Sadiq Khan has no idea what grooming gangs are.

[NoNever]

Sadiq Khan either really doesn’t know which makes him incompetent or is pretending not to know which makes him complicit.

https://x.com/sammywoodhouse1/status/1879943683082186847

I think the thing with gangs in general is that there is something holding them together.

So, where I live, there is a recent resurgence of biker gangs involved in organized crime.

These gangs are almost always completely white, and some are known for being racist (though I think that's not as common any more.) but - it isn't actually race or ethnicity that defines or brings these people together - they aren't a "white" or "European" gang as such. They will include people from lots of different ethnic backgrounds, all mixed in together, based mainly on where they live.

so when they are investigating these groups, ethnicity is not really a factor the police consider, it's not that important as a linking mechanism. And it doesn't explain anything about why these guys end up in biker gangs. There are other factors that seem to draw people in.

With the Asian grooming gangs, ethnicity is an important element, and something that is important for police to consider when trying to understand the organization of the gangs. Cultural beliefs also seem to be a factor in their behaviour.

It's not just a sex thing, or a non-white thing either. Lots of organized crime is run by ethnically defined white groups too, and it's also an important part of how the police understand their organization.

When the Conservatives were decimated in the GE meaning there was no opposition to speak of, never could we have guessed at Elon Musk &Co stepping forward.
It's crazy to think that the American government will be the thorn in Labour's side.
I don't care who digs out the elite who covered this up, just do it.

Yes that's very true @TempestTost . As I said upthread Khan is able to deflect the question under the guise that Hall is an extreme politician and hasn't got integrity. It's a let off for him. He's not being held to account properly (on this and possibly many other issues)

I was just thinking about Sturgeon's reign in Scotland resting largely, from what I can gather, on the "well at least we're not the Tories". And this is happening all around the world it seems. Although, as we see with Sturgeon, it worked. Until it didn't.

I'm hoping there's plenty of investigative journalism on the case @PiggyPigalle for a start.

Has anyone got any idea of who might be looking into it?

I don’t think it’s a let off for him, it shouldn’t be for anyone.

He was asked a question and failed and tried to be goady

This all reflects badly on the man not the woman

It's not racist to acknowledge that these organised gangs of brutal, violent rapist men had underlying common features, and some of them had elements of race/culture.
This is going to be discussed, until our lame government does something about it to bring some kind of justice to the many girls and young women who have fallen victim to these gangs. So many men have got away with it. So many people in positions of power have failed these girls

This, and I cannot comprehend the amount of women on these threads and elsewhere who refuse to acknowledge this, who play down these aspects, preferring to prioritise their personal political leanings over what happened to those girls at the hands of those culturally and sometimes race driven Rape Gangs. I listened to Julie Bindel debating Ayaan Hirsi Ali on a podcast recently and it was obvious that Julie was speaking very carefully and in purposeful political denial on order to maintain her very left leaning politics, which seemed to genuinely confuse the ex Muslim and thoroughly articulate and wonderful Ayaan. I was embarrassed for JB quite frankly.

As for Sadiq Khan, he is destroying London. I’ve lived here for almost 25 years and the deterioration is horrifying. I wouldn’t ever expect him to acknowledge the Rape Gang issues. I’ve yet to see him communicate with his critics in a polite and reasonable manner, or acknowledge his failings in any way. His disgust when challenged by women is palpable and he can barely respond with basic courtesy to them.

Just watched this - SK comes across really badly. Deflecting by pretending not to understand the question what 5 times or more? Grooming gangs target young vulnerable girls in care might have some overlap in victims but it's not the county lines issue and to mix them up shows he's either unwilling to acknowledge this as a separate category of crime, or ignorant. He's obviously unwilling and the result is that these criminals, due to their race, get less police attention.
It is them that are being racist by turning a blind eye to them but not to criminals from other racial backgrounds. Can you imagine if Pakistani girls were being systematically targeted, he'd be all over that (as we all would), but if it's Pakistani perpetrators suddenly he's all "can you explain, I don't know what you mean".
Interestingly the next question was about the recent increase in racism and Islamophobia and he only needed to hear that question once and he was off like a rocket about threats increasing - meanwhile actual violence committed repeatedly against defenceless children gets pushed under the rug.
And he doesn't put 2 and 2 together. No wonder there's an increase in support for right wing parties including Reform when they're the only ones seeking answers on child protection issues.

