Grooming Goes Mainstream

There's a meme (hate that word) about ideas whose time has come - something like the five stages of grief but different - to the effect that first they ignore it, then deny it, then say it's wicked, and a stage or two more before it moves to general acceptance. Anybody know how it goes?

The issue of 'grooming' of under age girls by predominantly Asian gangs, covered on this blog here, here and here, seems to have gone mainstream, following the publication of a UCL report which, while widely publicised, seems impossible to actually find on the Web.

Now it's even the top story on Woman Sour. Far away are the days, seven years ago, when a Channel Four documentary on the subject was pulled, after pressure from West Yorkshire Police, because it might increase support for the BNP (aka 'increase community tensions'). What was once ignored by polite society, and only spoken of by racist knuckledraggers, is now almost prime-time, earnestly discussed by the great and the good. And now, when arrests are made, even the BBC no longer looks the other way.

But there was a price to pay for all those liberal blind eyes over so many years. It was paid by working-class Yorkshire and Lancashire girls like Emma, interviewed here. The Labour MP Ann Cryer, who's been a long-time campaigner on this issue, getting stick "from leading figures within her own party, not least from the former Labour leadership contender Diane Abbott", said 'Emma's description of her situation is pretty well identical to the situation of girls in Keighley whose mothers came to see me out of desperation, because they just couldn't get any action from West Yorkshire Police or Bradford Social Services'. The same West Yorkshire Police that was suppressing the evidence for political reasons, under its Chief Constable the late Colin Cramphorn, 'a man of liberal sympathies and a Guardian reader for many years'.

Just as 52 people had to die in London before the Labour Party started putting the lives of UK citizens ahead of not being like Norman Tebbit, girls have been raped and abused over a decade* while police, media and social services looked the other way.

On-street Grooming

Recent news reports have highlighted the prosecution of a gangs (sic) of predominantly Pakistani men for the grooming and sexual exploitation of young girls. What's the best way to tackle this appauling (sic) crime without stereotyping and dividing communitites (sic)? We hear again from a young woman groomed by Pakistani teenagers from the age of 12 and then repeatedly raped. Ann Cryer, the former MP for Keighley, who's been speaking out on this issue for many years, and Yusuf Tai from Forward Thinking a group working with varied Muslim communities discuss possible ways to prevent crimes like this happening again.

* maybe a lot longer, if former Detective Superintendent Mick Gradwell is right :

When I came to Blackburn in the 1970s, one of my main issues was the gangs of Asian men outside the old nightclub on top of the shopping centre who were picking up drunk white girls, specifically to abuse them. These were cars full of Asian lads in BMWs and Mercedes, offering lifts home to these young women, leading to incidents of rape and sexual assaults. From the first time I was posted to East Lancashire it has been a problem.

What Jack Straw has said so carefully is true: There is a problem with some members of the Pakistani community targeting young women in this way. In recent years we have seen it specifically with victims aged just 14, 15 or 16-years-old who are out on the streets at night and groomed by predatory gangs. For people to just come out and call Mr Straw racist is wrong.

During the past decade there has been Operation Engage in Blackburn and Operation Awaken in Blackpool as the police has been able to feel more open about the situation. In the past there have been major fears of being seen as racist, especially after the Stephen Lawrence inquiry at the Met police said the force was institutionally racist.

Cognitive Dissonance Alert - Jonathan Freedland

Freedland :

"The fear was that – for all his oratorical brilliance – Obama somehow lacked empathy, that he was a slightly chilly, aloof figure, that he struggled to connect emotionally.

We'll hear much less of that talk now.

For the address he gave at last night's memorial service for the victims of the Arizona shootings was elegiac, heartfelt and deeply moving."

Alas, it didn't actually move Mr Freedland, or connect with him emotionally - in the sense of altering his behaviour.

Here's that fine Obama speech :

"But at a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized – at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do – it’s important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds...

For the truth is that none of us can know exactly what triggered this vicious attack. None of us can know with any certainty what might have stopped those shots from being fired, or what thoughts lurked in the inner recesses of a violent man’s mind. So yes, we must examine all the facts behind this tragedy. We cannot and will not be passive in the face of such violence. We should be willing to challenge old assumptions in order to lessen the prospects of violence in the future.

But what we can’t do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on one another. As we discuss these issues, let each of us do so with a good dose of humility. Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together."

And here's how much it moved Freedland :

"This was meant to be the Republicans' week, as they took control of the House of Representatives and its legislative agenda. Instead they look small – as well as defensive, fending off accusations that it was the violent rhetoric of the right that fuelled the current toxic political environment. None smaller than the de facto leader of today's Republican party, Sarah Palin, who preceded the Tucson address with an aggressive, self-regarding and petty-minded videotaped message that claimed she had been the victim of a "blood-libel"."

