Owzabout That Then? The Jimmy Savile Revelations & Aftermath

[Coal]

I'm not sure the Steve Coogan drama about Savile, due out sometime this year, is a good idea:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2...-air-this-year-despite-concerns-over-reaction

Concur.

 

[escargot]

I'm not sure the Steve Coogan drama about Savile, due out sometime this year, is a good idea:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2...-air-this-year-despite-concerns-over-reaction

I'm looking forward to this. I trust everyone who is involved with it.

 

[escargot]

This is about the Lucy Letby case.
Senior staff who suspected Letby of interfering with babies' treatments were persuaded to drop the matter.

It is relevant here because if the staff were legally obliged to report their well-founded suspicions to the police, and if Letby were indeed harming babies (on which charge she is still on trial) then further incidents could have been prevented.

Doctors pressured ‘not to make a fuss’, trial of nurse accused of killing babies hears

(Doctor) Jayaram told the court he wished they had bypassed hospital management and contacted the police.

He said was a “matter of regret that had I suggested this, and it could have been happening, I didn’t really have any hard evidence apart from the association we had seen”. He added that it was “a matter of regret and I wish I had been more courageous.”

 

[Ghost In The Machine]

You will suddenly remember his name when you least expect it.
The subconscious is grinding away, sifting through all the thousands of names you've learned over the years, comparing them to your clear memory of his face.
Give it time.

Also, some people have a scarily accurate memory for names. Chances are, one of your former colleagues will know what Pervy Sir was called and should your paths cross, they will ask if you've heard any more of him.

I bet. I once was desperately trying to remember a phone number I'd last known many years before. It came to me weeks later, in a dream. I rang it just to see if it was really the one my conscious mind had been trying to remember - it was! Person who answered had known my old friend I was trying to find (days before social media) as they'd been the previous tenant of the flat and the new tenant vaguely knew them but didn't know where they'd gone. As soon as I woke up, I'd written it down on a piece of paper and it did look very familiar - but I couldn't remember it.

I can remember the names of most kids I taught and defo the faces but the weird thing is, there are only a very few whose surnames I can remember at all. Very few whose first names I forget. The worst kids are the ones you have no difficulty remembering their names! Colleagues I remember most if not all of them very clearly but not always their names lol.

ETA: My party trick as a teacher was I could memorise an entire class's first names by the lunch time of the first day I taught them. Remembering them now is easier as I was a primary teacher so had the same kids all day for a year - not sure I'd remember so many if I'd taught secondary where you might just have them for a lesson or two a week but there I guess, you'd remember your own form's names..?

 

[Ghost In The Machine]

I'm not sure the Steve Coogan drama about Savile, due out sometime this year, is a good idea:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2...-air-this-year-despite-concerns-over-reaction

Too soon?

Ah I dunno. I suppose someone was going to do it, might as well be Coogan.

 

[Ghost In The Machine]

This is about the Lucy Letby case.
Senior staff who suspected Letby of interfering with babies' treatments were persuaded to drop the matter.

It is relevant here because if the staff were legally obliged to report their well-founded suspicions to the police, and if Letby were indeed harming babies (on which charge she is still on trial) then further incidents could have been prevented.

Doctors pressured ‘not to make a fuss’, trial of nurse accused of killing babies hears

There was a kid I taught I suspected was being beaten up at home but I actually got carpeted for bringing it up to the Headteacher. Other staff who'd been there longer, told me afterwards, she was scared of the mother (who was doing the beating). The kid turned up with a black eye and an ever changing story which raised red flags. Head not only covered it up but refused to get any agencies involved - was told afterwards the parent in question had told her previously she knew where she lived and would stove her windows in.

I'd been trained to raise it with the Head if I thought a child was being abused or hurt in any way at home. That particular Head was so terrified of parents, she let a child get hurt. Social Services were beyond useless, of course. (And only the Head could trigger any other involvement in those days, dunno if it's different now).

