"The Daily Speculation" and "The Alarmist Times".

by Anna Raccoon on July 27, 2015

I’m starting to count the number of times that the early morning news contains the words ‘The Prime Minister will tell business leaders today’ or ‘George Osborne is expected to announce’; I’m counting as a means of stopping myself hurling things at the radio or television. There are only so many times a week you can replace a TV set.

“News”, I used to screech, “I want you to tell me the news, not what you think might happen – I want to know what has happened.”

It used to be that they followed up these speculative announcements with a shorter version of what really happened a few days later. They don’t bother any more. Now we just get the lurid breathtaking allegation from one party, and possibly a ‘correction and clarification’ down at the bottom of page 16 weeks later.

For those of you who don’t know, both the Guardian and the Daily Mail have now issued apologies to Huw Wheldon’s family for claiming that ‘he groped incontinently’ whilst working at the BBC. Huw Weldon died in 1986. The article now reads ‘Malcolm Muggerridge groped incontinently’. He died in 1990 – but no apology to him or his family for a similarly worded claim made by Jean Seaton in the media…does Malcolm Muggerridge not have a similarly offended family? Will there be a further correction?

Last week we had a series of headlines:

‘It’s shocking social workers have the power to rip a family apart’

‘David & Goliath battle for little girl’.

‘MPs back Gran, 58, branded too old too adopt’.

Grandparents claim granddaughter 3 put up for adoption by council ‘because they’re too old’.

As ever – check the small print. Here is a copy of District Judge Hodges’ judgment.

The family was already ‘ripped apart’. The child’s mother had suffered a ‘longstanding mental health problem’, and had an ‘unhappy and dysfunctional childhood’ which had a ‘negative impact upon her parenting capacity’. She was vehemently opposed to her daughter being brought up in the same atmosphere.

It could be that her claims of a dysfunctional childhood were borne of her perception of her childhood viewed through the prism of mental illness. But hark, what is this? It seems that the grandmother also has mental health issues and is on constant medication. The grandfather apparently felt that ‘now he was retired’ he would be able to cope with two female mentally ill women and a three year old girl. No help was forthcoming from the father who has a string of serious convictions.

Notwithstanding all that, the grandparent’s views as portrayed by the media were expressed after the mother had said her final goodbyes to her daughter, after the daughter had been given appropriate information about her forthcoming new home, and was apparently quite content that she was going to have new parents. Had the Judge sanctioned an appeal at this late stage, one little girl would have been very confused by the sudden change of plans.

It has become fashionable in the media to knock social services, to portray all family courts as uncaring machines that exist only to snatch children from their Mother’s breast, or the grandmother’s kindly arms. Headlines such as these only pander to the same rabble rousers in society who wish us to believe that every street, every avenue in Britain, contains at least one blood drinking, devil worshipping, baby skinning group of individuals.

For it is a curious fact that many of the people who foment a belief in satanic abuse are the very same people who campaign against social services and ‘forced adoption’. I am at a loss to understand where exactly these ‘at risk’ children are to be placed? The internet is littered with sites using graphics such as the one above, promoting the idea that the state is ripping children away from blameless apple-pie making moms and pops on spurious grounds; the lack of insight from those who comment on such sites would be amusing if there was not a child’s future at stake.

‘Corrupt social workers are threatening to steal my baby […] my first son died when I left him in the care of a partner, and my daughter went into care when I was in prison for manslaughter’.

‘I have four children in care, but now I have a new relationship and social workers say I can’t keep my baby’.

I am even more at a loss to understand why the media are so willing to publish alarmist comments and allegations before the proven facts – the news – is available, and then do nothing to correct the impression they have given. There is nothing stopping journalists sitting in the family courts and hearing the actual evidence – true, they cannot identify parties, but they can avail themselves of the facts and not rely on quotes from the anonymous disgruntled ‘losers’ in these cases.

Hands up if you spot a newspaper article reflecting the actual reasons why this little girl’s long term interests were put before the wishes of the adults.

