Far too many people in positions of authority seem to be more interested in protecting their own image, or that of the organisation they are working in, than they are in actually trying to do some good or correct deficiencies.
Especially Bojo and his chums in government. Leading by example.
That's just the current set. It's been going on for decades to my knowledge, and I have no reason to think things were any different over the ages. The situation with Jimmy Savile is a prime example. BBC staff had their concerns and either kept quiet to protect themselves from the repercussions or were told to keep quiet because of the damage it could do to the BBC. Stoke Mandeville were alleged to have kept quiet about him because they didn't want to lose the money that came in from his charity work. The list goes on.
I didn't suggest that it hadn't gone on for ages, but This lot are in power NOW, wasting public money by the £billion NOW and covering up their "jobs for the boys" activity NOW so it's perfectly valid to criticise Bojo and his chums for what they're doing NOW, not bring up stuff from decades back. If this upsets the blinkered , dyed in the wool tories who constantly wish to deflect from the utter ineptitude of Bojo and his chums, then that's their problem, not mine.
Bojo is very much a part of The Establishment although he pretends not to be by mussing up his hair. It is The Establishment - government, the civil service, the BBC, the NHS, the military, the church(es), the police, the education system - that forms the wall that individual suffering doesn't penetrate. You will meet countless people who work in all these organisations who work hard, tirelessly even, do their best to treat people with compassion and respect. But somehow, collectively, that real effort gets subsumed by collective total indifference and then these awful failures of joint conscience occur. The Windrush scandal, Jimmy Saville, Shrewsbury and Telford maternity hospital, Deepcut barracks, Hillsborough some old, some new. It goes on. You can't usually point to one person and say 'they did this on purpose', and yet these things keep happening. Bojo may not be personally culpable, any more than any other individual, but he bears as much collective responsibility as any of them because he has done nothing to change it.
IMO the single most important step any politician has made in recent times to break this pattern has been the freedom of information process. Flawed though it is, it has allowed light to be shed on a number of these issues that were previously buried.
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Far too many people in positions of authority seem to be more interested in protecting their own image, or that of the organisation they are working in, than they are in actually trying to do some good or correct deficiencies.
Especially Bojo and his chums in government. Leading by example.
That's just the current set. It's been going on for decades to my knowledge, and I have no reason to think things were any different over the ages. The situation with Jimmy Savile is a prime example. BBC staff had their concerns and either kept quiet to protect themselves from the repercussions or were told to keep quiet because of the damage it could do to the BBC. Stoke Mandeville were alleged to have kept quiet about him because they didn't want to lose the money that came in from his charity work. The list goes on.
I didn't suggest that it hadn't gone on for ages, but This lot are in power NOW, wasting public money by the £billion NOW and covering up their "jobs for the boys" activity NOW so it's perfectly valid to criticise Bojo and his chums for what they're doing NOW, not bring up stuff from decades back. If this upsets the blinkered , dyed in the wool tories who constantly wish to deflect from the utter ineptitude of Bojo and his chums, then that's their problem, not mine.
I haven't suggested that criticism of the current lot isn't justified. I'm simply pointing out that no political party, or their supporters, are in a position to throw stones at 'the other lot'. Blair and his mob screamed about 'Tory sleaze' when in opposition but were very fast learners when they took over.
Far too many people in positions of authority seem to be more interested in protecting their own image, or that of the organisation they are working in, than they are in actually trying to do some good or correct deficiencies.
Especially Bojo and his chums in government. Leading by example.
That's just the current set. It's been going on for decades to my knowledge, and I have no reason to think things were any different over the ages. The situation with Jimmy Savile is a prime example. BBC staff had their concerns and either kept quiet to protect themselves from the repercussions or were told to keep quiet because of the damage it could do to the BBC. Stoke Mandeville were alleged to have kept quiet about him because they didn't want to lose the money that came in from his charity work. The list goes on.