"Not making a fuss" isn't confined to medics. I had some sleepless nights about kids I taught in that school (and others), where Headteachers failed to act or positively prevented a child from getting help. Class teachers had no power in that situation then. I hope it's better now.

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

Too soon?

Ah I dunno. I suppose someone was going to do it, might as well be Coogan.

It's not just that.
The fact that it was commissioned by the BBC - the very corporation that was accused of turning a blind eye to Savile's crimes, sounds like a red flag to me.

 

[PeteS]

There was a kid I taught I suspected was being beaten up at home but I actually got carpeted for bringing it up to the Headteacher. Other staff who'd been there longer, told me afterwards, she was scared of the mother (who was doing the beating). The kid turned up with a black eye and an ever changing story which raised red flags. Head not only covered it up but refused to get any agencies involved - was told afterwards the parent in question had told her previously she knew where she lived and would stove her windows in.

I'd been trained to raise it with the Head if I thought a child was being abused or hurt in any way at home. That particular Head was so terrified of parents, she let a child get hurt. Social Services were beyond useless, of course. (And only the Head could trigger any other involvement in those days, dunno if it's different now).

"Not making a fuss" isn't confined to medics. I had some sleepless nights about kids I taught in that school (and others), where Headteachers failed to act or positively prevented a child from getting help. Class teachers had no power in that situation then. I hope it's better now.

And yet I know the mother of a pre teen girl was called into school by the head teacher because the school thought the child was "too thin". She is very tall and thin as is her mother and grandmother( as was her great grandmother), nothing to do with neglect or abuse just genetics. Grandmother had to put the school "right". Priorities and get some springs to mind, despite the damned if they do or don't type argument.

 

[escargot]

There was a kid I taught I suspected was being beaten up at home but I actually got carpeted for bringing it up to the Headteacher. Other staff who'd been there longer, told me afterwards, she was scared of the mother (who was doing the beating). The kid turned up with a black eye and an ever changing story which raised red flags. Head not only covered it up but refused to get any agencies involved - was told afterwards the parent in question had told her previously she knew where she lived and would stove her windows in.

I'd been trained to raise it with the Head if I thought a child was being abused or hurt in any way at home. That particular Head was so terrified of parents, she let a child get hurt. Social Services were beyond useless, of course. (And only the Head could trigger any other involvement in those days, dunno if it's different now).

"Not making a fuss" isn't confined to medics. I had some sleepless nights about kids I taught in that school (and others), where Headteachers failed to act or positively prevented a child from getting help. Class teachers had no power in that situation then. I hope it's better now.

Where was the duty of care in that school?

A child who is neglected or abused, and who knows absolutely nobody in the world will stand up for them, is learning a very hard lesson. Had a bit of that myself and it made me determined never to dismiss children's problems. If adults know, it's our duty to intervene.

You know all this and so did that Head. It should have been taken to the police.

 

[escargot]

I'm not sure the Steve Coogan drama about Savile, due out sometime this year, is a good idea:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2...-air-this-year-despite-concerns-over-reaction

Techy and I very much enjoyed The Crown and looked forward to the last series, where, we were promised, a prominent individual would be depicted advising and mediating between Prince Charles and Princess Diana.

We eagerly anticipated the tracksuits, jangly gold chains and cigars.

Spoilered for those who haven't seen it yet -

What did we get? John Major, ably played by Jonny Lee Miller.

About as diametrically opposed a personality to Savile's as one could imagine.

Not an arm-licking or goosing in sight. Netflix weren't going there.

 

[Ghost In The Machine]

Where was the duty of care in that school?

A child who is neglected or abused, and who knows absolutely nobody in the world will stand up for them, is learning a very hard lesson. Had a bit of that myself and it made me determined never to dismiss children's problems. If adults know, it's our duty to intervene.

You know all this and so did that Head. It should have been taken to the police.