{ 48 comments… read them below or add one }

Syd July 27, 2015 at 9:10 am

Too true, we no longer have news, instead we have a news forecast; errors in ‘news’ are therefore accepted as it was only ever a forecast and regardless, the audience only has a 3 minute attention span….
Keep up the good work!

Moor Larkin July 27, 2015 at 9:17 am

Presumably it’s to do with advertising. Getting the eyes. It doesn’t matter if it’s true or not, all that matters is that eyes look at the page. There was a very good example on the front page of Metro the other week. As a free sheet that is naturally going to be at the head of this process. Anyhow, there was a front page picture of a “young mom and baby” and the story was that a security man in Primark had “ripped the child from her breast” and even caused an injury to the nipple as the baby milk teeth spontaneously clenched as the ripping took place. That was the gist of the front page. Following the story to page 5 or 6 where it continued (how many on a busy bus or tube bother?) there was a statement from Primark utterly refuting the story and commenting that they had CCTV footage of the alleged incident and nothing like the descriptions had happened. Primark slandered, a security guard libelled, and will it ever be retracted? of course not; there is no merit for Primark to pursue the matter, it can only lead to more bad PR for them. The Liars have complete control and all the power…. not unlike advertising perhaps….

Alex July 27, 2015 at 10:42 am: “The Liars have complete control and all the power” – ain’t that the truth!

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Ricky July 27, 2015 at 9:53 am

3 minute attention span is optimistic. Probably to do with presentable gent and attractive woman reading the news one sentence each taking it in turns. So each listener only gets half with full attention.

Mrs Grimble July 27, 2015 at 9:55 am

Social media is a major driving force in this type of thing. Aggrieved parents can now tell their tragic story on Facebook and have it spread across the world while the social workers they’re libelling are gagged by confidentiality rules.
This particular case is a perfect example. It was about a week (after the decision had been made, as Anna points out) ago that the grandparents contacted a US pastor with their tale. as far as I can tell he’s a decent and well-intentioned man; but, with zero knowledge of either the facts or the UK social services, he was instantly outraged and set about spreading it to everyone and appealing for help for these desperate and devoted grandparents. It was only a day or two later that the resultant explosion – filled with outraged Americans fulminating about “SS kidnappers” and “baby-sellers” – appeared on my Facebook feed. From there, within hours, it was spreading similar ignorant outrage in the UK. So this is really a problem of people in general being ignorant and gullible – and I have no idea on how to solve that.
My sympathy here is with the child’s mother; besides mental illness, she also also suffers from a chronic neurological disorder that gives her epilepsy and other problems. Faced with Solomon’s choice, she put her child’s happiness ahead of everything else.

Moor Larkin July 27, 2015 at 10:01 am

Truly a Tower of English Babble problem. This could never happen with French, German or Spanish loonies because nobody could make the lingo go global. One of the early front-runners in the blogosphere about Jimmy Savile was ranting about his big-nosed Jewishness.

Alex July 27, 2015 at 10:44 am

Why the hell do people bother with or use social media? It’s got to be one of the worst aspects of the internet age.

Moor Larkin July 27, 2015 at 12:00 pm: Social Media IS the news though. BBC World Service has whole programming devoted to “what’s trending”. Conflicts in North Africa and Syria are being fought out on twitter/facebook. Photographs are tweeted and become “the news”. Does anybody even know if these have just been plucked from another foreign place on t’internet and relabelled? Does anyone care really? It’s just rolling news innit.

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right_writes July 27, 2015 at 10:06 am

Hi Anna… I ‘ve only read this far so far, I’ll get onto it, just as soon as I have commented….

““News”, I used to screech, “I want you to tell me the news, not what you think might happen – I want to know what has happened.””

I never watch, listen or read the garbage that can be found in the so-called MSM. In short, I haven’t got any idea what is happening out there…

Oh no… Hang on a minute, I haven’t got the foggiest idea what “they” think I should think is happening out there!

Not only does this save on TV sets… I don’t have one any more… It saves on leccy.

right_writes July 27, 2015 at 10:10 am

Oh… further comment Anna… You need to be careful about mental illness too…

In soviet Russia, there were some pretty ordinary folk tarred with this brush… We are living in a society that is not that far removed from that system….

