to think that in 2012 we are both enlightened and educated enough to tell the difference between a homosexual and a paedophile?

[isupposeimabitofafraud]

Hey Mr Cameron?

Care to explain your comments on This Morning?

The only thing I'm getting out of that, is his own prejudices and the whiff of a lack of leadership and yet another cover up.

If Mr Cameron wants to save his own neck and not drown in this sick sea of corruption then taking it seriously and not being dismissive of the claims and accusing people of homophobia, might be a good place to start...

Together with an overall inquiry into why there have been so many institutional failures with regard to child protection and to gather all the conclusions of the 6 million other investigations that have been started post Jimmy Savile, for their findings are scattered to the four corners of the country by the wind.

I'm fuming. I don't want crappy ill thought out warnings about a witchhunt, it wouldn't BE a witchhunt, if the government actually started to take control of the scandal and handle it properly, sensitively and starting taking it seriously rather than acting reactively.

For weeks it was obvious that the Jimmy Savile revelations were going to spread and given what the government do know, and the fact they have both the intelligence and foresight to be able to see the direction it was going to head and act accordingly. Instead they have sat on their hands and hoped it would all die down, go away and we'd all forget about it. Well I'm not forgetting about it. I want PROPER answers and an institutional change of attitude and action. Not more crap.

Isn't this exactly how we got into this mess in the first place, by officials dismissing those who did report or trying to discredit them?

Haven't they learnt ANYTHING yet?

/rant.

[hiddenhome]

They're all running around like headless chickens because they're all in on it in one way or another. They're all starting to panic now as they just dig themselves in deeper and deeper.

[Nancy66]

I think Cameron was quite right to say what he said and Phillip Schofield acted really irresponsibly for the sake of a bit of shock TV.

[Sparklingbrook]

I was that PS did that. He looked like a right idiot. Why did he pass that list over?

[LFCisTarkaDahl]

I'm sure you are enlightened and educated enough but the vast majority of people are incredibly ignorant. Homophobia is very under reported but is a constant in most people who are gay's lives.

I know for a fact that he is trying to avoid people finding out which ex Tory MP's are gay in order that they are not linked to the Jimmy Saville fiasco.

Yes, there would be a massive witchhunt for example if people linked Michael Portillo to Jimmy Saville. They are NOT actually linked though I'm sure they may have been photographed doing charity work or something but there has always been rumours/smear about Portillo being gay or bisexual (though he was/is married to a woman).

Literally anyone who had been friends with JS or who has been photographed with him is at risk. And the fact is that in this homophobic society if that person is gay or suspected to be gay then they will be abused or linked.

Individuals are clever, people are stupid.

[hiddenhome]

PS was defending them all a few weeks ago

[complexnumber]

I want PROPER answers

Not satisfied with the DM?

[MrsTerryPratchett]

PS is just trying to make himself look better. DC can't now make himself look any worse.

[Jingleflobba]

Individuals are clever, people are stupid
this

[djelibeybi]

I suspect that the "investigations" will just be another cover-up, and this is Cameron's first step towards that cover-up.

Had the paedophiles involved been dealt with properly in the first place, there would be no need for a witch-hunt.

As for the four people named on the piece of paper, one is gay, and the other three seem to be a threat to both sexes. Their sexual orientation is irrelevant. It shouldn't be used to deflect criticism.

[CrikeyOHare]

FFS! What was Cameron supposed to do? He's was handed a list of names that that dickhead had got off the internet. He was right - it should have been taken to the police.

[Nancy66]

quite a few of those stupid people on this thread it seems.

[Sparklingbrook]

I felt for DC Crikey. Weird. But it was the cringiest bit of TV I have seen for a long time.

[ouryve]

YANBU.

But I'm guessing he saw a few names of people he guessed or knew to be gay and either assumed that other people must assume that gay = paedophile or just plain panicked.

(Lots of guessing and assuming in my comment there, but there's lots of guessing and assuming in the whole affair)

[hiddenhome]

Four people now is it?

