The media have been having a field day that's lasted years re. abuse by Catholic clergy. It's become a cliché - newspapers have ALWAYS latched on to naughty priests and vicars and jokes around it by comedians have been a staple for a long time. Similarly, the Beeb has a long standing reputation for harbouring iffy 'celebs'. It's been tacitly acknowledged for donkey's years and it was only Gary Glitter and, most egregiously Jimmy Savile, who were the catalyst for this kind of thing to finally be acknowledged, let alone taken seriously.

I'm not saying a fear of being branded racist has never come into a potential child abuse investigation,including some you've mentioned. But it needs to be seen in terms of the overall picture ,not just what the popular press might highlight.

You cite Oxford as an example,presumably because most (but not all) of the gang of abusers were of pakistani origin.

The independent review into what went on there concluded:

"The report follows the jailing in 2013 of seven members of a predominantly pakistani gang in Oxford which groomed girls as young as 12 over a period of eight years. Five of them were given life sentences.

At least 300 victims of child sexual exploitation are known in Oxfordshire At least 300 victims of child sexual exploitation are known in Oxfordshire In his report the independent reviewer, Alan Bedford, said that scores of professionals had failed to pick up on the child sexual exploitation and appeared to blame victims, seeing them as adults rather than as vulnerable children with a long chaotic history.

He said what had happened to the six girls who were the focus of his report was “indescribably awful” but said there had been no evidence of wilful professional neglect or misconduct by organisations.

He also said there was no evidence of professionals failing to act because of racial sensitivities – the charge levelled against the authorities in Rotherham in a more critical report last year.

However he said that there had been a “worrying lack of curiosity to follow through” and much work should have been “considerably different and better”.

I think the main reason for child abuse going undetected has been a lack of resources devoted to tacking it in the past and an unwillingness by some in positions of authority to take it seriously when its easier to brush it under the carpet.

The Department for Education last year recorded 48,000 kids needing protection from abuse last year.Its a nationwide issue and abusers come in all shapes sizes.races and ethnicities.

The NSPCC reckons 1 in 20 children have been abused.That's an average on some on almost every street.Thee NSPCC reckon over 90% of kids abused knew the abuser.

Edited by legaleagle (20 Aug 2015 8.11pm)

And there was me thinking electoral fraud only happened in things like US presidential elections.

I think you may find electoral malpractice etc is unfortunately as old as the hills in "rotten boroughs".Any one remember the good old Anglo Saxon Poulson etc scandals in the 70's in the NE? As long ago as 1768,there was the anglo-saxon"Spendthrift election" case in Northamptonshire where three Earls each spent more than £100,000 to win a seat.Homes-for-votes scandals have a long history.

Lutfur's Rahman's campaigns were,rightly in my view,subject to investigation.I have zero time for the man.

I met recently with the editor of a local Bengali language newspaper in the area.A person with his ear to the ground,if anyone has.It was clear that there were deep divisions within that community about what had happened.So, to impugn,"oh yes,that's immigrants (Bengalis) for you and look what they have done to our uncorrupted Anglo Saxon political culture" (MP's expenses scandal anyone?) is not as clear cut an assertion as you might want to make it seem.

I well remember being asked by an Anglo Saxon (and refusing) to vote in the name of a dead person at an election in the past...

The relevance of the USA being,that the electoral corruption prevalent there through history has often been at the top in the hands of,yes,good old anglo saxons.So,not all Anglo Saxons are,as you say,perfect compared to the "inherently more nefarious" non Anglo Saxon Johnny Foreigner.

Edited by legaleagle (20 Aug 2015 9.30pm)

No,only people who give the appearance of despising anyone and everyone who is of a different race,religion or ethnicity to them.

Edited by legaleagle (20 Aug 2015 9.39pm)

Not even remotely what I was saying at all.Try re-reading in the context of your prior post where you were the one who made a distinction between anglo saxons and johnny foreigner.Just responding to your point by trying to make a reasoned point back.If I failed;apologies for not being clear enough.If you disagree,well we are all entitled to our opinions and I fear we could "debate" all evening without convincing the other.

Edited by legaleagle (20 Aug 2015 9.54pm)