…with its state operated law, education, health, welfare systems that nobody dares to challenge.

Anne. July 27, 2015 at 10:30 am

True, we need to keep an eye on the encroaching Police state..

windsock July 27, 2015 at 11:08 am

I’m not convinced about that… Some mental health diagnoses are next to useless – “personality disorders” being a prime example – they may help explain or describe a person’s overall way of seeing the world but as there is no treatment to “cure”them, only some of the symptoms (such as depression), they could be dangerous.

On the other hand, some diagnoses of mental health are useful to find ways to alleviate the symptoms of suffering for both those experiencing the illness and their carers, whether by medication or talking therapies and other forms of community support.

I would say that as long as we don’t see a significant increase in the number of locked wards, or in the number of occupants, you can feel reasonably safe we’re not heading to the incarceration of “dissidents” on psychiatric grounds.

Of course, eternal vigilance is the price of freedom, but on the other hand – we can’t “afford” asylums any more. The other thing is that big pharma is more of a threat than “state operated law, education, health, welfare systems that nobody dares to challenge” because by pathologising mental conditions (“you feel this way, see the world this way, therefore you are ill and we can treat you”), the industry seeks to maximise profit. Just look at the way the thickness of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders increases with each issue. I may display some cynicism there – maybe better research is now identifying more problems and also better treatments, as mental health is still a relatively young area of research. But I’ll take some persuading.

JuliaM July 27, 2015 at 11:15 am

“…but on the other hand – we can’t “afford” asylums any more.”

It was never about cost.

windsock July 27, 2015 at 11:32 am: I can’t really comment about “then”, but I’m pretty sure about “now”…

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Moor Larkin July 27, 2015 at 12:05 pm

The blogosphere is the asylum though and Freedom of Speech is an essential tool of control. While folk are burbling away, the authorities know who they are, where they are, and how many followers they have. So long as nobody’s paying you any attention, you have unlimited freedom of speech, it’s only if you start “trending” that you become a problem to be solved or a voice to be silenced. I suppose this is one reason “they” hate the Dark Net (whatever that is); it becomes much more difficult to keep tabs on the inmates presumably…

right_writes July 27, 2015 at 12:37 pm

Yes Moor, agreed… I really ought to read more of the comments before I plough ahead…

I agree that “codex alimentari” and big pharma… banks and other massive corporate institutions that represent various international businesses at world level, are very dangerous, but most of us are aware of these things… I don’t see people stating the bleedin’ obvious so often… i.e. the law has been nationalised… where once there was trespass and contract and tort etc…, private law, a matter between individuals, argued before a judge… there is now a government policy and police(y) men to enforce almost everything. We talk about the NHS, but nobody ever mentions the state “education” system, which is really more of a child labour camp… now becoming the standard for children almost from the day they are born… which brings us back to the theme above… who is responsible for children?

windsock July 27, 2015 at 1:25 pm

You are not forced, or even co-erced, into that “asylum” though are you? I don’t Twitter or Facebook or Instagram or Vine or Pinterest…there’s only one or two other sites I comment on, apart from here… and aren’t those who “trend” the harmless seekers of attention, rather than any serious political threat?

Moor Larkin July 27, 2015 at 1:43 pm

* aren’t those who “trend” the harmless seekers of attention, rather than any serious political threat? *
We must be in different asylums…

windsock July 27, 2015 at 1:57 pm

I don’t know… I’ve never “trended”. Have you?

Moor Larkin July 27, 2015 at 4:44 pm: Nearest was a bizarre weekend a while back when I got 3,000 hits from Australia one afternnon. It remains unexplained. I can only assume I got attached to a virus or summat…

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right_writes July 27, 2015 at 12:29 pm

I refer you to the Jeremy Bentham concept, the”panopticon” … Not possible in his day, nor in Soviet Russia, but very much a possibility these days.

Anne. July 27, 2015 at 10:21 am

When was the last time anyone read any actual ‘news’ in a ‘newspaper’ as well as the above mentioned scaremongering believed by idiots – its all about celebrity worship.

