You assume that because the media has been pushing that narrative for decades. But this is about the police being actively involved in committing these crimes. They were protecting themselves.
Replies
Not just the media. I was a councillor in Bradford from 1999-2003. Although I wasn't senior enough to have been directly involved in decisions influenced by perceptions of 'community feeling', I know enough from those who were that it was a factor.
jul 30, 2025, 12:30 pm • 1 0 • view
It feels nicer to think that. That doesn't mean it's actually true.
jul 30, 2025, 12:31 pm • 0 0 • view
I've had a lot of shit to deal with in life so it's hard to relate to people who are still so in denial of how much structural and systemic injustice there is in this nation.
jul 30, 2025, 12:32 pm • 0 0 • view
Exactly, 'rocking the boat' in this situation meant digging into the collusion between police officers and criminal gangs, something multiple police forces have *never* been keen on doing.
jul 30, 2025, 11:59 am • 3 0 • view
It meant both. Political decisions can (and almost always do) have more than one reason behind them. But those links between corrupt and criminal coppers, and the gangs involved, would have been much less likely in the first place if the abuse had been dealt with properly.
jul 30, 2025, 12:25 pm • 0 0 • view
You have your chronology backwards. They didn't start being corrupt because of the cover up. They covered it up because they were already corrupt.
jul 30, 2025, 12:28 pm • 5 0 • view
That's not quite what I'm saying. Bent and abusive coppers look for opportunities, the same as abusers, cheats and defrauders anywhere. The cover-up - which went *far* wider and higher than just them - enabled them to join in the abuse because they knew (or expected) it wouldn't be exposed.
jul 30, 2025, 12:35 pm • 0 0 • view
It's instructive to think a little about exactly *why* the cover-up had to go 'wider and higher'.
jul 30, 2025, 2:54 pm • 2 0 • view
We're in danger of going down conspiracy rabbit holes here. The answer is straight-forward: moral cowardice.
jul 30, 2025, 3:04 pm • 0 0 • view
Rejecting the analysis of structural and systemic factors is what leads people down the conspiracy rabbit hole. Moral failure is the issue. Not the answer to the issue.
jul 30, 2025, 3:23 pm • 3 0 • view
It's like you're desperate to find a reason to locate the cause outside of existing systems and structures. It's weird.
jul 30, 2025, 2:14 pm • 0 0 • view