All The Right Noises

[poliphilo]

Cameron and May are making all the right noises, but the fear has to be that the official enquiries will function as damage limitation exercises (as they always have done in the past). That's why we need to acquaint ourselves with the allegations and keep banging on about them.

The North Wales homes are only a fragment of the whole picture. There's also Haut de la Garenne on Jersey, the Kincora Boys Home in Northern Ireland and many others. New cases are continually coming to light. Remember the Dunblane massacre? Thomas Hamilton, the shooter, was a paedophile with connections to the higher reaches of the Labour party in Scotland. That business is very murky indeed. 

Comments

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

Still hard to imagine it having serious legs, though, not because the interest isn't there, but because the likely consequences are a bit unimaginable.

What happens when a people lose all confidence in their political system?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't think it can be stopped now. Channel 4 News just made it this evening's lead story- and named a (dead) Thatcher aide as an abuser.

It seems to me the best thing the establishment can do is come clean. I don't think the nation will stand for another cover-up.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

Coming clean would be suicidal, though, so that's out.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

But not coming clean is also suicidal. Especially since the details are leaking out anyway.

I wish someone would use parliamentary privilege to name the fucker; then we could move on to the next stage.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

But leaks are easier to smudge than confessions. The would-be parties of interest have faith that the system will continue to protect them, as indeed it is supposed to.

To my mind, and correct me if I'm wrong, this isn't so much about organized pedophilia as it is about the privilege of class. The question is whether the English class system is weak enough in these latter days to fail the ruling elite. After the conversion of Labour to neoliberalism, and with the restoration of the Tories, I honestly have my doubts.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's about organized paedophilia AND class.

But Class isn't simply about birthright, it's about one's place within the establishment. One of the guys who's being protected is a self-made man of Caribbean ancestry who also happens to be a powerful Tory insider.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

But doesn't that make the class system just that much more resilient? I'm thinking of the States, where the English class system that we inherited quietly abides to this day. Class boundaries are traditionally a bit more permeable here, I think, but the advantage still goes to the upper class. Far too many Americans behave -- ie, vote -- as if they too will be rich, some day.

The fact that class mobility has been radically reduced in the US, just in my time, seems to have no effect.

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

That is what is happening in the USA. After my experience when going to vote today I am afraid -- very afraid. And I live in Massachusetts, just about the most liberal of the 50 states! Seems like the Republicans are trying to get the machines to change all votes for Romney. They are also trying to stop some people from voting at all. Also, in Florida over 12,000 people got robo-calls telling them that they should be sure to vote on Wedneday (the problem here is that the polls close on Tuesday night). Meanwhile, Democrats also have been accused of fraudulent tactics. The question is who to trust? Answer seems to be no one. I voted for the candidate that stands for the best deal for the average American and who has some compassion for the not so well off. I voted a straight ticket - all my votes for one party, and I voted yes on all ballot questions because yes was how I felt about the issues in question. Now I just hope that the machines do not switch my vote - or anyone else's.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I think we're heading for some sort of crisis. It's not healthy for there to be such a huge disconnect between the political class and everyone else. I'm hoping what happens will be reform rather than revolution.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

Actually, I have full faith and confidence in our system and the results of last night suggest that faith is well placed. I live in rural Virginia, surrounded by proudly Republican and openly racist fuck-wits, yet our commonwealth -- God preserve it -- nonetheless sided with the angels, yesterday, helping return Obama to the Oval Office and put Kaine in the Senate.

I honestly don't think that our political system is to blame. Our problem is not really that the Republican party has gone raving mad, though obviously it has. The problem is that our failed media experiment pretends that it hasn't, claiming "both sides do it" and bemoaning the lack of civility and cooperation in Congress.