I didn't suggest that it hadn't gone on for ages, but This lot are in power NOW, wasting public money by the £billion NOW and covering up their "jobs for the boys" activity NOW so it's perfectly valid to criticise Bojo and his chums for what they're doing NOW, not bring up stuff from decades back. If this upsets the blinkered , dyed in the wool tories who constantly wish to deflect from the utter ineptitude of Bojo and his chums, then that's their problem, not mine.
I haven't suggested that criticism of the current lot isn't justified. I'm simply pointing out that no political party, or their supporters, are in a position to throw stones at 'the other lot'. Blair and his mob screamed about 'Tory sleaze' when in opposition but were very fast learners when they took over.
I'm a supporter of NO political party and have critisised every government of my adult life. I have gladly " thrown stones" at all of them. I can not understand the level of brainwashing of some voters.
You cannot blame widespread child abuse on Boris and chums as it's been going on for so long
There's more examples of corruption, bad management and cover up than child abuse situations in local authority care
As I found out under labour government when my mum was first ill.
And we're all finding out under this lot. The high court found they've acted illegally at least 72 times over the awards of contracts. "There are none so blind as those who WILL not see"
Far too many people in positions of authority seem to be more interested in protecting their own image, or that of the organisation they are working in, than they are in actually trying to do some good or correct deficiencies.
Especially Bojo and his chums in government. Leading by example.
That's just the current set. It's been going on for decades to my knowledge, and I have no reason to think things were any different over the ages. The situation with Jimmy Savile is a prime example. BBC staff had their concerns and either kept quiet to protect themselves from the repercussions or were told to keep quiet because of the damage it could do to the BBC. Stoke Mandeville were alleged to have kept quiet about him because they didn't want to lose the money that came in from his charity work. The list goes on.
I didn't suggest that it hadn't gone on for ages, but This lot are in power NOW, wasting public money by the £billion NOW and covering up their "jobs for the boys" activity NOW so it's perfectly valid to criticise Bojo and his chums for what they're doing NOW, not bring up stuff from decades back. If this upsets the blinkered , dyed in the wool tories who constantly wish to deflect from the utter ineptitude of Bojo and his chums, then that's their problem, not mine.
So if you want to blame the current lot for systematic, institutional child abuse in the past I think it's a bit simplistic. The abuses of the 70s, 80s and 90s were more than about the establishment failing, it's about society failing. Society that believed, and many from them still do, that children should be seen and not heard, that a smack is good parenting.
If you want to bandy around insults like blinkered Tory to people who disagree that the establishment is to blame. I wonder if you were a child or adult in the 70s, 80s and 90s. Perhaps seeing the failings of those decades as a kid has given me an insight those who were parents in those years haven't had. I see it as the failings of society, every single member of adult society failed IMO.
Let me make things clear to you about what society did to kids back then. By the time I was in my last or penultimate year at primary school I knew 6 kids over a 12 year period who were physically and psychologically abused by a teacher with full knowledge of other teachers, the headteacher and parents. They were from my year, years either side and brothers of friends. We all knew and also knew the adults were not doing anything about it?
I can still tell you the type that teacher picked on. Clever boys who found classwork too easy and as a result "acted out" in some way or other. Daydreaming, chatting with mates, making jokes, or just getting up from the table to look for something to do. I can tell you the private life issues of the teacher which parents even teachers used to justify turning a blind eye. Truth was that teacher was a nasty piece of work that today would be locked up!
So I hope you get where I'm coming from. I'm a man who was a kid in those years who blames all adults from that era for allowing it to happen. Whether Tory, Labour, liberals, social democrats or monster raving looney party you were part of the problem.
Look back at old Saville programmes if you can still get them. I bet you'll see young kids on one of his shows trying to lean away from the creep. Kids knew he wasn't right, it'll be there caught on TV recordings. If you were an adult then why didn't you?
Sorry if you think I'm being harsh about this. I know of 6 kids who will have had their future taken out changed by abuse. It gives you strong views on the matter.
