Child abuse was known about in the 1990s, for a Minister to state it was not understood, is diabolical. There was wide-spread political cover-ups of the situation, country-wide. My sister reported a manager in a children’s hostel, of suspected child grooming. Only for her to be moved to housing and for no action to be taken by Labour-controlled Manchester City Council! And Manchester City Council’s Children’s Services are still inadequate, leaving children vulnerable to child abuse; Manchester’s children put at risk
In yesterday’s Guardian, Margaret Hodge spoke about her time as leader of Islington Council, when it was proved that a paedophile network had been sexually abusing vulnerable children in every one of the council’s children’s homes.
Her own tenure was not without its controversies: within weeks of taking on the job, accusations resurfaced that while she was leader of Islington council, from 1982 to 1992, she had not done enough to follow up allegations that a child abuse ring was operating in her borough. When a victim protested her appointment as minister, she described him as an “extremely disturbed person” and tried to prevent the Today programme from airing his claims; she eventually had to make a formal apology in the high court and pay £10,000 in damages to a charity. “All that happened when we didn’t really understand child abuse in the way that we understand it now. This…
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A universal welfare state is the essential bedrock of a civilised country. A civilised country ensures that no one goes without healthcare because they can’t afford it, no one is treated as if worthless because they cannot work, and that anyone who loses their job needn’t fear destitution for themselves or for their family if they don’t find another job instantly. A civilised country ensures that no one needs to work when they are too young or too old or too disabled or too ill. This is not a system that can be replaced by random acts of charity: 
patricktsudlow 