`No child abuse ring in Westminster`, says Jay

[UK Column News 26 February 2020]

"Well, non-news," begins Brian Gerrish. "Let`s start with some critical non-news at least as far as the BBC is concerned. And if you take a look at their website the one thing you can`t see anything about is, of course, the IICSA child abuse report. So in the last couple of days we`ve had information coming out from IICSA. It drifted across the BBC very, very briefly. It didn`t get any prominence and now as we can see from the BBC`s website this is a non-subject. It doesn`t really exist and it`s pointless looking to the BBC to protect children from abuse in UK."

Mike Robinson: "Just to echo that, the Today programme this morning, it got the last ten minutes of the programme. So this is a flaglship news programme ... on British media that begins at 6.00 a.m. in the morning - 3 hours of news in the morning - and the last ten minutes was that."

Brian Gerrish: "Yeah, Radio 4 at 10 o`clock last night was talking about coronavirus; it was talking about Egypt; it was talking about a variety of other topics without a mention. So the BBC, true to form, not interested in getting to the bottom of the abuse of children in UK. Of course, itself culpable, guilty of covering up the Jimmy Savile episode, BBC is not going to talk about institutional child abuse and child abuse in Westminster."

"So how`s the story progressed? Well some of the media have talked about it but what we`ve seen very, very clearly is that the whole emphasis has now moved across onto the Lib Dem peer Lord Steel. He`s implicated in as much as the evidence tends to indicate that he knew but he didn`t take the right action. He`s now stepped down because he said: `If I don`t step down then I`ve got both support and criticism within the party and I don`t want to cause internal problems, so I`m going to step down from the Lords and quietly retire.` But what can we see? Well the whole focus has now drifted across onto Lord Steel. We`re not talking about the perpetrators of the child abuse; we`re not talking about how that child abuse was covered up. But at least Sky News, in contrast to the BBC, did have something to say:"

"The IICSA said MPs including Smith and Sir Peter Morrison were `protected from prosecution.` The report said there was a culture of `failing to recognise abuse, turning a blind eye to it, covering up allegations and actively protecting high-profile offenders including politicians` within Westminster."

"It concluded that politicians valued reputation `far higher than the fact of the children involved`."

Brian Gerrish: "Now that last sentence there, Mike, says a lot about the quality of Britain`s politicians. People could say: `Well that was the situation as was`. What we say at the UK Column is that that is the situation today. It continues."

"But let`s see how the IICSA Inquiry has actually reported on this. And, of course, we need to bring in Baroness Jay and let`s have a look at some of the things that she said in her report."

"So this [is a] key one. `MPs including Smith and Peter Morrison were protected from prosecution` - Remember all the other political names that have been mentioned over recent years in relation to child abuse, well they`re not mentioned at all because this inquiry has been able to focus down on just one or two individuals as part of its downplaying of the whole process. But more on that in a minute."

"`There was a culture of failing to recognise abuse, turning a blind eye to it, covering up allegations and actively protecting high-profile offenders including politicians within Westminster.` That`s a pretty interesting statement. Think about what she`s saying there; not only was the abuse going on,  but people turned a blind eye to it; they covered up allegations and they actively protected high-profile offenders. ... And in my mind that means that ... we had an orchestrated system for protecting people abusing children. We had the abusers and we had the protective system. That to me sounds very much like a child abuse ring."

"But let`s see what else she had to say: `IICSA heard evidence that senior police officers thwarted the investigation into Smith because the case was too political`. That sounds to me like serious criminal activity by the police in order to protect the abusers of children but it`s just one line in the report."

"`The evidence shows that.... his party made efforts to suppress these rumours rather than conduct a formal investigation.... The focus of attention remained `unswervingly on political consequences rather than the welfare of the child`."

"So this is being forced home that the political parties ...are more concerned about protecting their reputation than the children and of course this is the law on its head because the duty of those political parties, probably more than the average individual, is to protect the children."

"She goes on: `Peter Morrison was protected as a member of the establishment`. Well that`s pretty clear cut... and that is repeated several times in the report. So I`ve put that up just to emphasise the constant focus on these two. They`re the only thing that ...they talk about. And this statement is reported several times and the reputation one is reported several times."

"So here we are. `A consistent pattern emerged of failure to put the welfare of children above political status although we found no evidence of an organised network of paedophiles within government`. Well this is all good. But the report itself describes the actions of that very government paedophile network. There were active child abusers in Westminster protected by powerful political and establishment figures, plus it`s admitted that the CPS also protected them and the police helped to protect them. So, Mike, this is just a brilliant piece of whitewash; that you describe a paedophile ring operating in Westminster, and then you say `It wasn`t actually a paedophile ring`."