Moor Larkin July 27, 2015 at 10:28 am

Plus ca change… maybe

The lunatic is on the grass.
The lunatic is on the grass.
Remembering games and daisy chains and laughs.
Got to keep the loonies on the path.

The lunatic is in the hall.
The lunatics are in my hall.
The paper holds their folded faces to the floor
And every day the paper boy brings more. ”

Pink Floyd – 1973 …

Alex July 27, 2015 at 10:51 am

Classic!

right_writes July 27, 2015 at 12:41 pm

Top trumps…

Roy Harper:McGoohan’s Blues Lyrics:

Nicky my child he stands there with the wind in his hair
Wondering whether the water the wind of the where
I fear that someday he might ask me if mine is the blame
And I’ve got no reply save to tell him it’s all just a game
And Heather and I lay together and I was in love
She weighted up the gains and the losses and gave me the shove
The fear of mankind’s untogetherness pounds in my heart
The deceit of my friends the betrayals of which I am part
And O how the sea she roars with laughter
And howls with the dancing wind
To see my two feet standing here questioning

And I’m just a social experiment tailored to size
I’ve tried out the national machine and the welfare surprise
I’m the rich man the poor man the peace man the war man the beast
The festive consumer who ends up consumed in the feast
And my fife eyed promoter is clutching two birds in the bush
He’s a thief he’s as bad as the joker they’re both in the rush
He’s telling me Ghandi was handy and Jesus sold his ring
(Dunno who to, God maybe)
“And everyone knows dat dis dough’s gonna make me de king”

And O how the sea she roars with laughter
And howls with the dancing wind
To see my two feet standing here questioning

Meanwhile the ticket collectors are punching their holes
Into your memories your journeys and into your souls
Your life sentence starts and the judge hands you down a spare wig
Saying: “Get out of that and goodbye old boy have a good gig”
And the town label makers stare down with their gallery eyes
And point with computer stained fingers each time you arise
To the rules and the codes and the system that keeps them in chains
Which is where they belong with no poems no love and no brains

And O how the sea she roars with laughter
And howls with the dancing wind
To see my two feet standing there questioning

Meanwhile the TV commercials are sweeping the day
Brainwashing innocent kids into thinking their way
The wet politicians and clergymen have much to say
Defending desires of the sheep they are leading astray
And Ma’s favourite pop star is forcing a grin he’s a smash
Obliging the soft-headed viewers to act just as flash
The village TV hooks its victims on give away cash
The addicts are numbers who serve to perpetuate trash

And O how the sea she roars with laughter
And howls with the dancing wind
To see my stupid poetry shuffleing

And the bankers and tycoons and hoarders of money and art
Full up with baubles and bibles and full of no heart
Who travel first class on a pleasure excursion to fame
Are the eyes that are guiding society’s ludicrous aim
And the village is making its Sunday collection in church
The church wobbles ‘twixt hell and heaven’s crumbling perch
Unnoticed the money box loudly endorses the shame
As the world that Christ fought is supported by using his name

And O how the sea she roars with laughter
And howls with the dancing wind
To see my stupid poetry burbling

And the pin-striped sardine-cum-magician is packed in his train
Censoring all of the censorship filling his brain
He glares through his armour-plate vision and says “Hmm, insane”
The prisoner is taking his shoes off to walk in the rain
And the luminous green prima donna is sniffing the sky
She daren’t tread the earth that she’s smelling her birth was too high
Her bank balance castle is built on opinion and fear
Which is all she allows within three hundred miles of her ear

And O how the sea she roars with laughter
And howls with the dancing wind
To see my stupid poetry burbling

And I’ve seen all your pedestal values your good and your bad
If you really believe them your passing is going to be hard
And I’ve thought through our thought and I know that its blind silly season
Occurs when our reasoning is trying to fathom a reason
And if you really know it’s all a joke but you’re just putting me on
Well it’s sure a good act that you’ve got ‘cos you never let on
But if all of that supersale overkill world is for real
Well there’s nowhere to go kid so you might as well start to freewheel

And O how the sea she roars with laughter
And howls with the dancing wind
To see my two feet standing there burbling

