Take something complicated, strip it to its essentials, and make a political point. David Cameron says it is shocking that of the 3,600 children under the age of one in care, only 60 were adopted last year.

He says he will name and shame councils which are failing children up for adoption and fostering.

Assuming Mr Cameron has got his figures right – an assumption that has not been safe in the past – it is indeed shocking.

We have built a society which is highly child-centred, and people fall over themselves to speak up for the welfare and protection of children, and yet statistics like these tell a very different story.

Worst performing is Hackney, which placed only 43 per cent of children with adoptive parents within 12 months.

However, before jumping on a fashionable bandwagon of bashing social workers, we should consider the extent to which the whole process has become governed by fear of getting things wrong.

Getting rid of pointless red tape is obviously desirable, but as soon as an adoption or fostering case hits the headlines for all the wrong reasons, the finger-pointing begins.

And then the politicians and the media will be in the forefront of accusing the councils of cutting corners and failing to take sufficient care.

The upshot is even more checks and balances, and a reinforcement of the underlying atmosphere of paranoia.

There is also a need for more people to be prepared to adopt, especially for the over-fives.

Mr Cameron says poorly performing adoption services may be taken over by more effective councils. Will they get commensurate extra funding then?

There is room for a lot of improvement in adoption. But whether Mr Cameron’s threats will be more effective than constructive help is an open question.

Will is vital for survival

Of all the babies born across Britain and the rest of the world today, one of them – and there will be lots of claimants to the honour – was the world’s seven billionth human being.

Scientists predict that by the end of this century the population could hit 10 billion.

The grim reality is that even today people are starving and dying of preventable diseases in some parts of the world, while in the affluent West people are dying of diseases related to obesity and excess.

It is a chasm of life opportunity and experience which will, unless there is some effective concerted action, become yet deeper and more pronounced in the coming years.

Then there is the pressure on the environment and resources. At some stage the oil and gas will run out.

Then what?

The world can probably cope, so long as the have-it-alls are prepared to share more with the have-nothings.

That is the challenge ahead. It is not just a challenge of resources, but of will.