Mike Robinson: "Yes, but as well as that, if you look at the language `we find no evidence`, well , of course, if you don`t speak to some of the key witnesses then you`re not going to find any evidence."

Brian Gerrish: "We`re going to address that, and you`re absolutely right. But they`re also describing the evidence for the paedophile ring and then saying: `But it`s not a paedophile ring.` It is a deliberate act on common sense and people`s cognitive ability to deal with what`s going on. It`s very very clever."

"So let`s have a look. How did this whitewash get played out? Well, of course, the inquiry has been dragged on over time and as the delay has increased ... that has allowed key witnesses, such as Nick, to be taken off the scene. Many police officers who were involved ... said they believed the evidence. There were some inconsistencies, but we`re not going to hear from Nick again because he`s got 18 years in prison and of course IICSA`s not going to present any of his evidence. Key witnesses - this is your point - including abuse survivors and police whistleblowers themselves [were] denied the opportunity to give evidence. Melanie Shaw, one of the key ones here, she has not been in front of this inquiry, although this inquiry says it has produced the Nottingham Child Abuse report. That report is out but of course Melanie`s testimony is not part of it.  John Wedger, another policeman - there are now a group of police who have come forward and talked about the cover-up of child abuse, including activity by senior politicians and the Home Office, and senior police officers; but those police have not been brought in front of the inquiry."

"John Wedger, as a significant witness,  - I believe there`s about 60 pages of his evidence - he is not included in this part of Jay`s report on Westminster, even though his evidence specifically says that senior politicians in his day had been covering up the abuse of children."

Mike Robinson: "And, of course, there are other survivor groups out there that have refused to take part. It wasn`t that they weren`t invited, but they actually refused, because they understood exactly what type of inquiry this was. They were looking for a proper ... judge led, investigative inquiry rather than a cover-up. So they refused to take part."

Brian Gerrish: "Indeed. Well let`s carry on. Of course what was done, and is continuing to be done, is the division of the inquiry sessions into secret chambers where we have the ... live cameras turned off.  We`ve... got the public excluded.  Baroness Jay said herself that she was going to have special rules for dealing with the investigation into Westminster but the reasons for those rules never fully explained to the public. So on it goes."

"Well of course ... a complete ignoring... of all of the police investigations around Prime Minister Edward Heath. So we know that very brave senior police officer Mike Veal did that investigation into Edward Heath and said that he believed that, had he still been alive, he would have had to ... answer questions about the abuse of children. This doesn`t figure in any of Jay`s investigation into Westminster and she`s declared evidence for a protected Westminster political and establishment paedophile ring but then describes it as` not a ring`. This is just incredible. And then, of course, they then choose an easy scapegoat which is Lord Steel to take the blame and distract the media."

"So the abuse of the children, the suffering of those survivors, just completely dropped from public view whilst everybody starts to feel a little bit sorry for Steel. So we`ll just put her face back on the picture here." 

"`There was and is no child abuse ring`. We disagree. We say that ring is still in post. It`s still exerting power over people trying to come forward and warn about the abuse of children.  But we`ve got to give Baroness Jay credit because this is a masterpiece of a whitewash..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v7T815BDeY

Greta signs up for a BBC series

"Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg is getting her own TV series about the environment."

"The 17-year-old has signed up to take part in the programmes which will follow her journey around the world as she campaigns against climate change, and finds out more about what can be done about it."

"The series will also document her personal journey as she deals with growing up in the spotlight, as well as other challenges such as writing speeches and meeting world leaders." 

"The series is being made by BBC Studios' Science Unit, but there are no details yet on when or where we might be able to see it. 
Rob Liddell who is the Executive Producer for BBC Studios said:"

"Climate change is probably the most important issue of our lives so it feels timely to make an authoritative series that explores the facts and science behind this complex subject." 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/51456549

====================

Rob Liddell from the BBC appears in the background towards the end of the video. He had followed Greta and her family to Canada.

It should be noted that the presenter in the video refers to Greta Thunberg as having a mental illness. Although depression and eating disorders may be classified as mental illnesses [from which Greta seems to have recovered] there are many in the neurodiversity movement who would object to those on the autistic spectrum being classified this way.

No assurance in the `Assurance Report`

[UK Column News, 15 January 2020]

"Well of course the other thing we ought to remind people of - and I`m sorry because this is not a particularly pleasant topic -  but we have a prime minister, Boris Johnston who describes expenditure investigating child abuse as money that has been spaffed. That`s his language for ejaculated up the wall. This is the standard of Britain`s prime minister; and let`s immediately bring in the BBC because the BBC crowing yesterday that the report`s come out about the failure of Manchester city council and other authorities including greater Manchester police to protect children."

