Here's something i just wrote on the saville case.I know it has a few typos but I just wrote it.
Like everyone in the country I am completely shocked and horrified by the extent of Savile's paedophilia which was covered up by the BBC and other institutions for so many years. The police investigated at least 7 complaints against Savile during his life which were dropped. It leaves you wondering how much worse there is to come, as well as feeling so awful for the poor children who were abused by him. It also makes you think that if the BBC lied about a paedophile who was working for them since the 60s and did nothing about how many other things did they do nothing about. They all knew that he was a paedophile, and yet they didn't do anything about it. One girl who complained of bein abused by Savile was placed in solitary confinement for a copuple of days. But for years this guy was untouchable because of his "charitable" activities which were actually simply a cover for sexual abuse.
Why did nobody do anything? i believe that in the words of savile himself, part of the reason he was untouchable for so long was that if anything was done about him was because he would take many other notable figures in public life with him including the police and other well loved British celebrities, or politicians. There are rumours that a current Tory minister may have been involved in paedophilic practices and this person was a friend of Savile. I am not going to say the person's name because of the possibility of being sued but if you look on the internet I am sure you will find it.
If one good thing comes from this case, I hope it is reform of the libel laws in England which are the toughest in the world and even allow for "libel tourism" which allow wealthy Americans among others to sue people from the UK, knowing that they have a better chance of winning. This is partly why the accusations against Savile never went, publically, beyond the level of "rumours", because everyone knew that Savile had a team of expensive lawyers and would use them. Of course the other reason is that many people either refused to believe that abuse was taking place, or found their own reasons to turn a blind eye. "Oh look how much money he brings in!" "Look at all the good he does!!" etc. Some of the people who tried to report abuse were threatened into silence.
Of course everyone high up in the BBC is trying to claim that the either did not know any rumours about Savile or that they knew, and tried to do something about it. But if this was the case then why was nothing done about it?The phrase a "tsunami of filth" does seem accurate.
Some people in the media are now trying to say that we should not examine the role of the BBC or that it somehow does not matter and we should just focus on the victims and trying to rehabilitate them. But I think that if Savile cannot be brought to justice then it is important that people who helped to cover up for him are punished, even if they are rich and famous. I think that is the only way that justice can be done and such a thing can be prevented from happening again.
There is also a concern, that right wing opponents of the BBC could use this scandal as opportunity to attack it further, the arguement goes that the BBC is being attacked by the Murdoch press who are trying to rehabilitate themselves from their own damaging scandal. Although I have some sympathy with this view I don't agree that because of this we should just leave the BBC alone. The BBC has been a cheerleader for the cuts and the government agenda against benefit claimants and its news programmes are an absolute disgrace in the amount of bias they show towards government policies. A long time ago the BBC did show some independence but this has long gone and it is just another state broadcaster.
There is no reason why we should not have a state broadcaster and I would rather not have to watch adverts and so on but let's not kid ourselves that it is independent, that is what it is. And let's face it the Murdoch press and others wont go too far in attacking the BBC because they as we know, do have some skeletons in their closets as well. Since when should concern about right wingers using this for the wrong reasons stop people from trying to punish those responsible for covering up paedophilia?
There must be a few rich people worrying about that knock at the door at the moment. To which i say, good. The more of this corrupt and filthy crowd at the heart of the british establishment can be exposed , the better