For my weekly writing spot on this site, see the One-Minute Mystic, with a new meditation posted every Monday. Also see The Village, the story of Misty Longings, England's most beautiful village, posted episode by episode earlier this year.       It is good to remember a child at Christmas. But which one? And what do we do with Herod? Recent painful news stories have again put children in the news spotlight. The treatment of Baby P and Shannon Matthews has unloosed outrage, inquest and self-righteousness. The callous, unemotional response of the perpetrators doesn't help, of course. We wish to see writhing, anguish, repentance and shame – not cold stares, from dead eyes. And neither are we helped by the strong arm of the law, taking them into custody – heads covered, driven away and safely housed beyond our angry reach. What are we to do? The lynch mob in the human psyche does like an actual kill. Meanwhile, a female social worker in the north of England is spat on in the supermarket. It was during the height of media interest in the Baby P story, and clearly the woman had no involvement in the case. She lived 300 miles from the child and visited London only once a year to see a West End show. But when you can't get to Herod, you have to find a substitute. And there she was – a social worker; and very reachable, as she unloaded her items at the till. We are not surprised. After the abuse of the child, comes the abuse of the social worker – it is as seasonal as Santa, but a good deal less fun. Social workers need protecting from witch hunts. The nature of the job means the only press is bad press – and this can destroy the spirit. Their heroics must remain confidential, just as their failures must be two inch headlines. But do they also need protecting from themselves? Two significant, if perhaps obvious, thresholds have been noted in London boroughs. The first is this: boroughs which experience the most child protection referrals – those involving sexual, physical or emotional abuse or neglect – employ a higher 'danger threshold' than other boroughs. So a child who might receive instant protection in one borough, will not necessarily receive it in another; we do in some measure have "post code child protection" these days. The second significant threshold is more hidden, but equally telling: social workers too long in child protection become immune. As one borough in London has realised, what a social worker might regard as unacceptable in their early days in the job, they may feel less strongly about two years down the line. We are all brutalised by our circumstances – but there can be few who face such challenge as those in child protection. There really isn't a happy day at work; and only the most remarkable of people could stay fresh and open to such daily awfulness. This Christmas, which ever child holds our gaze, we will feel their vulnerability – tiny in a terrifying world. Perhaps strange recognition even – so fragile once ourselves; though hardened now. We won't blame any Herod, for what is evil but ignorance unleashed? But we won't collude with him either; for only truth will set our child free. More writings © Simon Parke