UK XI: A Deal with the Devil

[QualityChimp]

A couple of big stories there.

Interesting how some news outlets are framing this as Labour blocking a bill to launch an enquiry into grooming gangs:
BBC - "Tory bid to force enquiry into grooming gangs voted down"
Telegraph - " Labour MPs have blocked an attempt to initiate a national inquiry into grooming gangs."

Rather than "After a 7 year inquiry that cost £200m. Tories didn’t implement the findings."

Starmer had an effective PMQs because Kemi Badenoch (she's the current Tory leader, if you can't keep up) said that it's an outrage that Labour won't launch an enquiry into grooming gangs. He stepped up and agreed that it's one of the worst scandals in recent UK history, but noted that we did have a national enquiry with 20 recommendations and none of them were implemented.

"Not once in 8 years (as an MP) did she stand here and say what she just said. She was the Children's Minister, she was the Women's Equality Minister and I can't recall her once raising this issue in the house."

As for Lucy Letby, I think everyone was baying for blood.
I can't tell you if she's guilty or innocent. This recent update suggests that the evidence that convicted her is in question and she wouldn't be convicted if reassessed.

What I think is important that cases like this need to be looked at methodically and newspapers looking for serial killer headlines to sell papers shouldn't influence an enquiry.

[Asura]

Rather than "After a 7 year inquiry that cost £200m. Tories didn’t implement the findings."

Yeah; I've got a lot of sympathy for Starmer's government on this.

On the grooming gangs topic, there's a contingent of people in the general public who are convinced "nothing was done", presumably because there was never a SkyTV special where the public got to see 5,000 "forren-looking" men get executed by circular saw.

Just like there's a contingent of people (of which the overlap with the above contingent is basically 1:1) who are convinced Labour have done zero about immigration because they haven't put machine gun nests on the cliffs of Dover and aren't seeing daily pics of dead families floating in the English Channel.

There was an enquiry, the Tories spent a ton on it and didn't really act on it. But for the general public, the enquiry's findings were public. For everyone asking about this I've seen IRL, I've been asking them the same question:
.

"Did you read the results of the last enquiry?"

.
Because the answer is invariably "no", in which case I've told them they should either do that or stop blathering on about something they clearly don't know anything about apart from what a tabloid or Facebook post has told them.

[QualityChimp]

Agree with everything you've said there.

Also, you're right, I don't think I know all of the recommendations of the enquiry, so need to rectify that.

Here's a BBC article about "Prof Alexis Jay, the former chair of a national inquiry into child sexual abuse, has called for the "full implementation" of reforms set out in her 2022 report, which warned of "endemic" abuse across society in England and Wales."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce8xl4d3m81o

"A campaign group chaired by Prof Jay, called Act on IICSA, said ministers must commit to a "clear timeline" to adopt the recommendations laid out by the Independent Inquiry Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA). The government says it supports the changes.

The group warned against "politicising" sexual violence and pushed back against "misinformation".

Prof Jay also distanced herself from calls from the Conservatives and Reform UK for a new inquiry into grooming gangs.

The IICSA national inquiry was set up in 2015 and carried out 15 investigations, including into grooming gangs and abuse in schools and church settings.

Prof Jay had previously led a landmark local inquiry into widescale abuse in Rotherham, where it was estimated 1,400 children were exploited between 1997 and 2013, predominantly by men of Pakistani heritage.

The IICSA's final report, external was published in 2022 and set out 20 recommendations it said were necessary to reduce child suffering."

Here's the report, The Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, 2022.

https://www.iicsa.org.uk/reports-recommendations/publications/inquiry/final-report.html

Here are the reccommendations:
The concluding recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

• A single set of core data relating to child sexual abuse and child sexual exploitation.
• Child Protection Authorities for England and for Wales.
• A cabinet-level Minister for Children.
• A public awareness campaign.
• Prohibiting the use of pain compliance techniques.
• The amendment of the Children Act 1989.
• Registration of care staff in children’s homes.
• Registration of staff in care roles in young offender institutions and secure training centres.
• Greater use of the Disclosure and Barring Service barred list.
• Improvements to compliance with statutory duties to refer concerns to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
• Extending the disclosure regime to those working with children overseas.
• Pre-screening for illegal images of children.
• Mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse in certain circumstances.
• Compliance with the Victims’ Code.
• The removal of the three-year limitation period for personal injury claims brought by victims and survivors of child sexual abuse.
• A national guarantee of specialist therapeutic support for child victims.
• A code of practice on access to records about child sexual abuse.
• Further changes to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme.
• A tiered redress scheme.
• Age verification in relation to online services and social media platforms.

