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Reply | Oldham grooming gangs: Government blocks national inquiry
at 16:01 8 Jan 2025
I suppose the argument is that a new inquiry would:
Investigate one area ("grooming gangs") in detail rather than spread attention across the 15 investigations covered by the 2022 inquiry.
Draw the findings of the various local inquiries (in I think 5 towns) together, consider the much larger number of towns alleged to have been affected, and offer a national perspective on the problem.
Allow investigation of certain sensitive issues concerning "community relations" that were kept at the margins in the 2022 inquiry.
Look in more detail at the parts played by high-level police officers, social workers. schools, residential homes, the CPS, civil servants and politicians, including forcing them to provide evidence.
Consider whether the perpetrators have received appropriate sanctions.
I'm still undecided myself whether a focused public inquiry or an entirely new, more action- oriented intervention is needed. Listening to Starmer in Parliament today, I got the sense of a government that wants to draw a line under this through limited reforms, like mandatory reporting, which are all well and good but leave an awful lot of loose ends as well as culpable people unpunished. |
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Reply | 6000
at 11:08 8 Jan 2025
I felt pleased for Newcastle last night, but I can't say my experience in that city has been quite so positive. Years ago when I worked in Dundee, I travelled down to see the 1981 FA Cup 5th round tie against Exeter City, a team I followed for a while when I lived in Devon. The City fans were squeezed into a small corner near the Gallowgate end. Right from the start they were showered with coins (just copper I'm afraid) - one hitting me on the head. The Geordies eased off a bit when Alan Shoulder put them ahead in the 2nd half, but went ballistic when Exeter equalised in the 87th minute. The City fans had to be kept in the ground for 20 minutes or so and were then marched under police escort to a suburban station where the special train was waiting, all the time being followed by a Geordie mob shouting about how they were going to walk the replay. I was told to stay in line by Old Bill when I tried to leave to go to the mainline station for return to Scotland, but managed to slink away once the crowd thinned. I'm afraid that experience has rather diminished my love for Newcastle fans. I couldn't go to the replay, but was delighted when Exeter won 4-0. [Post edited 8 Jan 11:12]
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Reply | All this Budget Speculation
at 07:30 8 Jan 2025
The yield on UK 30-year gilts went up by four basis points yesterday to 5.22%, exceeding the spike after the Liz Truss fiasco. It is a bit of a mystery why there isn't more of a furore about this, as we are now moving into very dangerous territory. This is because the extra cost of servicing the national debt is now swallowing up the extra money that Rachel Reeves planned to borrow to fund her growth plans. If the extra cost of new borrowing is added to the extra cost of servicing the debt, then Reeves will break her new fiscal rules. The difficult choice she is now facing is between (a) doing that, which would be likely to spook the international markets, (b) raising taxes, or (c) cutting public spending. The big risk is stagflation. If people argue that Truss crashed the economy, I wonder what they think about this?
Edit
Getting worse. Gilt yields up to 5.38% today and pound at lowest rate against US$ for 9 months. [Post edited 8 Jan 15:22]
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Reply | Oldham grooming gangs: Government blocks national inquiry
at 20:00 7 Jan 2025
Re the 3%, I did mention that Simon Bailey quoted that figure, but I am unsure how accurate it is. Given the allegations of widespread dismissal of complaints and failure to proceed with prosecutions, I'd be surprised if it did not underestimate the scale of the problem, especially if we focus on that proportion of sexual abuse that involves adult males and girls. |
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Reply | Oldham grooming gangs: Government blocks national inquiry
at 18:29 7 Jan 2025
Before I became completely disillusioned with the policy direction of the Labour Party, I was attracted to the ideas of so-called Blue Labour. This is the campaign group associated with Maurice Glasman, which I felt might help halt the drift towards becoming a party of woke middle-class voters. The group has been treated disgracefully by the party "progressives", although its ideas do still sometimes get mentioned in areas such as what to do about the red wall seats. Blue Labour have now come out with an interesting statement on sexual exploitation of girls by gangs (can't find the original document).
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/labour-group-breaks-with-party-to-back-groo |
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Reply | Oldham grooming gangs: Government blocks national inquiry
at 16:56 7 Jan 2025
Just heard Simon Bailey, the former National Police Chiefs' Council lead on child protection., setting out on Radio 5 what I would gloss as the establishment line. The main points he made were::
There is no point in a new inquiry, which will just replicate the findings we already have.
The victims would prefer to see the existing recommendations implemented to a new inquiry.
Over 50% of child sexual abuse is child on child abuse.
Asian grooming gangs account for only about 3% of child sexual abuse.
The grooming gangs that do exist are drawn from all ethnicities.
Reforms that he and others have brought in have removed the problem of police officers not acting because they fear being labeled racist.
It is unhelpful to focus on the issue of whether immigration of persons from certain cultures increases the risk of child abuse; rather it is better for government to focus on getting overall incidence of child abuse down.
I can't say I am entirely convinced. I think there is something in the argument that the terms of reference of the previous inquiry were framed in such a way as to protect some institutional interests and stop short of addressing the most sensitive questions. Where I am undecided is whether it is better to move to a new public inquiry, or to establish a new mechanism for investigation of the actions of key figures and dishing out sanctions where deserved. [Post edited 7 Jan 17:00]
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Reply | Labour's New Tick Tock Video
at 10:29 7 Jan 2025
Labour activists don't seem great when it comes to their choice of songs. Playing "Things can only get better" as Sunak gave his resignation speech comes to mind. |
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Reply | Oldham grooming gangs: Government blocks national inquiry
at 10:21 7 Jan 2025
Sorry. but it is all too convenient to seek to discredit a position by pointing to an extreme minority among the many who support that position. For me this just doesn't wash. Of course, there are politics involved, and it would be fair to say that none of the main political parties got to grips with this issue. |
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Reply | The revival of New Labour and clear red water
at 17:25 6 Jan 2025
Others two used that phrase down through the years to mean private, though it can also take in third sector providers like Macmillan and Marie Curie. A change in terminology that caught my eye is that what were independent centre treatment centres (ISTCs) in the old speak, now seem to be "surgical hubs". In the past there were a limited number of NHS treatment centres based on the ISTC model, and it looks as though many of the new hubs will be also be NHS units that concentrate on a narrow range of routine surgical procedures. |
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Reply | The revival of New Labour and clear red water
at 05:22 6 Jan 2025
The figures are right there in the link I posted above. 7.300 English patients were admitted for FCEs in 2023/24, while there were 60,700 FCE admissions of Welsh residents to English NHS hospitals. It is possible that one admission generates more than one FCE, so Trampie may be right about actual number of admissions being a bit lower. Nearly 75% of English patients were emergency admissions, and this is probably associated with tourism. The Welsh patient pattern was different with 60% being elective admissions. |
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