And I had this dream in here same time as standing awake
These various visions rushed through as I giggled and quaked
The distant guns thunder my end and I duck for a while
Auntie Lily is handing me candy she chuckles I smile
And our village is where I was born and it’s where I will die
And I’ll never be able to leave it whatever I try
The ebb and the flow of the forces of life pass me by
Which is all that I’ll know from my birth to my last gasping sigh

And O how the sea she roars with laughter
And howls with the dancing wind
To see the dying lying there obeying

My age and my time
The blood fire wine and rhyme
That fills my dream reminds me of an atom in a bubble on a wave
That held its breath for one sweet second then was popped and disappeared
Into fruitful futilities meaningless meaning
Meaningless meaning

Under the toadstool lover down by the dream
Everything flowing over rainbows downstream
Silver the turning water flying away
I’ll come to see you sooner I’m on my way
And there’s a mirror that I’m looking straight through
And I get it
And there’s a doorway that I’m ducking into
To forget it
But flashing just beyond the sky the shattering midnight gathers
And reminding me behind my mind the earth quakes the sun flakes flutter

Over the mountain fairground
Candy flies stay
Under the moonshine fountain
I’m on my way
Lemon tree blossom ladies
Poured my tea
After the blue sky breezes following me
There’s a river that I’m making it with
And I know it
And I’m floating to I don’t care where
I just go it
But flashing just beyond the sky the shattering midnight gathers
And reminding me behind my mind the earth quakes the sun flakes flutter

Daffodil April petal hiding the game
Forests of restless chessmen life is the same
Tides in the sand sun lover watching us dream
Covered in stars and clover rainbows downstream
And the question in the great big underneath is forever
And the fanfare that I’m forcing through my teeth answers “Never”
But the flashing just beyond the sky the shattering midnight gathers
And reminding me behind my mind the earth quakes the sun flakes flutter

The pumpkin coach and the rags approach and the wind is devouring the ashes.

Phew.

Moor Larkin July 27, 2015 at 12:48 pm

… and Roy was innocent, not that the newspapers will remind you of that fact…

right_writes July 27, 2015 at 4:26 pm

Indeed, he is… Like me though, he has decided that there is nothing left in England to stay for.

Moor Larkin July 27, 2015 at 4:48 pm

http://jimcannotfixthis.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/leaving-crease-with-straight-bat.html

right_writes July 27, 2015 at 8:50 pm: Ta…

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Alex July 27, 2015 at 10:50 am

I keep trying to tell my aged father (who is addicted to BBC news 24 and reading newspapers), that it’s mostly made up stories with no real journalism involved. I would go so far as to say that the MSM is little better than Hello or OK or Take a Break magazines. The TV news is not that far removed from something like the Jeremy Kyle show.

Engineer July 27, 2015 at 11:26 am

This cropped up in the print edition of The Telegraph on Saturday 25th July. The journalist concerned (sadly, I can’t find the article in the Telegraph’s on-line edition archive, so to my shame can’t give credit for a piece of decent journalism) reported the stories of ‘two grandparents, 58 and 70, too old to adopt, but then went on to explain that the judgement said nothing of the sort. It seems that the grandmother has suffered from depressive episodes for many years, a problem that adversely affected the raising of her daughter, the mother of the child now under consideration for adoption. It also mentioned that whilst the grandparents’ ages were stated once, at no point in the judgement is there any suggestion that they are too old to adopt.

One thing I did find whilst hunting for said article was that on Monday 20th July the Telegraph published an article on it’s website ‘reporting’ pretty much the same as the erroneous articles from rival newspapers quoted by Anna. Consequently the Telegraph doesn’t quite get 10 out of 10.

Zippgun July 27, 2015 at 12:04 pm

Then there’s “storm over” and “fury at” – terms use ad infinitum in The Daily Mail. Usually it means a couple of people, some self appointed pressure group with 6 members, or a gaggle of echo chamber twatter virtue signallers, have complained/are angry about whatever it might be. It’s thanks to such headlines that obsessive/hysterical nutters have an influence on public policy out of all proportion to their numbers.

Moor Larkin July 27, 2015 at 12:16 pm

The trick here though is why those particular six become the chosen ones by the arbiters of the taste of the masses, and why others do not.