She didn't take it anywhere and it wasn't possible to go direct to the LEA over her head, as her husband was a high up, IIRC (either that or a Head himself who had a lot of connections, I forget). The whole thing would have been quietly "filed". (I hadn't been teaching long but already knew how incompetent and positively malign sometimes, that LEA was).

I should add: was only a supply there but the staff who'd had to put up with this Head told me that she only got the job after her husband threw a dinner party for some high ups in the LEA. Prior to that she had been so lacklustre she had got well into her 40s without any promotion then suddenly, mysteriously, got this headship out of the blue when she was totally incapable of the job. It could be that because I was a supply, I wasn't believed but also the child probably wasn't seen as a potential victim because he wouldn't tell anyone what had happened and every time I had asked, I got a different story. Can't recall the details at this length in time but it was along the lines of, he'd say he'd walked into a door, then a wall, then fallen over... No explanation he gave ever implicated the parent. But none of the stories he told were consistent which made me think summat had happened to him.

I had been a neglected and in some ways abused child myself, so I had an instinct about it but the child wouldn't say a word and the Head was terrified of some of the parents, including that one and so I think the child was questioned, then I was carpeted for having raised the issue in the first place, then the whole thing was dropped. As a supply, I couldn't push it.

We were trained to take it to the Head and they dealt with it how they saw fit - as a class teacher, you couldn't go over their heads (so to speak). As a supply, I wasn't in a position to do anything other than keep an eye on the kid and if there had been another incident whilst I was there (there wasn't), I'd have had to go to her again (and been carpeted afterwards, again). That was very much the culture, then - you got the strong hint that you were the problem, as a teacher, if you raised any red flags. "The past is a different country" etc. (I kind of hope things have changed). I went in some hellholes as a supply, that was one of the "nicer" schools, as well, just for context.

This was at the height of social services taking kids away from their families for imaginary satanism, etc, so I wonder now whether it was also the case that heads at that time were reluctant to act, because they feared they'd trigger a child being removed from their family? Of course, now it's gone the other way and social services deliberately leave kids with abusive parents. I got the distinct impression I was strongly disliked for having even raised the issue.

 

[Ghost In The Machine]

And yet I know the mother of a pre teen girl was called into school by the head teacher because the school thought the child was "too thin". She is very tall and thin as is her mother and grandmother( as was her great grandmother), nothing to do with neglect or abuse just genetics. Grandmother had to put the school "right". Priorities and get some springs to mind, despite the damned if they do or don't type argument.

And there will be other schools that terrorise kids for being "too fat" no doubt...

One of my babies was kept an eye on for "failure to thrive". Newly weaned, there was hardly a food he'd eat apart from donuts or yogurt... Nothing we could do about it! So when a weigh in was coming up, we stuffed him with donuts...

A few years on, he was diagnosed as having dyspraxia - impossible to diagnose in a baby - and sensory integrative dysfunction. Certain tastes and textures in particular repulsed him. Not his or our fault just the way he was wired. (The next son ended up being dyspraxic and autistic - he went through a lengthy phase of only eating white, white-ish and dry, foods!) We were made to feel like crap parents because our child was born dyspraxic, in other words.

By child 3 I stopped bothering with health visitors.

That son is now an adult and has no problem stuffing his face with any food. (Or drink).

 

[escargot]

She didn't take it anywhere and it wasn't possible to go direct to the LEA over her head, as her husband was a high up, IIRC (either that or a Head himself who had a lot of connections, I forget). The whole thing would have been quietly "filed". (I hadn't been teaching long but already knew how incimpetent and positively malign sometimes, that LEA was).

I should add: was only a supply there but the staff who'd had to put up with this Head told me that she only got the job after her husband threw a dinner party for some high ups in the LEA. Prior to that she had been so lacklustre she had got well into her 40s without any promotion then suddenly, mysteriously, got this headship out of the blue when she was totally incapable of the job. It could be that because I was a supply, I wasn't believed but also the child probably wasn't seen as a potential victim because he wouldn't tell anyone what had happened and every time I had asked, I got a different story. I had been a neglected and in some ways abused child myself, so I had an instinct about it but the child wouldn't say a word and the Head was terrified of some of the parents.

