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Steve Davies's avatar

That’s an undoubted phenomenon but it wasn’t a factor in this case. The overwhelming majority of the unfortunate girls who were the victims were in council ‘care’ and so removed from their families. The complete failure of the care system is another part of the state failure here. (This is only one of several major failures in that particular service over the last few decades). The ones who weren’t in care were usually from highly dysfunctional and chaotic families.

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Vladan Lausevic's avatar

It is interesting to see how persons who belive they are patriotic and community oriented can at the same time support riots and destruction of demcracy

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Vladan Lausevic's avatar

The Reform Party is just one more example of right-wing collectivism in practice

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Warden Gulley's avatar

Are social media platforms like X as powerful in British culture as they are here in the US? When it comes to grooming and cancel culture, X is a potent weapon.

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Linda M Duczman O'Connell's avatar

May the price of Tesla continue to tank and his rockets red glare light the sky at every take off. This man is another threat to democracy. In WI he's paying for misleading adds that promote the Republican candidate for Supreme Court. I met a guy today who adamantly believed it. Tomorrow I'm out to find him. These races are too close to let falsehoods pass.

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J. Michael Wahlen's avatar

On point as always, Steve! I wonder if there isn’t something simply cultural here, too. His persona seems so American that I can imagine him rubbing the British the wrong way, even without the inflammatory politics?

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Steve Davies's avatar

Indeed. And not just Brits, Europeans more widely.

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Fool’s Errand's avatar

In many child abuse cases there is someone who *basically* knows what’s going on, but refuses to interrogate it or intervene. Usually essentially because they just don’t want to cause ‘a fuss’ and break up the family.

I’ll always associate British culture as the embodiment of that person. You waffle on the specific narrative of why your culture was fine with mass child rape, but from a foreign perspective (like Musks) it’s the rape that matters, not the fuss

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Vladan Lausevic's avatar

How about you try to improve your personal culture?

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Fool’s Errand's avatar

Guess I am to the extent I can, as just some random dipshit.

But it would be weird for me to sincerely expect that, say, Europeans watching school shootings would have *no* moral opinion on it. Or that the US govt would somehow be in the right if they censored foreigners online reminding us that is the AR 15 that keeps showing up in those shootings.

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Sue Heath's avatar

Excellent article. My only correction would be that it is not necessarily the British MIDDLE CLASS where the fault all lies. Certainly with reference to the bureaucratic failures, but when it comes to riots, support for Robinson, etc you need to also look lower down the 'social hierarchy'. There is a LOT for us to feel ashamed about, and if this were to force the powers that be to do some serious and public naval gazing to identify where the corruption lies I would consider it had some benefit..

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Duane Pierson's avatar

Well, the Boers, English, and other whites sure did introduce multi-culturalism into what is now South Africa to the detriment of the native peoples. I wonder what reactionary Elon thinks abt that?

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Vladan Lausevic's avatar

What do you mean?

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Duane Pierson's avatar

Musk has spoken against multiculturalism in today's world. Yet, his ancestors surely introduced multiculturalism to the native ppls & tribes of what is now South Africa, where he was born & grew up. Seems a bit hypocritical.

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