"The BBC particularly crowing because the report starts off itself by effectively congratulating the BBC on its investigations into child abuse. But of course this is the same BBC that covered up the activities of Jimmy Savile when he was doing his dirty deeds, paid by the BBC. But let`s have a look through this report; and UK Column is going to say this is not all it seems. So first of all, credit where it`s due.


"And the Telegraph here in its article with a picture of Maggie Oliver.  And we`re going to say that it`s not the BBC that people should be congratulating; it`s very brave whistleblowers - these whistleblowers in particular - Maggie Oliver and John Wedger and several others, who have finally started to force the lid off child abuse in UK."

"But of course the Telegraph headline here is getting into the political agenda; because it`s an `Asian grooming gang free to roam the streets` and indeed many of the...men in this case were... Asian, but the people running the child protection system and failing in their duty, of course, were not Asian. So there`s many questions to be asked."

"But let`s just get a feel for this case... these points are not being reported by the BBC or in any press outlet. So this is from Manchester City Council; this is the sort of thing you see on their website when you go and have a look about what you should do about child abuse and this is the old line, Mike. `Tell us about someone being abused or neglected. Trust us. If you`ve got any information come to us and tell us about what has happened to you. We will protect you. We will ensure there`s anonymity. We will take action.` But, of course, what has emerged in this report and in many other places elsewhere is that once information is brought forward, either nothing happens or those people, the victims, are not protected."

"But here is the big report. It`s an `independence assurance  review of the effectiveness of multi-agency responses to child sexual exploitation in Greater Manchester` . This is Part One. There`s more to come."


"`An Assurance review of Operation Augusta`. Now Operation Augusta was Greater Manchester`s police investigation into abuse of youngsters, particularly by Asian men, We can see here that the authors are Malcolm Newsam and Gary Ridgway ...There`s the embargo on the bottom... But I`m going to say just remember those two names. When you get inside, and this is not mentioned at all by the so-called mainstream press, we get a huge caveat. And what does that caveat say? Well, effectively, it says this:"

"`The report is independent.` [laughter] We always get a sense, a reassurance, Mike, when we see that `this report is independent`. We`ll be seeing exactly how independent it is in a minute."

"There is no check of accuracy or completeness of information provided."

"Oh !"

Brian Gerrish goes on in discussion with Mike Robinson to say that he had read this with great interest: "Because a report has been produced which has  now been blasted out over the media in the UK but apparently there wasn`t any checks of accuracy or completeness of information provided." He wonders what would have happened in his professional life if had he followed these same standards.

"Especially in military action," interjects Mike Robinson.

Moving forward, "And then it says: `For the avoidance of doubt, no responsibility or liability is or will be accepted by Imprana Ltd and GKR Partnership in relation to the release of this report and any such liability is expressly disclaimed.` So somebody there in a big hurry to make sure that if a few questions are asked - `Whew ! It`s nothing to do with us`."

"So where is the responsibility there?"

"Well we`re going to sort of ask about that. So let`s have a look at the assurance team. This is an interesting expression: it`s an assurance report. Who are they assuring? They`re certainly not assuring the victims of abuse, the survivors of abuse - it gets very woolly."

"But here`s Malcolm Newsam: `experienced child care expert with extensive experience of providing diagnostics, interventions and improvement support to a range of councils across the country. In October 2014 the Secretary of State for Education appointed him as the Commissioner for Children`s Social Care in Rotherham`...I`m not going to continue going on through it," Brian Gerrish says; but he emphasises that this is a `government man`. "There`s no question of it. He has been brought in, supposedly, to improve failing authorities in ... [child protection] but a huge amount of controversy around him and he`s supported here by a police officer, a former police officer, Gary Ridgway who has been praised for achieving good results in investigating child sexual exploitation. So I`m not going to challenge Mr Ridgway at all but Malcolm Newsam we say: who is this man? And we can start to ask a key question: how independent is he in order to investigate the government`s own system for protecting children?"

"Well I went and had a little look at him at Imprana Ltd and GKR Partnerships... Here`s GKR Partners Ltd and we`ve got a Gareth Leslie Johnson . Don`t know much about that name but I was intrigued that it`s a risk management consultancy. .. So who`s worried about the amount of risk? Is that the team that produced the report? Are they worried about their own risk? Or is this Greater Manchester Council and the police, worried about their risk and what`s printed in the report? And if you go to the other side, Imprana Ltd... there happens to be a Malcolm Newsam involved, and I`m going to guess that ... this is the same man, same name, same company. But let`s have a look at this individual."

