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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Mina Smallman 'the system is crumbling'

6 replies

ArabellaScott · 29/08/2026 11:05

A very sad but necessary article.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy74z0e0eg6o

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ArabellaScott · 29/08/2026 11:07

Re Simon Levy:

'You know, it wasn't just the Met that let these families down, it was the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service), it was the court system, it was the prison system, it was everyone.
"Anyone and everyone that has a duty to ensure that these people don't slip through the net."
Smallman says she is "mystified" over the repeated failings to stop Levy.
"I don't understand why a man with a record such as his could not turn up for court appearances and he's not taken in. I don't understand," she said.
"The only way to understand is: the whole system is crumbling. The problem is that each organisation doesn't work together, they don't talk to one another."
The Met and British Transport Police, along with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), have all apologised over a series of decisions that left Levy free to attack women.'

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MarcTheGenderSkeptic · 29/08/2026 11:19

I've never been this despondent about my beloved country. And the most painful thing? It could all have been prevented, so easily.

IrnBruAndDietCoke · 29/08/2026 11:20

I’m not 100% sure that crumbling is the right way of looking at it. That implies there was ever a time when it was fully working or when these departments were doing what we would expect. Take the case of Carmenza being dismissed due to working in the sex trade. I doubt there was ever a time in the past where that didn’t happen. That’s a long-held prejudice.
I see it more as a broken system that’s not getting any better, and in certain spheres, it’s regressing.

PrancingPanda · 29/08/2026 14:09

Absolutely the case with sex trade workers being dismissed.
Shades of Sutcliffe in the 70s and 80s

ArabellaScott · 01/09/2026 13:39

IrnBruAndDietCoke · 29/08/2026 11:20

I’m not 100% sure that crumbling is the right way of looking at it. That implies there was ever a time when it was fully working or when these departments were doing what we would expect. Take the case of Carmenza being dismissed due to working in the sex trade. I doubt there was ever a time in the past where that didn’t happen. That’s a long-held prejudice.
I see it more as a broken system that’s not getting any better, and in certain spheres, it’s regressing.

Fair points, if sobering.

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Wishesandhorses · 01/09/2026 14:46

I am no fan of Blair, but his govt did produce some very good drives in their first term towards better services and provisions, actually better, with actual values underpinning them, and actually attempting to move services towards catching those who fall through the net. The introduction of a strong ethos of joint working and communication between services (linked to the Climbe inquiry) was one of them. It was sound practice.

It's now vanished, in part from services being cut to the bone and badly funded, (no capacity to talk to other services, no time to communicate); and increasingly service provider front line thick skins and distance from service users. Because otherwise workers would lose heart and give up, what with all the funding based evasion and gatekeeping they have to do that involves rejecting people in need, and all the hard work and money now spent on meetings etc trying to avoid having to take on someone that more work and responsibility has to be provided for, unless they really is no escaping them. And most of all, it failed through lack of accountability and consequences for not doing it.

We've had many papers since this time asking why child safeguarding practice (which includes joint working, sharing information) has been something professionals are trained in, but is not actually used, and why the repeated failure of joint working, among other areas, underpins so many serious case reviews. It's known and understood why. But no action results from all that understanding.

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