His country of origin is England. He may be of Pakistani descent, but he was born in London.

He is useless

London has become a shithole under his mayorship

The point is not the absolute number of British-Pakistani grooming gangs, but the fact that the rate of this type of crime is significantly higher among British-Pakistani man.

There are multiple aspects to this problem. The gangs have to be tackled, whoever is involved. But part of that is recognising that there seems to be something about the culture these British-Pakistani men exist in that tells them this is acceptable behaviour.

Yes, it might be a racist dog whistle among those who are racist, but it’s still valid to acknowledge this aspect of the problem of the gangs, that British-Pakistani men are disproportionately more likely to be involved in them.

@beguilingeyes

"His country of origin is England. He may be of Pakistani descent, but he was born in London."

Oh leave it out. This is nit picking on both words, origin and descent, to prove a ridiculous point. I am born and bred in London, have lived in West London all my life. Both my parents were immigrants who came in the 70s. Yes I am British but England is not my country of origin. If people from my country of 'descent' were being talked about like this, of course I would take it personally and feel differently towards it. Trust me, so does he!

She was asking how many grooming gangs are currently being investigated in London. Maybe she should have worded it like that. But I knew what she meant, he knew what she meant, and if he didn't know the answer, he should have said that. He chose not to, and ended up sounding like a prick. Which is what he is. I can't stand him.

It's quite clear to me that he's trying to goad her to say Pakistani grooming gangs.
Because of course there are grooming gangs in London (people traffickers/ pimps etc of all ethnicities) but it sounds very much like he's being intentionally difficult to try and get her to attach an ethnicity to it

The little worm knows exactly what he is doing. He's goading her and she's not falling for it.

It's because of specimens like him that these grooming gangs were ignored for years, because people don't want to be called racist. He is/was using his race to his advantage and would have turned the debate into a pity party.

The simple fact is that grooming gangs exist, of course they'll be gangs of all different races but this is aimed at predominantly Pakistani Muslim gangs. We must be afraid to say that.

*shouldn't

I think it's more like he's trying to avoid a headline, since it's Susan Hall asking him. He does acknowledge exploitation is a big problem.

Maybe that's why Sadiq's idea of tackling sexual violence against women is to put up a bunch of posters advising men to say "M-a-a-a-t-e" if they see their friend sexually harassing a woman - he simply hasn't spotted the presence of large gangs of men raping young women.

Sorry but I kind of have to side with Khan here. How many people need to be involved before it counts as a "gang"? And do you count organised crime groups who mostly do other things but engage in a bit of grooming on the side?

Still not sure he answered it very well though, he didn't have to treat it so antagonistically.

He didn’t respond as you have so why side with him?

Being clear is different to being goady

I disagree. He was goading her to see whether she would say the word Pakistani so he could call racist. It didn't work. The correct - and only - answer would be that he is working with the Police to ensure zero tolerance of these evil men whatever their ethnicity and protection for the victims. We won't get that from SK. He should be ashamed of himself.

I would like to thank @SugarandSpiceandAllThingsNaice for the posts, because it helps show the attitude that has allowed these awful crimes to continue over decades.

It's the All Live Matter attitude that tried to gloss over Black Live Matter. It's the "if you talk about this, you're racist" attitude. When these opinions come about you have to ask why are you so desperate to deflect attention?

Yes, it's the very definition of virtue signalling, whilst doing nothing to combat the problems.

He is happy to spend millions on advertising campaigns, yet does nothing to direct police to focus on certain crimes/areas etc. I think there are a lot of friends in advertising agencies making a nice tidy sum out of it.

If course he knows.

But knowing and actually caring are two completely different things.
Good old labour.

How many of these white grooming gangs have police tiptoeing around them? How many have the police and social services disregarding the victims and placing blame on them? How many have politicians falling over themselves to shield and protect the facts being examined?

The fact these gangs are men of Pakistani background only became an issue because those that were supposed to be investigating and prosecuting them made it one. It became an issue because those that should have been listening to and protecting the girls made it one.

blackandwhitefur · Yesterday 22:53
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He's clearly avoiding the subject because he knows full well it's happening in London and because the gangs are from the same country of origin as him, he wanted to 'catch her out' and deflect the issue

SK’s “country of origin” is England.