To think that the outcome of any child abuse probe centering around Westminster is foregone?

[MarmaladeShatkins]

And the outcome will be that no living politicians will be outed?

I think they will pin it on a few deceased MPs and continue to cover up the involvement of any public figures still alive. There might be one sacrificial lamb to silence the public but I think it will still be a big cover-up.

I do not believe that the police should police the police and that is exactly what is happening with Butler-Sloss heading the inquiry.

And it won't matter because the Great British Public has the attention span of a gnat and will have moved on to something else by then anyway.

Yes, exactly.

I am just waiting for a big news story to break to distract us all from this. Any bets on what it might be?!

I hope not.

the murder of a character from a soap opera?

The shaking of a shiny bunch of keys?

I totally agree - that's exactly what's going to happen.

Why is no-one furious about this? :(

People are furious but have no faith in any of the government parties or establishment that the truth will come out.

There will be half truths and miss direction. I think we have become desensitised to all the lies and spin

I am furious about it. What makes you think nobody is furious?

I am furious that it happened. and continues to happen, make no mistake about that.
I am furious that it may very well have been organised by very powerful people. People who we trust and who have utterly abused that trust.
I am furious that those people continue to ensure their own protection and apparently consider the lives they have ruined as nothing.
I am furious that so many people appear more interested in soap operas and other trivia than the very important issues in this world because as long as enough people don't care, don't question and don't act, others will continue their activities without consequence. But people would rather gossip about towie and get passionate about football than get angry about abuses in this world. And I think it is because they feel 'well, what can I do? I'm just one person, I have no power. And that is right. 1 person has little or no power. a million 'one persons' have a lot of power. 5 million 'one persons' have even more. But if people can't see that, then nothing will ever change and people have been conditioned to feel that way because they are no threat to the status quo in that state.

If this story doesn't get swept away, they'll likely offer a couple of people up and hope that does the job.

This is true, Ronmione.

I've been doing a lot of reading up during the last few days and it's fucking frightening just how far the tentacles of corruption are spread. Government, police, royalty, celebrities... You start to wonder if they're looking at us wondering why we're making such a fuss, it is normal behaviour after all.

"If this story doesn't get swept away, they'll likely offer a couple of people up and hope that does the job."

Yup.

When I said why is nobody furious, I didn't mean on an individual level. I meant why is there no mass protesting? No public uproar? You're right in that we're all apathetic about everything bar soaps and trivia.

It'll just be like any other inquiry, yeah there were 'mistakes' but things have moved on since then, we'll learn from those mistakes, here are 28 recommendations which we won't ever act on.

If the reason for it is to reassure the public that it's being dealt with objectively, it being headed by an 80 year old woman who lots of credible people have reservations about (including the victims) isn't the way to go.

Her saying she's not bothered what people think of her role just sums it up for me. Why doesn't she care what the victims think? If she's not fussed about being accountable to the public/victims then who is she accountable to?

It's just another cover up of the cover up, people are furious but what can we do? Sign a petition? Write a stiff letter? They'll be quaking in their boots.

And I don't believe for one minute that this has all stopped, those manipulative deviant fuckers will still be preying on vulnerable children, they can't help themselves.

Power, money and fame are a heady mix.

Yes. And there is also classic misdirection. A very often used ploy through history.
Give the serfs an enemy, stop them from looking towards their real one.
I give you disability bashing and benefit bashing.
We need to understand who the real bad guys are.

That is what I meant by a distracting news story. I bet there'll be Muslim fundamentalists found bribing our kids in parks and threatening to make the Queen wear a burkha before this "inquiry" is through.

Oddly, I have higher (still not very high) hopes for an enquiry right now, because the cosy, entrenched power structures between politicians, police and media have been shaken up by Leveson and the Coulson et al trial. Also by the temporary disruption of the effectively two-party nature of UK politics.

The power structures will all settle down again in a few years, but meanwhile there are careers to be made upsetting the applecart, and less incentive to keep shtum in return for a predictable ladder upwards.

This is the sort of time when stuff does come out. Though how much remains to be seen.

I think appointing Butler-Sloss just shows that the government don't actually give a fuck what the public think. Even if she is personally and professionally beyond reproach, her brother was AG around the time the files went missing, and she is well known as a tory supporter. So not even slightly impartial.

Do they think we haven't noticed? I agree that they think we'll have forgotten all about it by next week, then the inquiry can quietly conclude that they must try harder next time.

If her appointment is so unsound, does that mean Cleveland should also be re-done?

She has admitted ballsing upon information presented to her in previous child abuse cases, she is the sister of a peer linked to thewhitewashing of a paedophioe case involving MPs and she lied that F4J issued her with death threats.

I'd say she is untrustworthy, part of the problem with the establishment and has a massive agenda. Everything she has dealt with should be looked at. But apparently, she is beyond reproach.

I'm assuming Butler-Sloss will be replaced in the next few days. Otherwise, just give cost of the enquiry to me, Dave, and I'll spend it on a party for MN and therapy for a few thousand survivors. At least someone will get something out of it.

Because it's pointless going ahead with her. I'm sure she's highly qualified: shame her conflict of interest completely rules her out.

Unfortunately children and abuse victims are treated like second class citizens where their rights are almost non-existent next to the abuser's.

Like any scandal, this is probably another media circus where it will be public only so long as it gets eyeballs and generates ad revenue on the page. Leaving a huge mess with no restitution for the victims.

Yep.

It's all over already.

But she didn't know about the connection Parsing, she thought her brother worked on the bins before this week.

So now she knows that means she's going to investigate what happened with her brother covering up what went on with that diplomat without being influenced by her relationship with him? (Didn't the MP who wrote the report in the 80s pass it on to her brother too? Because he was the attorney general?)

Yeah, course she will.

I think a media circus is exactly what this needs Squiggly, it's been kept out of the headlines for too long.

Here's that petition, let them know we are watching

I wonder if there will be a resurgance of vigilante-type groups, taking matters into their own hands. You can see why people think reporting abuse through the proper channels is a complete waste of time.