We were trained to take it to the Head and they dealt with it how they saw fit - as a class teacher, you couldn't go over their heads (so to speak). As a supply, I wasn't in a position to do anything other than keep an eye on the kid and if there had been another incident whilst I was there (there wasn't), I'd have had to go to her again (and been carpeted afterwards, again). That was very much the culture, then - you got the strong hint that you were the problem, as a teacher, if you raised any red flags. "The past is a different country" etc. (I kind of hope things have changed). I went in some hellholes as a supply, that was one of the "nicer" schools, as well, just for context.

This was at the height of social services taking kids away from their families for imaginary satanism, etc, so I wonder now whether it was also the case that heads at that time were reluctant to act, because they feared they'd trigger a child being removed from their family? Of course, now it's gone the other way and social services deliberately leave kids with abusive parents. I got the distinct impression I was strongly disliked for having even raised the issue.

I totally get where you're coming from on this; you tried to put the child's interests first but were defeated by corruption.

This is how the bastards get away with it.

That poor child. As you'll know, kids usually won't disclose because they are afraid of bringing down a load of trouble on themselves.
Any outcome they can imagine is worse than what's actually going on.
If they're believed, maybe they'll go into care along with their siblings and Parent will go to prison.
If they're not believed, Parent will be informed and there will be more violence than before.

Been there, had all that, except I certainly would not have been believed.

The next kid down in the family and I used to walk past a house that had an NSPCC plaque on the gate, like the local branch. We'd discuss knocking on the door and asking for help.

 

[Ghost In The Machine]

I totally get where you're coming from on this; you tried to put the child's interests first but were defeated by corruption.

This is how the bastards get away with it.

That poor child. As you'll know, kids usually won't disclose because they are afraid of bringing down a load of trouble on themselves.
Any outcome they can imagine is worse than what's actually going on.
If they're believed, maybe they'll go into care along with their siblings and Parent will go to prison.
If they're not believed, Parent will be informed and there will be more violence than before.

Been there, had all that, except I certainly would not have been believed.

The next kid down in the family and I used to walk past a house that had an NSPCC plaque on the gate, like the local branch. We'd discuss knocking on the door and asking for help.

A GP sent social workers round to my house when I was a child. Social services? Sent my stepmother a letter saying when they were coming round. She cleaned the entire (filthy house) and they walked in to the smell of cakes baking and coffee brewing...

No doubt my GP got some grief for that, after. As I did.

At the time, I told one of my friend's parents - who seemed kind and sympathetic - what was going on at home, and about the failed social workers' visit. She knew all about it. Couple years back, I was messaged out of the blue by that friend and incredibly, the mum was still alive and it turned out, had stayed in contact with my stepmother after she moved away and thought she was a wonderful person. Kids, in the 70s, weren't believed. And in the 80s, neither were class teachers lol. But well, you can imagine why that situation when I supplied in that school, was so upsetting and triggering to me. And looking back, I suspect the reason I was carpeted was to scare me off going to the police (working on the assumption that even that useless Head had worked once as a teacher so must have known social services were pointless in these scenarios). I don't think I was scared so much as stymied as the child wasn't going to tell the truth and I could see me even questioning him was distressing, so I had to drop it. Then I moved away for other supply work. Went back there just once more, on day supply for one day, a year later and my old colleagues told me the Head was as terrible as ever. I don't recall whether I saw that child or not as I had a different class. But some of the other kids who knew me came up at a playtime or lunchtime to catch me up on news, which I've never forgotten - such great kids.

Tldr: 70s and 80s were different times when kids weren't believed and potential whistleblowers were put down hard and fast by those with more power. Compounded by incompetent/aggressive social services, too quick to believe abusers and ignore the child. A child like me who spoke up - disbelieved or ignored. A child like the boy I taught on supply who refused to speak up - case dropped and/or prevented from being raised.