In realise the quoted person was not just talking about the child abuse case and blaming Boris. I just quoted them because of the Tory comment and because I was catching up on posts and had not long ago read people blaming Boris when people were talking about the latest abuse cases. Like they did blame him for not seeing something.
The issues with society is deeper than this or that party. We're in a broken society and it's been broken for so long. We're all part of the problem.
I agree with Joe, I was born in the mid 40’s ish, We had two teachers like that at our school, I can remember saying ‘ if she touches my arse in the showers once more I’ll slap her’. My friend actually did. The art teacher would take the boys into the art store room for a pants down slipper slap, We all knew it went on, the other teachers must have known. It was just accepted in those days. Consequence was that I rarely went to secondary school, I hated it. I’m sure the deputy head was the devil in disguise. We have a newspaper here from the 80’s. A female teacher was fined 150.00 for having sex with a 12 year old pupil, That’s as far as it went, just a fine, so that’s the 50’s to the 80’s I’m sure it’s much better in schools now. I never hear my grandsons say anything bad about their schools. Its the kids that do the bullying, not the teachers, role reversal. Surely things must be better now days? What about the asylums from back then. Shocking.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
Posts
If this upsets the blinkered , dyed in the wool tories who constantly wish to deflect from the utter ineptitude of Bojo and his chums, then that's their problem, not mine.
IMO the single most important step any politician has made in recent times to break this pattern has been the freedom of information process. Flawed though it is, it has allowed light to be shed on a number of these issues that were previously buried.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I haven't suggested that criticism of the current lot isn't justified. I'm simply pointing out that no political party, or their supporters, are in a position to throw stones at 'the other lot'. Blair and his mob screamed about 'Tory sleaze' when in opposition but were very fast learners when they took over.
I can not understand the level of brainwashing of some voters.
The high court found they've acted illegally at least 72 times over the awards of contracts.
"There are none so blind as those who WILL not see"
If you want to bandy around insults like blinkered Tory to people who disagree that the establishment is to blame. I wonder if you were a child or adult in the 70s, 80s and 90s. Perhaps seeing the failings of those decades as a kid has given me an insight those who were parents in those years haven't had. I see it as the failings of society, every single member of adult society failed IMO.
Let me make things clear to you about what society did to kids back then. By the time I was in my last or penultimate year at primary school I knew 6 kids over a 12 year period who were physically and psychologically abused by a teacher with full knowledge of other teachers, the headteacher and parents. They were from my year, years either side and brothers of friends. We all knew and also knew the adults were not doing anything about it?
I can still tell you the type that teacher picked on. Clever boys who found classwork too easy and as a result "acted out" in some way or other. Daydreaming, chatting with mates, making jokes, or just getting up from the table to look for something to do. I can tell you the private life issues of the teacher which parents even teachers used to justify turning a blind eye. Truth was that teacher was a nasty piece of work that today would be locked up!
So I hope you get where I'm coming from. I'm a man who was a kid in those years who blames all adults from that era for allowing it to happen. Whether Tory, Labour, liberals, social democrats or monster raving looney party you were part of the problem.
Look back at old Saville programmes if you can still get them. I bet you'll see young kids on one of his shows trying to lean away from the creep. Kids knew he wasn't right, it'll be there caught on TV recordings. If you were an adult then why didn't you?
Sorry if you think I'm being harsh about this. I know of 6 kids who will have had their future taken out changed by abuse. It gives you strong views on the matter.
The issues with society is deeper than this or that party. We're in a broken society and it's been broken for so long. We're all part of the problem.
Consequence was that I rarely went to secondary school, I hated it. I’m sure the deputy head was the devil in disguise.
We have a newspaper here from the 80’s. A female teacher was fined 150.00 for having sex with a 12 year old pupil, That’s as far as it went, just a fine, so that’s the 50’s to the 80’s I’m sure it’s much better in schools now. I never hear my grandsons say anything bad about their schools.
Its the kids that do the bullying, not the teachers, role reversal.
Surely things must be better now days? What about the asylums from back then. Shocking.