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

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.

I got that point, but my point is that is not a fact. Reference the police data on this and the studies I have linked in the thread. There is no ethnicity that is over-represented beyond normal statistical noise when it comes to group based sexual exploitation of children in the U.K..

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.
It would have to be British culture then as they offend at essentially the same rate as all other British men.

… 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.
No, they are not more likely to be involved in them. Again look at the links posted upthread.

She asked “Just how many grooming gangs have we got in London?”

BUT this was after they had already discussed crime, including sexual offences and what Khan was doing about it. AND this is a question that Hall knew was unanswerable. Her careful wording of it was racist in that it implied as a British Pakistani man he would have inside knowledge. Which when he asked what did she mean by her question, Hall doubled down on the dog whistling by listing ONLY convicted grooming gangs that were majority British-Pakistani men and pretending he was asking what is a grooming gang instead of asking her what she means by her ‘Just how many grooming gangs have we got in London?’

Yes he could have just let it go and tried to answer this bad faith question with good faith information, but why should he? Why should he be courteous to her when she was doing a racist dog whistle in the public eye? So disrespectful and divisive of Hall. She didn’t deserve his courtesy. You do a racist microaggression towards a minority, then sorry, but you deserve them responding in a prickish fashion.

Exactly.

Yes he could have just let it go and tried to answer this bad faith question with good faith information, but why should he?

Because he's the fucking mayor of London.

I feel that as hideous as the gangs are... andI I think they should all be locked up forever...the fundamental issue is society's (almost always men's) attitude to these girls, and women.
The victims weren't believed. They were dismissed as slags, or prostitutes or complicit in some way. From the police and social services to just about everyone else until the sheer volume of cases got too big to ignore.
It was the same with Savile. He picked on vulnerable girls..in care etc...and no-one took the complaints seriously because it was 'just a few women'.
Any rape victim who comes forward, it seems to me is automatically discredited and abused. Witness the current furore over Neil Gaiman. If the perpetrator is even a little bit famous they're after his money.
I don't know what the answer to this is. We live in a deeply mysoginist society and quite a lot of the time it feels as though it's getting worse.

He had already said that right before Hall started speaking.
He even reiterated it after the exchange shown in the clip in the OP.
You’re just smearing him now.

In which case apologies Sugar, the clip I saw linked was simply him being very very evasive on the 'what even is a gang' line. He has an appalling track record with dealing with women's issues in which his main achievement seems to be getting rid of anyone with GC views so I suspect it is just words but at least he said them.

I don't know what the answer to this is. We live in a deeply mysoginist society and quite a lot of the time it feels as though it's getting worse.

Well I know the answer isn't to pretend that documented cases of organised gangs who share common features raping thousands of vulnerable girls isn't relevant or noteworthy.

This point scoring pissing contest is disgusting.
I wonder if any one of the thousands of children abused by gangs would have given a shit what race their abuser/s was.
I didn't. They happened to be white, in a largely white community in the 80s.
I'm not ok with this being a taboo subject because people are afraid of being accused of racism.
How about we don't refer to anybodies race (unless police need help finding someone) and just refer to the offences they have committed?
It has become so complicated at the very time it needs to be made simple 😔

The only common feature is they are MEN. HTH

She didn’t deserve his courtesy. You do a racist microaggression towards a minority, then sorry, but you deserve them responding in a prickish fashion.

This is the most ridiculous comment on the thread. He was asked a question about something everyone knows exists that has happened all over the country. It's a concern many of his constituents (or whatever you call them) have. It's not a "racist microaggression". Attitudes like yours are the problem. If he can't do the job he's been put in place to do, he needs to fuck off.

The only common feature is they are MEN. HTH

No it really isn't. You are completely uninformed.

Ty. The full assembly meeting was posted upthread, Hall even thanked him for making safety for Londoners a priority. Here it is again:
https://webcasts.london.gov.uk/Assembly/Event/Index/b6c327e0-234b-434f-9544-e08547e71fde

I'm not ok with this being a taboo subject because people are afraid of being accused of racism.
How about we don't refer to anybodies race (unless police need help finding someone) and just refer to the offences they have committed?

Because sometimes it's relevant to investigate why these things are happening. It's not really about race, it's more about micro cultures in particular areas.

We didn't say "it's wrong to talk about cathollic priests specifically because most child abusers aren't Catholic priests"

Yes we need to tread carefully. That doesn't mean we pretend it isn't happening.

Clinging to a far right racist myth isn’t the same as being informed.

Another link to yet another study.

”This week marks a watershed moment in a decade of discussion of “grooming gangs”: a much-anticipated Home Office report has concluded that there is no credible evidence that any one ethnic group is over-represented in cases of child sexual exploitation.
For many in Britain today the term “grooming gang” immediately suggests Pakistani-heritage Muslim men abusing white girls, but the Home Office researchers now tell us that “research has found that group-based offenders are most commonly White”.
A powerful modern racial myth has been exploded. What started as a far-right trope had migrated into the mainstream, meeting little resistance along the way. In 2011, the Times and its chief investigative reporter, Andrew Norfolk, claimed to have uncovered a new ethnic crime threat, shrouded until then in a supposed “conspiracy of silence”.
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2020/dec/analysis-new-home-office-report-admits-grooming-gangs-are-not-muslim-problem

I'm not "clinging to a far right racist myth". All you have is insults and government spin.

This. 100%

Every community has groups of socially and/or financially powerful men who intentionally prey on women and children of lesser social standing. Every. Single. One.

In Rotherham the men in the grooming gang considered the girls as disposable and deserving of what they had coming to them. Sadly, this turned out to be a view shared by the police and social workers who they came into contact with. You can bet there would have been no such "concern that the ethnic element could damage community cohesion" if those men had been targeting people with higher social 'value'. Those working class girls were seen as worthless. That was the problem. That was the loophole exploited by those despicable men.

I'm aware of said report and it's been criticised at length by others, I can link if you like but they're going to be sources you won't approve of.

You don't seem to understand the gravity of these horrific offences, and how much they've been turned a blind eye to because people either were afraid to talk about them, or pretended they were.

For many in Britain today the term “grooming gang” immediately suggests Pakistani-heritage Muslim men abusing white girls, but the Home Office researchers now tell us that “research has found that group-based offenders are most commonly White”.

Firstly, they only have ethnicity data of a third of all perpetrators. So they are not in a position to comment definitively either way.

Secondly. What's the relevance that most are? This is a white majority country. This specific organised sexual crime phenomenon has common patterns. It's whataboutery designed to shut people down.

I am just watching this and feeling vindicated for all of us who knew this was happening decades ago. Nobody in or close to the government has any right to pretend they don't know all of this. The people living in the affected towns were told to sit down and shut up, people who spoke up were threatened. We knew it went all the way to the top of the labour party. The postal vote scandal came out years ago in Tower Hamlets. Nothing has changed.

And it's not going to wash, which is why the government have belatedly announced some inadequate level of action. Because they know that just airily handwaving it away and dismissing it isn't an option at this time.

With Savile the "scandal" was how he was protected and abetted by his celebrity and connections and the victims dismissed until it got too big to ignore.

With Priests the "scandal" was how they were protected and abetted by the church and the victims dismissed until it got too big to ignore.

The same thing is happening with the rape gangs - they are being protected and abetted by the police and social services and the girls were dismissed.

It's not racist to highlight that the rape gangs enjoyed a level of protection because of their race anymore than it is to highlight that Savile enjoyed a level of protection because of his celebrity.

Exactly.

No. Sacred. Castes.

And still the only person in prison around the Epstein case is a woman...