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Rotherham child rape gangs: At least 1400 victims

These bits struck me particularly :
both very true, ime. This has come up in discussions in relation to previous exploitation cases. sadly it, and the reasons why predominantly asian men are pushed into the night-time economy, usually get ignored
 
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the obvious ones. poverty and racism most notably

It's not just an asian, or a recent thing either. Sadly quite a few taxi drivers have seen vulnerable young women as a 'perk' of the job
 
A culture of small business ownership with pooled capital offering employment to family members and people from the wider network new in the area looking for short term work? The economy isn't de-linked from culture.
Alongside a criminal culture which sees the advantages of taxi-firms as a cash-business which can also act a useful cover for a range of supplementary activities : dealing, procuring, 'couriering' of all kinds, etc. There is more than one business model and more than one 'culture' involved.

And all set against the broader economic background of why there is demand for taxi services in areas where alternative transport options have been run down.
The poorest make more than three times as many trips a year by bus as the richest, it says. But while car ownership is nearly universal among wealthier people, only 30% of households in the poorest income decile own a vehicle. Poorer groups therefore rely on bus services or have to take taxis. The report shows that the poorest fifth of households take more taxi journeys per year than any other income group.
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/aug/26/bus-deregulation-outside-london-failure-thinktank
 
Alongside a criminal culture which sees the advantages of taxi-firms as a cash-business which can also act a useful cover for a range of supplementary activities : dealing, procuring, 'couriering' of all kinds, etc. There is more than one business model and more than one 'culture' involved.

And all set against the broader economic background of why there is demand for taxi services in areas where alternative transport options have been run down.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/aug/26/bus-deregulation-outside-london-failure-thinktank

There certainly are - but you're getting close to the idea that this late night economy just exists with no prior determinants - and in proportion to wider culture (and that this wider culture exists). If there is a specific money making niche that a culture fits then why would that not be represented more heavily in that niche. It is. Culture helped build that space. All the things i mentioned above plus low entry costs, cheap family labour (no min wage). if there are many cultures involved here then examination of the crossovers is key. As is being clear on what we mean by culture lest we end up with people thinking we mean muslim culture or white culture or pakistani culture or that we accept these sort of major terms.
 
So better public transport might help to remove occasions for abuse (but remove a source of income for innocent taxi drivers)?
Is it really so simple?
 
Not following the thread but in Manchester 20 years ago the bus drivers were behind loads of this type of activity, letting kids from care ride for free etc...most were white.

In fact not just kids from care "M8 mate" was well known to get you on for free, especially night buses.
 
There certainly are - but you're getting close to the idea that this late night economy just exists with no prior determinants - and in proportion to wider culture (and that this wider culture exists). If there is a specific money making niche that a culture fits then why would that not be represented more heavily in that niche. It is. Culture helped build that space. All the things i mentioned above plus low entry costs, cheap family labour (no min wage). if there are many cultures involved here then examination of the crossovers is key. As is being clear on what we mean by culture lest we end up with people thinking we mean muslim culture or white culture or pakistani culture or that we accept these sort of major terms.
I'd hope I wasn't saying anything of the kind.

The attraction of the family business model for minority communities is obvious. However it isn't the only model for small businesses in this area. Any more than it accounts for all employment opportunities for drivers from minority communities. A common element of small businesses is that outside the core employees (sometimes family, sometimes friends, sometimes from the same community or ethnicity), there will be a layer of more casual employees working occasional shifts as demand changes. Quite common for those in this more peripheral group of employees to be from a different community or ethnicity.

I entirely agree we need to be clear about what we mean by 'culture'. My concern was that this isn't simply discussed in terms of assumed notions of Pakistani culture, since it is evident that isn't the only 'culture' in play.
 
Tbh, there's a suspicion that the late night economy is simply taking to another level a transaction that started with cars hanging around school gates. That is probably just a calumny but it's a surprisingly persistent one.
 
Free lift here and there, you know my mate *** want some grub...fancy a drink

Buses are irrelvant

Well they are also part of the 'late night economy' and mark out the territory in which late night 'culture' takes place.

Jay Report :
8.26 - All the young people we met preferred to use the bus, despite their nervousness and dislike of the Rotherham Interchange, which they described as attracting drug dealers, addicts and people involved in a range of criminal activity. Many of these people congregated outside the Bus Station. The young people described their sense of intimidation and 'running the gauntlet' to get to their buses.

(And no, I'm not suggesting that better public transport is a solution to child sexual abuse. *eyeroll*)
 
Tbh, there's a suspicion that the late night economy is simply taking to another level a transaction that started with cars hanging around school gates. That is probably just a calumny but it's a surprisingly persistent one.
I'd agree in the sense you put it but we are certainly talking about a spectrum of different types of sexual exploitation from people acting alone or in groups for their own gratification to people engaged in organized grooming and pimping. (And at the latter end of the spectrum transactions for 'favours' as well as for money).
 
Well they are also part of the 'late night economy' and mark out the territory in which late night 'culture' takes place.

Jay Report :


(And no, I'm not suggesting that better public transport is a solution to child sexual abuse. *eyeroll*)
Why did they suggest that though? The previous para says:

In a number of different meetings, the Inquiry talked to 24 young people, aged 14-25, who lived in the Council area. One of the main items for discussion with them was safe transport. When asked about taxis, there was an immediate and consistent response from the young women and men on every occasion. All avoided the use of taxis if at all possible. Their parents and partners strongly discouraged, even forbade, them from being on their own at night in a taxi, unless it was a company they personally knew. The girls described how on occasions they would be taken on the longest, darkest route home. One said the driver's first question would be 'How old are you, love?'. All talked about the content of their conversation quickly turning flirtatious or suggestive, including references to sex.