Bill Sticker July 27, 2015 at 5:33 pm: Because they’re drama queens, and reasonable people with reasonable, observed views aren’t really news are they?

Most of the ‘news’ is drama porn.

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Ed P July 27, 2015 at 9:15 pm

I’ve always assumed these mundane phrases are computer-generated. Even local newspapers, noted/celebrated for the poor quality of thier journalism, do not descend to using such repetitive stock phrases. Perhaps The Mail has just the one near-human, Dacre and loads of electronics?

alan1803 July 27, 2015 at 12:36 pm

Yes, I get pretty irritated with the “George Osborne/Harriet Harman/Nicola Sturgeon will say….” story. In the Guardian, “Mystic Pat” Wintour is the worst culprit for prophetic reporting. I think the twenty-four hour news agenda imposed by the internet is to blame. If the hack read the press release, but actually waited for the politician to spout, he/she would be behind the pack. This does occasionally lead to a politician’s departure from the previously released script becoming a story in its own right.

JimS July 27, 2015 at 1:46 pm

There is nothing new in this ‘news’ forecasting. Probably 20 years ago I was describing it as ‘Speculation, Hype and Irritating Trivia’.

Particularly bad instances are when a speech is ‘pre’-reported and THEN we are told how the opponents will respond in their speech, neither speech having been made. At that point the smart politician should bin the original speech and wrong-foot opposition and the media! But then the media would hold a grudge forever, I expect.

Moor Larkin July 27, 2015 at 1:52 pm

Surely the media are part of the spin machine. The relevant person gets an idea of how things might be perceived while they still have time to tweak anything too unpopular out of it. The only falling out would be if the speaker misled the media simply to make them look stupid. If that was the case though, the speaker would lose future co-operation. It can also be bade news god news strategy – the leak makes something sound much worse than the final speech demonstrates it to be; I can imagine the media would happily play along with that. They get lots of eyes for the “fear and “furore” but since they are in on the scam, there is no bad feelings. It’s a basic management racket – let rumours spread of big and nasty changes and then implement much less and the workforce are relieved and co-operate. Basic crowd psychology.

Mudplugger July 27, 2015 at 4:20 pm: Indeed some of us are even old enough to remember when the contents of the Budget were secret until the Chancellor of the day stood up in the House and spoke them. Now most of the key items are pre-trailed, quietly briefed to the media, so that any sting can be spin-managed ahead of the real speech, leaving just the odd tasty ‘rabbit’, usually a friendly give-away, to be plucked from the hat in the last minutes, aimed at leaving a ‘positive’ overall feeling after a week of more negative pre-leaks.
This pattern now applies to almost all government actions, enabling any reaction to be neutralised over a period of days. Blair may have started it, but Camerborne have taken it to a new level.

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macheath July 27, 2015 at 4:42 pm: The BBC – and in particular the Today Programme – has suffered for some time from this premature prognostication.

This was particularly noticeable in the case of Eds Miliband and (now surgically removed) Balls, whose smallest doings were the stuff of major news headlines up to a week in advance – always amusing when Miliband then ducked out of actually saying the bit of his speech the BBC had reported on in such depth (as in the admission of errors in Labour’s immigration policy, which he somehow ‘forgot’ to make during a speech to a decidedly multicultural audience).

‘Scam’ and ‘racket’ sound about right.

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English Pensioner July 27, 2015 at 4:19 pm

I agree with what you say about the media, but my own brush with social workers some 35 years ago and more recently that of a young friend four years ago leaves me in considerable doubt as to the competence of many of them.
The wife of my young friend died of cancer when their daughter was just turned three. Somehow the social services heard of this and came to see him. The first thing that they suggested was that a man couldn’t bring up a young daughter by himself and that it would be best if he had her adopted. He was astonished, he’d lost his wife and now they wanted to take his daughter, so he made it very clear that he intended to keep his daughter.
They made subsequent visits, he felt they were looking for fault rather than trying to help, and again suggested she should be adopted. Fortunately, both sets of grandparents live within an hours drive and he has good neighbours who can help him when necessary, particularly with collecting her from school.
I just wonder if they would have taken the same approach if it had been a mother, widowed, with a child?