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/10/world-temperature-in-2024-exceeded-15c-for-first-time

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jan/09/rachel-reeves-cuts-public-services-borrowing-costs-tax

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jan/10/uk-music-industry-government-crackdown-ticket-touting

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jan/09/liz-truss-sends-legal-letter-ordering-starmer-to-stop-saying-she-crashed-economy

[Nu-Eclipse]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...rashed-economy

Doesn't like it when free speech that they claim to be all for is used against them.

Woke snowflake.

[QualityChimp]

That Truss thing is ridiculous.
Not only did she say that Gordon Brown crashed the economy, but she's been to America doing talk about free speech.

She's a proper div.

[QualityChimp]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2j8v8wvrko

"The proportion of 25 to 34-year-olds still living with their parents has increased by more than a third in nearly two decades, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)."
"High renting costs and rising house prices were the most significant reasons for the change."

What surprised me about this was that it took a "thinktank" to work out that more people are staying with their parents longer, it's because the price of buying and renting has gone up and it's more prevalent in places where house prices are above average.

In other breaking news, day follows night follows day.

[Neon Ignition]

‘Mainlined into UK’s veins’: Labour announces huge public rollout of AI | Politics | The Guardian

Nicola Sturgeon and Peter Murrell have ‘decided to end’ their marriage | Nicola Sturgeon | The Guardian

[fishbowlhead]

‘Mainlined into UK’s veins’: Labour announces huge public rollout of AI | Politics | The Guardian
[/URL]

Ah cool, so thats 10 new nuclear power stations to take over from the Gas were supposedly getting rid of to heat our homes, another 10 new nuclear power stations (at least) to charge all these EV's, and another 10-20 new nuclear power stations to power this new Ai revolution that's coming (which is beyond disgustingly power hungry).

I'm sure that's all been built already and running smoothly.





Gov are absolute f*****g morons.

[fishbowlhead]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2j8v8wvrko

"The proportion of 25 to 34-year-olds still living with their parents has increased by more than a third in nearly two decades, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)."
"High renting costs and rising house prices were the most significant reasons for the change."

What surprised me about this was that it took a "thinktank" to work out that more people are staying with their parents longer, it's because the price of buying and renting has gone up and it's more prevalent in places where house prices are above average.

In other breaking news, day follows night follows day.

Year but THIS think tank probably cost the tax payer £149m for that report and was headed by a PM and his buddies, so was very very very important to get that few lines of information out into public hands, TOP men & women worked on it, TOP men & women, some toasters and pasta as well contributed, as it was an inclusive diverse report input wise (the diversity department of the report took up £49m of the budget don't you know).

[Mayhem]

Love the thread title change heh.

[Neon Ignition]

Tulip Siddiq resigns as Treasury minister over alleged Bangladeshi financial links | Labour | The Guardian

Farage and Truss attend UK launch of US climate denial group | Climate science scepticism and denial | The Guardian

Call to overhaul obesity diagnoses amid fears of over-reliance on BMI | Obesity | The Guardian

Surprise fall in UK inflation to 2.5% eases pressure on Rachel Reeves | Inflation | The Guardian

[QualityChimp]

Kemi Badenoch is boiling my piss today as she says mistakes were made by the Conservatives. Including leaving the EU without a plan for economic growth outside of it.

Failing to mention that she supported Brexit, was a minister in the Sunak & Truss governments, and an MP for 8 of the Tories' 14 years in power.

[Brad]

Ah cool, so thats 10 new nuclear power stations to take over from the Gas were supposedly getting rid of to heat our homes, another 10 new nuclear power stations (at least) to charge all these EV's, and another 10-20 new nuclear power stations to power this new Ai revolution that's coming (which is beyond disgustingly power hungry).

I'm sure that's all been built already and running smoothly.





Gov are absolute f*****g morons.

"Multibillion-pound contracts will be signed to build the new public “compute” capacity – the microchips, processing units, memory and cabling that physically enable AI."

Yeah they forgot the ELECTRICITY that's required (if recent figures I've read are true).

[Anpanman]

Pity we can't give train companies yellow cards;

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn018nrdyx7o

Shouldn't complain I make some nice profits from Delay Repay though my trip last week to the big smoke was my first in over a year where I couldn't put a claim in.

Surely I can't go two in a row when I'm unleashed on a double adventure next week.