Philip Schofield: As far as I am concerned, I no longer have a brother."

[DancingWithMashedPotato]

Philip Schofield's brother had now been convicted of sexual abuse with a young boy over a 3 yr period. Horrendous crime. Philip Schofield has now stated "As far as I am concerned, I no longer have a brother.""

Now, it's completely up to Philip how he responds to his brother in what must be a v v stressful time. I cast no judgement whatsoever, and his life in the public eye adds so many new dimensions for him that must be hard to handle.

However, his comments about no longer having a brother really cut deep and made me wonder how I'd react

I adore my siblings and I think (though obviously things might be different if it actually happened) that I couldn't bring myself to disown or abandon my brother's no matter what they did. I can imagine some very limited events which might lead to me not speaking to them for a bit, perhaps a v long time. But I think by and large, no matter what they did, however bad, while there are some things I couldn't forgive and maybe could never understand, I don't think I could disown them. AIBU?

What are your views? Are there some things you absolutely would disown your family for? Are there some generally agreed limits for what a person can tolerate from a family member before they are disowned. Is child abuse the line? Murder?

No, that's not what I'm saying at all.

So you're basically saying you could imagine staying in touch with a family member if they abused somebody else's child but may consider cutting them off if they abused one of your own? Why does it matter whose child they abused? A child somewhere has been used and abused but that's OK because its not one of mine - is this the moral line? xxx

Funny that my reply has been deleted for breaching talk guidelines but the reply including the photo of him with Matthew McGreevey remains 😂

It's not ok ever, in any situation. I have never said horrendous crimes are ok. They are absolutely not and a great many crimes make me feel physically sick and are deplorable. Of course it's not ok, ever, to abuse anyone.

I was just wondering about what would make me disown a sibling. If one of them committed an abohrant crime, would I disown them? I don't know. I would hate what they did. Probably hate them from quite a long time. Never forgive what they did and would be pleased to see them face the consequences via prison etc.. But would I disown them? Say they are no longer my brother? I don't know if I would.

Oh I want to know what you said now to get deleted 🤔

I think that people who've suffered traumatic childhoods themselves and end up on drugs and committing crime in order to feed that habit, or involved in gangs etc are perhaps a bit different to those who sexually abuse children. Most people in jail have had issues in their past and deserve compassion even if they've ended up too messed up to function in society, however it's only a small minority who end up purposely hurting a child. I have more sympathy with someone who turns to heroin and shoplifting than someone who becomes a paedophile.
Of course, lots of people (maybe even the majority) do turn a blind eye to family members and community members abusing children. There are so many stories about catholic priests and step fathers and all the rest. It's easier to report someone now than it was 40 years ago, especially if the reporter was of low social status and the perpetrator was a senior or respected male.
It's very complex and I don't know that anyone could know for sure how they would act

Absolutely no way could I remain in contact with a family member/anyone who took advantage of vulnerable young and innocent children. It's an utterly horrendous crime.

I suspect you haven't got children??

I was more subtle than posting that photo that’s for sure!

I also had a post deleted despite being very careful to include only facts that are uncontested by PS and in the public domain.

I don’t know why this happens, every PS thread they get very “delete” button happy.
He has never denied his relationship with Matthew McGreevy and it’s discussed and posted about all over the Internet.

Someone is reporting. They'll have a full time job.

There is nobody in the world, including my own children, that I would stick by if they were a paedophile. I have disowned my own brothers already for far less. I find your loyalty strangely misplaced.

I only have a sister thankfully.

I’ve done the same for the same kind of reason. I adore my niece and nephew but I can’t be around my older brother as it tacitly condones the behaviour.

Time for Philip to go it is morally indefensible that he didn’t report it to the police but then morally there are many question marks around Philips moral compass as we all know despite the big wigs at ITV treating the British public like fools

I completely agree about the hypocrisy, if what I have read on mn is true (I only found out about it on here). Does the brother have learning difficulties? Not that it excuses anything, but could be relevant. I never thought about it until today, when I saw photos and noticed he had a noticeably low forehead compared to his brother.

Fairly sure his defence would have brought it up as mitigation or something if it was the case.

Generally people will expect higher standards of behaviour towards close family and friends than strangers though. Disingenuous to suggest otherwise. I would regard stealing from your own grandmother worse than stealing from a stranger (neither are ok, but doing it to a close relative feels worse). I buy Primark clothes that I know are probably made by people working in poor conditions. I would never let my own child work in those conditions if I could prevent it but I close off my mind if it's an unseen child far away who suffers. People fight over school places because they want the best for their child but it's ok for someone else's child to go to the less good school. People think it's ok to close pass a cyclist because they are delaying them - they probably wouldn't take the risk if the cyclist was their own child, but for a stranger it's ok to endanger them for no real reason. You only have to look at the extreme attitudes towards asylum seekers from a sizable minority of British people including those in government - would they send their own 18 year old alone to Rwanda? No I don't think so. Their own 18 year old can barely wash his own socks. But it's fine for someone else's.

Child abuse is an extreme example but the same principle applies and people will vary in where they put that cut off. In reality lots of people turn a blind eye to abuse as long as it doesn't affect them or their children

Ditto.

@ForestofD
I think you've hit the nail on the head, I'm pretty sure this is a "journalist".

Exactly this!! It was only when the knowledge became public and it became a threat to his lucrative career that he came out with this!!

They are both a couple of dirty little men.

yeah its funny how hes been on contact with is brother until it became public

easter holidays is great timing noone will be talking about this in two weeks when he comes back

Yes, you really are.