Carol42 July 27, 2015 at 5:43 pm

As with most of these cases there is always more to it but once that comes out the MSM just drop the story so most people are left with the original version.

Margaret Jervis July 27, 2015 at 6:44 pm

Yes – and often the media will rely on pressure groups and lawyers to back up the ‘story’ – cases are often sad, difficult with no easy solutions – and there’s a lot of bad judgement around, vested in authority.
But your comment about the original story being dropped once the the counter version comes out is all too true in criminal cases. Lurid headlines and narratives are drawn from the the prosecution opening. Often when a case collapses or there is an acquittal the MSM has moved on.
Prosecution ‘narratives’ often feed into (and off) the conspiracy theories leading to a distorted image of real crime and rough justice for the innocent.
We all pick ‘n mix to suit our prejudices – haven’t seen many on this site questioning the ‘Asian sex gang’ stereotype or ‘1400 victims’ in Rotherham . See this – written in 2011 http://saff.nfshost.com/asiangangs.htm – further articles on Chris Saltrese website and blog on Rotherham.

JuliaM July 28, 2015 at 5:53 am: “…haven’t seen many on this site questioning the ‘Asian sex gang’ stereotype…”

Kinda hard to, really, when new cases (with the same old names and beards) keep popping out of the woodwork, what..?

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windsock July 28, 2015 at 7:05 am: I was taught, when I was a nipper trainee journalist hanging around the local magistrates courts, that when details of a case were written once, before any verdict, the newspaper HAD to publicise the final result by law. If we just wrote that so-and-so had been committed to the Crown Court for trial on such-and-such a charge , we still had to get CC press services to follow up.

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The Blocked Dwarf July 27, 2015 at 7:30 pm

my first son died when I left him in the care of a partner, and my daughter went into care when I was in prison for manslaughter’.

I am the first one to admit that we, or rather I because one cannot hold a paranoid psychotic responsible for her actions or inactions, “fucked up” (a social workers’ technical term I believe) our kids’ upbringing . Especially in the case of Eldest Dwarf Spawn. I have recounted before the tale of his illegal, at speeds even Germans consider respectable, night time departure from Germany -how we smuggled him out of the country before they came to take him into care.

I still think we made the right choice.

BUT and it is a BIG one; If German Social Services had taken him into care then it would have been justified in my opinion. OK, later we found out that Eldest Son’s ‘erratic’ behaviour (a kleptomaniac without kleptomania) was largely due to undiagnosed juvenile diabetes but neither we nor Social Services knew that at the time.

So I am always just a little skeptical when I hear of “Evil Corrupt Social Workers TEARING families apart”, I’ve known and worked alongside quite a few of them and TBH the only thing corrupt about most of them was their livers. Mind you, that was 30 years ago when Social Workers could still smoke in public and didn’t need to worry about OFFENDING whichever community….

Moor Larkin July 28, 2015 at 12:35 pm

What’s the inside track down home then, shrunken observer?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-33674221
“Black was painted as a victim by her defence, who maintained she only ended up in court because of a terrible combination of circumstances… She chose not to give evidence in her own defence, but vehemently denied all the charges against her… When returning to the dock after the guilty verdicts were read out she said: “We’ve been stitched up.”

The Blocked Dwarf July 28, 2015 at 1:49 pm: I only heard it on the “PM” prog last night on the way to my weekly meal at that fine Norwich eating establishment known as “The Airport McDonalds”, so no inside track from me but i dare say The Landlady has been following the local news.

Two things jump out at me though from the link: The court heard that the trial had originally been due to start last year only to be delayed when prosecutors raised concerns over changes made by social workers to statements taken from the children.
This resulted in Norfolk Police launching an investigation into anomalies in documents. Prosecutors decided no action should be taken, Norfolk Police said after the trial.

and maybe more worryingly (mindbogglingly?): Some of the abuse involved children’s toys, including Barbie dolls. I assume that nice Mr. Mattel is instructing his lawyers as we speak.

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