 

[Ogdred Weary]

It's not just that.
The fact that it was commissioned by the BBC - the very corporation that was accused of turning a blind eye to Savile's crimes, sounds like a red flag to me.

The BBC is not a single entity as in "being", it has thousands of employees. How many of those responsible for covering up/turning a blind eye are even there anymore?

I don't know that there should be a drama, documentaries are enough but I don't see that it's too much of an issue that the BBC is making it. It's not something that I'd commission were I in charge but I don't think it's inherently "dodgy" as it were.

 

[Frideswide]

It's not just that.
The fact that it was commissioned by the BBC - the very corporation that was accused of turning a blind eye to Savile's crimes, sounds like a red flag to me.

If they didn't, "people" would say they were ignoring it and sweeping it under the carpet.

 

[Frideswide]

One of my babies

yes yes yes! seen this so much. Expert and excellent parenting @Ghost In The Machine

 

[escargot]

The BBC is not a single entity as in "being", it has thousands of employees. How many of those responsible for covering up/turning a blind eye are even there anymore?

I don't know that there should be a drama, documentaries are enough but I don't see that it's too much of an issue that the BBC is making it. It's not something that I'd commission were I in charge but I don't think it's inherently "dodgy" as it were.

A drama is a great idea. We'll be able to see how Savile went about his offending. Survivors of his abuse have been consulted so the scenes of it, if there are any, will be accurate.

Having been constantly harassed as a teenager by apparently respectable men who took their cue from creatures like him, I'm wondering what the 'Savile move' was that he bragged about.
Was it like Trump's self-described pussy grab? Did Savile do that to teenagers? Will we learn what went on?

Some of Savile's victims asked to meet Coogan in his Savile get-up. What followed has not been made public.

Coogan himself took care to chat with the younger actors before filming scenes, reminding them that he was still just Steve and not Savile, and everyone was doing a job of acting.

The subject has been covered before, notably by Floodlights, the BBC2 drama about the abusive football coach Barry Bennell.

Here's a Guardian article about it:
‘Secrets kill’: the harrowing drama about sexual abuse in football

Everything rings true – at times, grotesquely so. Bennell (played by Jonas Armstrong) is astonishingly, authentically repulsive: wheedling, bantering, manipulating, terrifyingly changeable in tone and mood; playing his young charges off against each other; and exploiting his gatekeeping power and sinister charisma to the full.

'gatekeeping power and sinister charisma' - does this sound familiar?

 

[Peripart]

I'm wondering what the 'Savile move' was that he bragged about.
Was it like Trump's self-described pussy grab? Did Savile do that to teenagers? Will we learn what went on?

I can't see Savile as being quite the same sort of adorable charmer as DJT.

 

[Ghost In The Machine]

A drama is a great idea. We'll be able to see how Savile went about his offending. Survivors of his abuse have been consulted so the scenes of it, if there are any, will be accurate.

Having been constantly harassed as a teenager by apparently respectable men who took their cue from creatures like him, I'm wondering what the 'Savile move' was that he bragged about.
Was it like Trump's self-described pussy grab? Did Savile do that to teenagers? Will we learn what went on?

Some of Savile's victims asked to meet Coogan in his Savile get-up. What followed has not been made public.

Coogan himself took care to chat with the younger actors before filming scenes, reminding them that he was still just Steve and not Savile, and everyone was doing a job of acting.

The subject has been covered before, notably by Floodlights, the BBC2 drama about the abusive football coach Barry Bennell.

Here's a Guardian article about it:
‘Secrets kill’: the harrowing drama about sexual abuse in football


'gatekeeping power and sinister charisma' - does this sound familiar?

