed to attract moths,
particularly the migrant silver Y moth and
the extraordinary-looking small elephant
hawk moth. Like most of the 50-odd orchid
species in the UK, greater butterfly orchids
have declined sharply since the middle of
the last century, and they are now classified
as near threatened. melissa harrison
In 1941 HMS Hood sank in the Denmark
Strait after being hit by shells fired from the
German battleship Bismarck and the heavy
cruiser Prinz Eugen, with 1,415 lives lost.
There were three survivors.
Bob Dylan, pictured,
singer-songwriter, Nobel
prize for literature
(2016), 81; Ali Bacher,
former South African
Test cricket captain, 80;
Stanley Baxter,
comedian, 96; Jim
Broadbent, actor, Iris (2001), 73; Gary
Burghoff, actor, M.A.S.H. (1970 film; 1972-79
TV series), 79; Michael Chabon, novelist,
Moonglow (2017), 59; Tansu Ciller,
economist, first female prime minister of
Turkey (1993-96), 76; Sir Roger Deakins,
cinematographer, won Oscars for Blade
Runner 2049 (2017) and 1917 (2019), 73; Daisy
Edgar-Jones, actress, Normal People (2020),
24; Orla Kiely, fashion designer, 59; Patti
LaBelle, singer, Lady Marmalade (1975), 78;
Paul McCreesh, founder (1982) and artistic
director, Gabrieli (Consort & Players), 62;
Alfred Molina, actor, Chocolat (2000), 69;
Adrian Moorhouse, swimmer, Olympic gold
medallist (1988), 58; Steven Norris, Tory MP
(1983-87, 1988-97), party vice-chairman
(2000-01), 77; Dermot O’Leary, radio and
TV presenter, 49; Sir Richard Ottaway, Tory
MP (1983-2015), 77; Dave Peacock, singer,
Chas ’n’ Dave, 77; Prof Nick Pearce, director,
Institute for Policy Research, University of
Bath, head, prime minister’s policy unit
(2008-10), 54; Annamarie Phelps,
chairwoman, British Horseracing Authority,
56; Tom Phillips, artist, A Humument: A
treated Victorian novel (1970), 85; Priscilla
Presley, actress, Dallas (1983-98), 77; Jacob
Rees-Mogg, Tory MP for North East
Somerset, minister for Brexit opportunities
and government efficiency, 53; John C
Reilly, actor, Stan & Ollie (2018), 57; Luke
Rittner, chief executive, Royal Academy of
Dance (1999-April 2022), 75; Archie Shepp,
jazz musician, 85; Dame Kristin Scott
Thomas, actress, The English Patient (1996),
62; Prof Jeremy Treglown, editor, The Times
Literary Supplement (1982-90), 76; Richard
Wilson, sculptor, 20:50 (1987), 69.
“If all printers were determined not to print
anything till they were sure it would offend
nobody, there would be very little printed.”
Benjamin Franklin, “Apology for Printers”
letter (1730)
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