Haringey Council's decision to clear itself of any wrongdoing in the appalling case of Baby P, the child who died from unspeakable injuries after as many as 60 visits from health and social workers, points to profound problems within that local authority. It is simply unacceptable that its own director of children's services should have undertaken the review into such a desperate failure, and then declared that no one would be sacked. The Children's Secretary Ed Balls is right to be sending inspectors into the council. He must be prepared to call for heads - not just deputy heads - to roll.

Eight years ago, Victoria Climbié was murdered in her home within walking distance of the street where Baby P lived, in similarly dreadful circumstances. This suggests that the reforms put in place after her death have failed, at least in Haringey. Lord Laming will report soon on the extent to which the reforms he achieved after Victoria's death have been found wanting. But the number of under-10s killed has risen since then. There seems to be too little leadership of front-line staff who have to make difficult decisions.

A few people acquitted themselves well in this case. The toddler's GP referred Baby P early on to paediatric specialists who said that his injuries were not accidental. He spent a month being looked after by a family friend as a result. Yet, that his bruises disappeared in that time, and reappeared after he was returned home, did not change the collective view of social workers that the issue was one of neglect, not actual physical harm. They seem to have come to that view early on, and stuck to it in spite of mounting evidence to the contrary. This is all too common in child protection cases.

But this is not just a story about Haringey, or the child protection system. It is a story about Britain today. Sharon Shoesmith, director of Haringey's children and young people's service, had a point when she said how hard it is to stop people bent on killing. Baby P was not killed by low-paid social workers, but at the hands of adults who were unimaginably depraved. These adults were part of Britain's dependency community.

This newspaper has never shared David Cameron's view that Britain is a “broken society”. But we do believe that this country has broken communities. The story of Baby P provides a glimpse into the colossal failure of community, in which dependency on the State is a way of life.

The child's mother is a woman who appears never to have had a job and who reputedly thought it acceptable to watch pornographic material on TV while an infant needed her attention. She shared her filthy council house with two men, neither of whom was the father of the child. One was a sadist of horrifying barbarity who collected Nazi memorabilia. The other imported his 15-year-old girlfriend into the house. Where were the parents of that girl? Who was looking out for her? What sort of communities have taken root in what was supposed to be a civilised society?

The story of Baby P is one that will haunt Britain for years to come. But for some, its message is already all too clear: that this has become a country where the State's largesse can be a lifelong livelihood; where parents can have as many children with as many partners as they please without feeling obliged to care for any of them; and where the maximum penalty for a campaign of torture and sadism against a defenceless child is 14 years in prison. This message is pernicious and deadly. It mocks every claim this country has to social progress. Government and the civilised majority must now work unceasingly to prove it wrong.