How do you find out who they are then?

[isupposeimabitofafraud]

FFS! What was Cameron supposed to do? He's was handed a list of names that that dickhead had got off the internet. He was right - it should have been taken to the police.

Perhaps say that, instead of a cheap dismissive line about homosexuality perhaps? Just a thought. Better just to say something about a witchhunt in general if you insist on going to go down that route (cos others have said that about Jimmy Savile stuff).

I personally don't care if its boys or girls being abused or whether the abuser is gay/straight/male/female - making remarks about the sexuality of the abuser is actually completely irrelevant.

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

YABU.... quite a lot of people confuse 'paedophile' with 'homosexual'. Same sort of people that confuse 'paedophile' with 'paediatrician'. He's quite right to warn against this turning into a witch-hunt and ask anyone with information to call the police.

[Pendeen]

It does depend on what you mean by 'we'.

The whole world?

The UK?

MN?

Something else?

[VoiceofUnreason]

YABU and cogito is exactly right. There are complete morons out there who think that a homosexual man is far more likely to a be a paedophile than a heterosexual man. Which is NOT, statistically, accurate. There are complete morons out there who confuse paedophile with paediatrician and there was at least one major case where a bloke who was a paediatrician was attacked. I thought Schofield's behaviour was lowest common denominator and Cameron is totally right - it is becoming a witch hunt and it is inevitable that some people who are completely innocent will get tarred with a brush by innocent association or because some nutters decide to join in.

Yes, the vast majority of people who come forward will be truthful but whenever this sort of thing happens there are others - often in need of other help - who make stories up. Isn't in interesting, for example, that the moment Savile was 'outed', lots of others came forward and it's been pretty much case closed. Yet one person named Leonard Rossiter last week, no one else has come forward, it's gone completely quiet. Which suggests to me the latter is total nonsense. But the mud will stick.

[djelibeybi]

...there was at least one major case where a bloke who was a paediatrician was attacked...


No there wasn't.

[CrikeyOHare]

making remarks about the sexuality of the abuser is actually completely irrelevant

Excuse me - but how the hell do you know that the list of names Cameron saw were "abusers"?

There's no question that there are rather a lot of people around who cannot distinguish between homosexuality & paedophilia - and that is becoming increasingly clear from threads all over the internet about the JS situation.

If PS is so impressed with gossip about famous names being bandied around online, perhaps he should Google himself.

[SaraBellumHertz]

What happened

[VoiceofUnreason]

djeli - OK, so it wasn't a bloke and she wasn't PHYSICALLY attacked, but I still regard the spraying of paedo on a paediatrician's house an attack by moron or morons. And SHE obviously felt it was enough of an attack or a threat to relocate afterwards.

[PerryCombover]

I think Cameron did the right thing there
(Washes out mouth)
Schofield was being a twit..."dear PM have you seen this (witch hunt)?" Ffs

For instance there was terrible abuse at a children's home in Norn Iron. Many people in NI tried to blame certain politicians on having and hiding knowledge of the abuse. They based these accusations on the fact that the politicians were aware that the head of the home was gay.
The, well if you knew he was gay it stands to reason he was obviously a kiddy fiddler, argument.

I'm concerned about how many people will be tagged into enquiries into csa simply because the are gay and politicians/authority figures.. especially if closeted.

People aren't all sensible and wise

[AdoraJingleBells]

I've actualy met quite a lot of people, of all ages, who either can't understand or won't accept that there is a difference. Also agree that PS was out of line to do that.

[BupcakesAndCunting]

Well two of the names on that list were of gay men. Most people with half a brain cell will know that gayness doesn't equal nonce but sadly there are dimbos out there who can't make that distinction. I think it's irresponsible of PS to be handing out a list of names on live television. He needs reprimanding for that. It's a job for the police, not a jumpe- tv presenter. Interesting about turn he's doing after defending Jimmy Saville the other week...