Maybe he was just too busy praising the speech to actually listen to it.

At Last ...

David Brooks in the NYT (emboldening mine) :

These accusations — that political actors contributed to the murder of 6 people, including a 9-year-old girl — are extremely grave. They were made despite the fact that there was, and is, no evidence that Loughner was part of these movements or a consumer of their literature. They were made despite the fact that the link between political rhetoric and actual violence is extremely murky. They were vicious charges made by people who claimed to be criticizing viciousness.

Yet such is the state of things. We have a news media that is psychologically ill informed but politically inflamed, so it naturally leans toward political explanations. We have a news media with a strong distaste for Sarah Palin and the Tea Party movement, and this seemed like a golden opportunity to tarnish them. We have a segmented news media, so there is nobody in most newsrooms to stand apart from the prevailing assumptions. We have a news media market in which the rewards go to anybody who can stroke the audience’s pleasure buttons.

I have no love for Sarah Palin, and I like to think I’m committed to civil discourse. But the political opportunism occasioned by this tragedy has ranged from the completely irrelevant to the shamelessly irresponsible.

I've been saddened by the last few days, not so much by the dishonest media coverage - after all, 'Palin did it' is a more compelling narrative than 'he was a loony' - although it's still notable how all the outlets who just couldn't work out what could possibly make Major Hasan Malik shoot lots of people knew straight away that Sarah P. made Jared Loughner shoot lots of people. No, what's really bad is the nutty stuff in the comments at CiF and on left blogs. Jared Loughner's not the only reality-challenged loony out there, that's for sure.

"Free speech has no place in our society where the BNP are concerned..."

"... and this shows with the backing we receive from the prime Minister, David Cameron and other influential politicians who realise democracy is to fragile to be left in the hands and words of the nazi BNP.

Well done to the Police, shame you had no cause to lock him up."

This post by Dr Jason Sturgess at Saddleworth News refers to the hustings for the forthcoming Oldham West by-election, held in the fine old village of Delph, which I tootled through on my L-plated bike many a time in my youth, on that long ride from Worcestershire to Yorkshire (via EU Referendum). I think I'll let you be the judge on this one. More reports here and here :




BNP candidate is removed from 'open' hustings in Delph.

Dear Readers,
I was in email contact with Cllr Hulme who organised the event and he refused to invite 5 of the candidates included myself. I informed him that the meeting broke Electoral commission rules on hustings, the Millgate Arts Centre building recieves public funding and the meeting was advertised as an open event. The people of Delph should have been allowed to ask any questions to any of the candidates, in controlling the meeting like they did and only allowing on candidates whose parties are already discredited with scandals, deceit and lies was an insult to the people of Saddleworth and anti-democratic. Cllr Hulmes reasons were unjustified and when he lost the argument his emails reverted to All capitals and in bold ie, shouting in text language.
Stephen Morris English Democrats

Delph website disagrees :

After comments about the conduct of the Hustings Meeting held on sunday 9th January, the following statement has been issued by the Delph DCA & Traffic Group :

"Setting the record straight.

No hustings or candidates question time in this constituency has EVER had all the candidates on the platform and there is no legal requirement to do so. On Thursday night the Oldham Chronicle organised a question time with just three candidates on the platform.

It is simply not practicable to hold a question time with more than 5 speakers and with 10 candidates a choice has to be made. On Sunday the three main candidates were joined by the Green candidate Peter Allen whose party has a councillor on Oldham Council and Paul Nuttall the UKIP candidate who is also an elected member of the European Parliament for the North West.

The BNP candidate asked for and was given tickets to be part of the audience at the event. Unfortunately the candidate and his supporters organised a 'sit in' protest which disrupted the start of the meeting, their behaviour threatening a breach of the peace. Having repeatedly refused polite requests from the organisers to end their 'sit in' protest on the platform and return to their seats in the audience , the organisers had no alternative but to ask the police to escort the BNP candidate and his entourage from the building.

The organisers would like to thank the police for the calm and professional way they dealt with a difficult situation.

Delph proceeded to have a cracking election meeting which was lively, entertaining and informative.

We have to wonder why the BNP picked on a small village community group when as far as we know the Oldham Chronicle received no complaints from them about the candidates meeting they organised in Denshaw last Thursday night.'

Delph Community Association and Delph Traffic Group are non-political community organisations. No Councillor from any political party was involved in the organisation of this event"

I doubt that statement about never having all the candidates together is true. For years Oldham was a two-member constituency with usually only four candidates, and in the 50s Oldham West only had two candidates. Did they never sit in the same room ?