Interestingly, as a kid, I always assumed my stepmother had zero charisma or charm in any situation - she was a total POS. Years later, I found out even some of my own relatives were fooled by her; the local church thought she was a sterling person - and even friends' mums who had seemed sympathetic to me (to my face), were taken in by her. Much of my teen years is a blank but one memory I do have is of coming back from the said friend's house, after the social workers had left. And sitting on the stairs hearing my stepmother screaming and ranting, in the kitchen, about how I'd "lied" to people, including this friend's mum - and what would they think of her, etc? I always privately assumed they saw her for what she was - a shit. But in fact, she must have gone round and wheedled round them after. (I had no idea that she had, but she must have).

I wish we'd had the term "gaslighting" in the 70s as that's what she did - her and many other abusers of kids. We didn't even have the vocabulary to describe it.

I messaged back the childhood friend on FB to tell her the truth and say I was really shocked she and her mum had been taken in by my stepmum. No reply. I don't really care - but I couldn't live with them not knowing the truth. But other people we put right years later, have responded differently and found it believable.

My very unpleasant and apparently uncharismatic stepmother clearly had a way with her, that some people - well, credulous social workers and other folk in the village - fell for.

Even as a kid, I found it instructive that she was only bothered by what other people would think of her. Her own actions totally didn't matter. The truth (which on some level, however mentally ill, she must have known), was irrelevant to her way of thinking. All that mattered was what outsiders thought. I guess that was how Savile went about it, as well - constructing this persona that the credulous fell for. His victims had already seen the reality and he could count on the fact that they wouldn't be believed.

Just saying this as my whole time in that house and later, and even now all these years on, whenever I think of her the last thing that comes to mind is "charisma". Yet on some level, even the repulsive Savile must have had that, as did my stepmother. And all the other 70s' abusers.

 

[PeteS]

Interestingly, as a kid, I always assumed my stepmother had zero charisma or charm in any situation - she was a total POS. Years later, I found out even some of my own relatives were fooled by her; the local church thought she was a sterling person - and even friends' mums who had seemed sympathetic to me (to my face), were taken in by her. Much of my teen years is a blank but one memory I do have is of coming back from the said friend's house, after the social workers had left. And sitting on the stairs hearing my stepmother screaming and ranting, in the kitchen, about how I'd "lied" to people, including this friend's mum - and what would they think of her, etc? I always privately assumed they saw her for what she was - a shit. But in fact, she must have gone round and wheedled round them after. (I had no idea that she had, but she must have).

I wish we'd had the term "gaslighting" in the 70s as that's what she did - her and many other abusers of kids. We didn't even have the vocabulary to describe it.

I messaged back the childhood friend on FB to tell her the truth and say I was really shocked she and her mum had been taken in by my stepmum. No reply. I don't really care - but I couldn't live with them not knowing the truth. But other people we put right years later, have responded differently and found it believable.

My very unpleasant and apparently uncharismatic stepmother clearly had a way with her, that some people - well, credulous social workers and other folk in the village - fell for.

Even as a kid, I found it instructive that she was only bothered by what other people would think of her. Her own actions totally didn't matter. The truth (which on some level, however mentally ill, she must have known), was irrelevant to her way of thinking. All that mattered was what outsiders thought. I guess that was how Savile went about it, as well - constructing this persona that the credulous fell for. His victims had already seen the reality and he could count on the fact that they wouldn't be believed.

Just saying this as my whole time in that house and later, and even now all these years on, whenever I think of her the last thing that comes to mind is "charisma". Yet on some level, even the repulsive Savile must have had that, as did my stepmother. And all the other 70s' abusers.

Credulous social workers speaks volumes. I've known a few and find it fascinating (in a negative way) that 20 something sw's are able to pontificate on cases when they have in the main very little life experience. In our neck of the woods where sw are desperately needed older people in that profession are few and far between and largely brilliant at what they do. I've always maintained that you should be at least 40 to be allowed into the profession.

 

[Spookdaddy]

...I've always maintained that you should be at least 40 to be allowed into the profession.