This was not a talk to the victims btw. This was just kids - who knew somehow knew about the taxis. The taxis were marked off as a boundary almost.

(Let's make that clear the young people in Lurdans post were not the victims).

Girls being driven round by taxi and others on buses.
 
The suspicion that people were acting in groups, that they were sending attractive young men out as bait, that gangs were in any way influential with the police letting suspects know that a victim was in the interview room or encouraging polis to lose evidence, that councillors attempted to influence anything whatsoever -- all these suspicions fill me with self loathing.
 
Why did they suggest that though? The previous para says:



This was not a talk to the victims btw. This was just kids - who knew somehow knew about the taxis. The taxis were marked off as a boundary almost.

(Let's make that clear the young people in Lurdans post were not the victims).

Girls being round by taxi and others on buses.
No longer really clear what I'm supposed to be disagreeing with you about or vice versa.
 
Interesting letter from Dr Shaaz Mahboob, Tehmina Kazi et al.
<snip> We must face up to the cultural, racial and even religious specifics in these crimes. The “double life” syndrome of some men in Pakistani communities cannot be ignored. At the more benign end of the scale, young people will have secret boyfriends and girlfriends, yet display a more pious image in front of their families. The sort of reprehensible conduct we have seen in towns like Rotherham, Rochdale and Oxford is an extreme example of this phenomenon.

Tribal mentalities have imported an honour code that labels women as either honourable or shameful. In some quarters this has developed into an underground “gangster” culture of exploiting and abusing girls who do not fit the honour code. In either case, abuse must be exposed and perpetrators brought before the law.

The honour code has no place in this country: women and girls, regardless of background, culture, ethnicity, religion, lifestyle, or familial lineage, are of equal worth. Fortunately, there is an emerging generation of human rights activists in Britain – many of whom are young, female and secular-minded – who are campaigning hard against misogyny and patriarchy within our communities.
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices...l-honour-code-masks-sexual-abuse-9712782.html
 
In a few weeks you will be reading about a grooming trial equally as horrific as this, involving an EDL member which currently has reporting restrictions on it as he is facing many more charges. I suspect they will not be camping outside the cop shop for that one.
Have we had the UKIP "godsend" story yet or are we still waiting for that?
 
I don't know how the CPS allocates its resources, but surely one of the most troubling aspects of this whole episode (and one which I think no one could find fault with on political, cultural, or social grounds) is the extremely low number of prosecutions set against the very high number of suspected victims...

Have deals been done, people intimidated or simply resources allocated to more "worthy" causes?

Given the evidence base referred to in the report, though notably not appended, there should be more than enough to go to town on a lot of the abusers.
 
Or maybe we would be looking at things from the wrong end of the telescope by asking that question...

Perhaps the whole point that there is no published evidence base is, in turn, evidence of a deal that has been cut.

Something that goes along the lines of the following - we 'fess up to and give you all the bad stuff so long as you do not prosecute, thereby protecting the "community" (and again underlining the self-serving multi-kulti reprisal/save our jobs fear).
 
Waking up to the need to demonstrate that they are protecting the threatened and vulnerable, following massive failures and at a time of deep budget cuts, South Yorkshire Police make their move :

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news...rham-crime-chief-gets-death-threats-1-6825758
SOUTH Yorkshire Police and Crime commissioner Shaun Wright has received death threats in the wake of the damning report into child abuse in Rotherham and his refusal to resign, The Yorkshire Post understands.

South Yorkshire Police confirmed last night it had reviewed the safety of several people since the report’s publication to ensure “proportionate safety measures” are in place but refused to confirm whether protection has been stepped up around Mr Wright.

In a statement, the crime commissioner’s office said: “We welcome feedback from all citizens and we strongly advocate the right of the public to participate in democracy through legitimate means, such as peaceful public protest. There is however a line in law that cannot not be crossed.

“Where threats are made to any individual, the individual has a right to protection and the level of protection provided in such cases is a matter for operational policing.”
Well obviously they have to start somewhere.
 
“Where threats are made to any individual, the individual has a right to protection and the level of protection provided in such cases is a matter for operational policing.”

So an odious incompetant prick gets protectin from itg threats.

But vulnerable girls get gang raped because its too much hassle
 
The Home Affairs Committee are spending tomorrow afternoon (Tuesday 9th) taking evidence specifically about the events in Rotherham.

The current line up and times are :
At 3.00pm
Chief Constable David Crompton QPM, South Yorkshire Police
Former Chief Constable Meredydd John Hughes CBE QPM, South Yorkshire Police

At 3.30pm
Martin Kimber, Chief Executive, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council
Joyce Thacker OBE, Strategic Director for Children, Young People and Families, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council

At 4.00pm
Shaun Wright, South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner

And at 4.30pm
Peter Wanless and Richard Whittam QC
"about progress in their ongoing review of how the Home Office handled historical allegations of child abuse."

details here:
http://www.parliament.uk/business/c...e-affairs-committee/news/140904-rotherham-ev/

I assume this will be broadcast live on the parliament.uk site (using Silverlight) and/or on the BBC Democracy Live site. I'll try and post a link tomorrow.
 
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