Candidates are :

* Debbie Abrahams (Labour)
* Derek Adams (British National Party)
* Kashif Ali (Conservative)
* Peter Allen (Green Party)
* David Bishop (Bus-Pass Elvis Party)
* The Flying Brick (Monster Raving Loony Party)
* Loz Kaye (Pirate Party of the United Kingdom)
* Stephen Morris (English Democrats)
* Paul Nuttall MEP (UK Independence Party)
* Elwyn Watkins (Liberal Democrats)

At the last election :

General Election 2010: Oldham East and Saddleworth[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Phil Woolas	14,186	31.9	−10.7
	Liberal Democrat	Elwyn Watkins	14,083	31.6	−0.5
	Conservative	Kashif Ali	11,773	26.4	+8.7
	BNP	Alwyn Stott	2,546	5.7	+0.8
	UKIP	David Bentley	1,720	3.9	+1.8
	Christian	Gulzar Nazir	212	0.5	N/A
Majority			103	0.2	−10.2
Turnout			44,520	61.2	+4.4

"A Mother Is The Truest Friend We Have ..."

(in which the writer lauds dishonesty, perjury and assisting an offender)

" ...when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts."

Thus Washington Irving. He'd have been impressed with Jacqueline Binley.
















Photo - the magnificently named Heathcliff O'Malley.

"The son of Conservative MP Brian Binley has been jailed and his wife has narrowly avoided imprisonment after they concocted a string of lies to cover up a drink driving offence. Former police officer Matthew Binley, 27, was arrested after he crashed his Alfa Romeo in Northampton, Northants, whilst twice the drink-drive limit. He had attempted to evade capture by fleeing the vehicle but was taken into custody after officers spotted him hiding in a nearby bush. His mother Jacqueline Binley, 50, tried to take the blame, claiming she had been the one driving his car.
Despite not being at the scene of the accident she told officers she had caught a taxi home minutes before police arrived and arrested her son. The pair admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice while Mr Binley pleaded guilty to a further charge of drink driving."

Now young (? 27 !) Mr Binley sounds like he's been just about all the kinds of fool a young fool can be.

"Matthew was dropped off at his Northampton flat at 11.30pm on May 22 last year after attending a friend's wedding and carried on the party at city centre nightclubs. However, for an unknown reason he decided to go for a late night drive in his Alfa Romeo, which he then crashed into a kerb before calling the RAC at 1.30am. The recovery driver noticed he 'appeared drunk' and immediately called police who found Mr Binley hiding in a nearby bush and arrested him on suspicion of drink driving. "

Now you or I might not decide on a quick spin round the block while soused - but we've all done things that with hindsight were inadvisable. Having pranged the car with no other vehicle or person involved, you'd think he'd give thanks for that fact, park the car as tidily as can, then put as much distance between himself and it as possible before calling the garage the following day. What possessed him to call the RAC ? (in the old days the RAC man would have called a taxi, not the police).

Having done the above, involving your blameless mother in an attempted cover-up is surely adding not just a cherry on the confection of foolishness, but a whole fruitbowl - with whipped cream and hundreds and thousands to boot, not to mention strawberry and chocolate sauce. But when a job (he was a police officer) is at stake, people will do a lot.

And she stepped up to the plate, despite considerable reservations. Fair play to her and to her fierce maternal instinct. The fact that it was a mad thing to do, with little chance of success, makes it all the more commendable.

'Wish Matthew would just bite the bullet and take the rap. I'm beginning to resent him asking me but I daren't tell him to his face.''

While she and her husband, MP Brian Binley, are entitled to think their son's been very silly, I hope Mr Binley is very proud of his wife (even if he can't say so publicly), and that his son's had the grace to apologise, to thank her, and to swear never to be such an idiot again.





(It's rarely that I bitterly regret not being a wealthy man. In such case, I would offer the Binleys a fortnight anywhere in the world, with all the spas, pampering and dining a woman could want*, and an expensive trip to the jewellers at the end. I know there are far more worthy people in the world, but something about this story just touches me, as it might touch any father with sons and a redhead wife)



* my experience in this area being limited, I'm making it up as I go along.


UPDATE - Susan looked at the story over my shoulder. "She's as daft as he is. I wouldn't lie for him if it were my son". Women are so unromantic.

We've Trashed Our Education - Now We'll Trash Yours

VSO - Primary Teacher Roles

We’re looking for primary teachers to work alongside teachers in the classroom and go overseas in roles as soon as possible in countries such as Thailand, Nepal, China and Ghana, Rwanda and Ethiopia. You’ll work with serving teachers in a cluster of primary schools, introducing them to more participatory, child centred methodology.

Lo, Nice White Lady descends from her flying machine to change the seating from those stuffy old rows into small groups of desks - after all, the children learn more from each other than from any teacher, don't they?

I can see the strategic goal driving this attempt to dumb down the remarkably successful Chinese education system, although I can't see the famously test-and-rote-heavy Chinese falling for it - they'll probably send them all to Tibet. But what have the poor Ghanaians, Rwandans and Nepalese done to deserve this?