In a series of reports this week The Times has questioned the appropriateness of a London borough’s decision to place a young Christian girl with conservative Muslim foster carers. Documents seen by this newspaper raised serious doubts as to whether Tower Hamlets officials were putting the child’s interests and happiness first. Social services staff recorded the girl’s distress when she was returned to her carers after supervised visits to her mother.

Given the religious and cultural sensitivity of the story there was always the likelihood that those less concerned with children’s welfare than with superficial social harmony would cry foul. Sure enough, The Guardian newspaper has seized on a court order issued after our initial reports to claim that it contradicts the facts on which