I suspect many of the older and more experienced social workers leave the profession before it kills them, hounded to the point of breakdown - not only by the demands of the job itself - but by the conflicting demands and expectations of a hysterical media and an unforgiving general public who are utterly lacking in any understanding of the issues they are faced with.

I suspect all social workers of any generation start off as idealists - but we soon batter that nonsense out of them.

I have known several social workers of various ages. They are generally fine people - and the best of them work incredibly hard in thankless and demanding situations - but they all carry with them the air of the doomed. I admire the decent people who walk into that cauldron willingly.

 

[Ogdred Weary]

I suspect many of the older and more experienced social workers leave the profession before it kills them, hounded to the point of breakdown - not only by the demands of the job itself - but by the conflicting demands and expectations of a hysterical media and an unforgiving general public who are utterly lacking in any understanding of the issues they are faced with.

I suspect all social workers of any generation start off as idealists - but we soon batter that nonsense out of them.

I have known several social workers of various ages. They are generally fine people - and the best of them work incredibly hard in thankless and demanding situations - but all they carry with them the air of the doomed. I admire the decent people who walks into that cauldron willingly.

I recall seeing a letter from a trainee social worker into a paper or magazine about the appalling and tragic "Baby P" case. The media and public were asking "how could this have happened?" The person writing said that they were frequently doing 10hrs unpaid overtime per week to keep up, and that, as a trainee, their workload was half that of someone fully trained.

 

[escargot]

she was only bothered by what other people would think of her.

That rings so true.

 

[Shady]

I am unsure as to why they want to make a film about a child molester and why someone would want to play that part

 

[Cochise]

I am unsure as to why they want to make a film about a child molester and why someone would want to play that part

Especially as all opportunities to investigate him at the time were turned down from the highest level so we can never really know what happened, although there is more than enough evidence that he was a wrong'un.

But whether he was just a systematic groper or something far far more serious is ever going to lie in the 'unsolved'. I know I believe he was everything that he has been insinuated to be, but there will never be verifiable truth, same as for certain other very powerful figures. (child homes, Jersey, cough cough)

I have personal experience, as a child, of how certainly back then, maybe even now, people in positions of power - even if it is just your maths master - can deflect any and all accusations made against them.

 

[escargot]

It's drama, all about the power: who holds it and what they can do with it.
In literature and drama we expect redemption. There won't be much here, and that will be real enough.

I am unsure as to why they want to make a film about a child molester and why someone would want to play that part

Actors love to portray unpleasant characters. It's acting, it's what they do.
We'd be stuffed for entertainment if they only wanted to play loveable characters. They can't all be Tinky Winky.

 

[Shady]

I understand that, but he was a horrid perverted guy, I couldnt watch it.

 

[PeteS]

I suspect many of the older and more experienced social workers leave the profession before it kills them, hounded to the point of breakdown - not only by the demands of the job itself - but by the conflicting demands and expectations of a hysterical media and an unforgiving general public who are utterly lacking in any understanding of the issues they are faced with.

I suspect all social workers of any generation start off as idealists - but we soon batter that nonsense out of them.

I have known several social workers of various ages. They are generally fine people - and the best of them work incredibly hard in thankless and demanding situations - but they all carry with them the air of the doomed. I admire the decent people who walk into that cauldron willingly.

My view entirely.

 

[PeteS]

Especially as all opportunities to investigate him at the time were turned down from the highest level so we can never really know what happened, although there is more than enough evidence that he was a wrong'un.

But whether he was just a systematic groper or something far far more serious is ever going to lie in the 'unsolved'. I know I believe he was everything that he has been insinuated to be, but there will never be verifiable truth, same as for certain other very powerful figures. (child homes, Jersey, cough cough)

I have personal experience, as a child, of how certainly back then, maybe even now, people in positions of power - even if it is just your maths master - can deflect any and all accusations made against them.

Yes it was completely different back then. Thankfully attitudes are changing somewhat, as we have seen recently, but it'll never be a perfect world. I honestly doubt that the revolting JS would have got away with it for so long in the current climate.