I have commented at some length on the 'expose' of a resident of Tunbridge Wells as a racist by the local newspaper. The initial report was spread across three pages of the local paper and included a large photograph on the front page. The paper has continued to report on this.
The person concerned has been given no right of reply.
Two matters have arisen in the past few days which add credibility to the comments made by the person vilified in the paper.
The first is to be found in the following link:
http://www.christian.org.uk/news/bishop-backs-bill-to-tackle-sharia-courts/
The second is this report in the Daily Telegraph:
A group of Asian men "trafficked, raped or sexually abused" young girls, after bombarding them with gifts and attention, a court was told yesterday.
The nine, who were mostly married, joined forces with some acting as pimps, others used their homes as brothels and some using them as prostitutes.
The men, all from Telford, Shropsbire, were charged with a total of 56 counts relating to eight girls aged between 13 and 17.
When the Tunbridge Wells' resident claimed these things were happening he was accused of being 'racist'. Earlier this month a number of Asian men were arrested in Rochdale for similar offences.
Manchester police have made further arrests:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-13759651
We shall have to wait to learn if the arrested people in Manchester are, to use the Daily Telegraph's word, 'Asian'. What has happened in Rochdale and Telford gives credibility to what the Tunbridge Wells' resident said.
The prosecuting counsel in the Telford case warned the jury that, as the trial unfolded, they would be introduced to a world "that I expect few of you were aware of". Clearly the editor of the local newspaper is not aware (really?), or if he is, it shows how easy it is to attempt to stifle debate by playing the racist card. Yet here we are talking about a massive failure of child protection procedures to which some would have us close our eyes, as to comment is 'racist'.
KENT COMMUNITY ACTIVIST: acerbic, carping, caustic, curmudgeonly,critical, cynical, grumpy, moaning, sardonic and plain speaking.
Spot on John. When people like yourself see and report on these things others may start to take it seriously.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately for the Tunbridge Wells residents they have a local journalist on a mission to discredit not just Mr Ratcliffe but everyone in the seventh largest Political Party in the country. Whilst I personally do not support the English Defence League and neither does the English Democrats, the freedom for individual members to protest via this movement is not banned by our party. I have personally taken up the Tunbridge Wells issue with members of the National Council and the recent new English Democrat Councillor Elliot Fountain of Boston Lincs, yesterday. If the objective of this journalist is to have Mr Ratcliffe forcibly removed from office, then he is sadly mistaken. Our Media training indicates that the issues are more than likely commercial , as it allows more papers to be sold by attacking him. It should be noted that my Old Lib Dem friends in Sevenoaks should have more to fear from the English Democrats in the ballot box and encourage Mr Ratcliffe to waste his time with EDL street protests, rather than concentrate more on the real job of political change. As we push the Lib Dems in to fourth place throughout the country.
ReplyDeleteNot sure Adrian what you mean by 'people like yourself'.
ReplyDeleteThe Daily Telegraph carried a report on 20th June which stated that Asians are responsible for 20% of grooming cases. Obviously we need to take care not to take an unbalanced view of the serious problem of child abuse but it does pose a further question. What is the percentage of Asians in the UK population?
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