"Well we`re going back to 2011. And here`s the Daily Mail. `The temps paid up to £1,250 a day by council that`s slashing hundreds of jobs.` So the headline is absolutely right, Kent County Council getting rid of people hand over fist, putting together a plan to get rid of about 300 people altogether and they were paying a number of consultants, including the man we`re interested in, one thousand two hundred and fifty pounds a day."

"The most highly-paid temp is families and care director Malcolm Newsam who costs the council £1,250 a day, followed by Alistair Pettigrew....` So this is a very interesting man ... and we`ve got another report here from the Peterborough Telegraph:"

"`Experienced manager Malcolm Newsam could earn a salary of more than £230,000 over the 12 months that he is expected to stay on as interim director of children`s services at the council if the appointment is approved`."

"`Mr Newsam has a proven track record of turning around failing children`s services departments and his appointment has been proposed after the council was slammed by Ofsted in September for failing to safeguard vulnerable children.`"

"Now, is a man who`s in a job like that as a result of a hand in government, is he... is he going to criticise the government? Possibly, I don`t know. But it seems interesting. He`s a proven track record of turning around failing children`s services. So that`s good. And there`s a consultancy firm mentioned there, MCBN Management Consultancy and the day-rate there was £1,045. So he hit the headlines here after this amount of money was being paid to him, and then the council explained ... that they had a poor Ofsted report but they complemented  him. They said he had been very open and transparent in his way of working and he`s helped us restore public confidence in the council. So that`s good praise and we`ll put that up on screen to be fair, and we`ll highlight that. He`s been very open and transparent..."



"So let`s have a look at this one. This is Community Care, and they`re talking about `turmoil for Northamptonshire children`s services as DfE appointed commissioner quits."

"Now this is where it gets interesting, Mike, because this is Mr Newsam again. He seemed to disappear without anybody really knowing why... but there was interest in this man because he`d come under fire from Northamptonshire councillors because of his `lack of visibility and accountability.`"

"So which is it?" asks Mike Robinson. "Is he open and transparent? Or has he got a lack of visibility and accountability?"

Brian Gerrish: "Or does he go whichever way the wind blows and wherever the money comes from? So the DfE did not reply to questions as to the reason for Newsam`s recent exit but a spokesperson said: `we`re making good progress with the creation of a new Children`s Services trust and are grateful to Malcolm Newsam for his role in transforming these services. We will be appointing a new commissioner before Malcolm leaves to finish this crucial work`."

"Now this is a little clue to what I believe is really going on because this man is a change agent. He`s changing council services for children into a trust and my personal opinion is as these trusts appear actually the accountability declines and the transparency declines."

Mike Robinson: "As has happened with the NHS."

"As has happened with the NHS. Privatization comes in. You don`t know what you`re dealing with. So we get that very early hook that maybe something special is happening."

"Let `s have a look at the report. So I`ve entitled this one `Multi-Disciplinary Teams... we`re all in it together.` But look at what the report actually says: `The team will report directly to the Deputy Mayor in relation to progress and outcomes. The Deputy Mayor has invited Joanne Roney, Chief Exectuve of Manchester City Council and lead GMCA Chief Executive for Children, Jim Taylor, Chief Executive of Salford City Council and a former Director of Children`s Services and Debbie Ford, Assistant Chief Constable, GMP, to join her in providing governance and oversight of the exercise in the steering group`."

"So this is the team investigating itself, Mike. We haven`t got a separate, secure investigation going on where the evidence is being carefully put to one side. What we`ve got is a gaggle of people working through their own mistakes: but `don`t worry because everything is independent`.

"So here we are: `We `assure` the public we`ve investigated ourselves fully ... "

"`Throughout our review we have shared our findings with Greater Manchester Police and Manchester City Council. Greater Manchester Police has confirmed the following additional information` [and it`s a love affair. They`re all loving each other, swapping information, working in collaboration, in order to get to the bottom of what they failed to do as a multidisiplinary team. It could go straight from here on to Yes Minister or the Simpsons..."

"So let`s carry on, because of course the report does produce some very good information, in that it says in a lot of places and a lot of detail that a great number of children ages 12 up to 16, 17 were horrifically abused, prostituted. I`m not going to describe what was done to these children, but look at what it says at 6.82:"

"`We also cannot offer assurance that the risks the identified adults presented to children were appropriately dealt with by either Greater Manchester Police or Manchester City Council.` But all the evidence they uncover in the report has already been shared with the people who failed..."

"7.14 `Although there was significant information held by both Manchester City Council and Greater Manchester Police on individuals who potentially posed a risk to children, we can offer no assurance that appropriate action was taken to address the risks they presented to children`. This theme is repeated through the report, and it`s very clear they knew the abuse was going on . The City Council did nothing. The police closed down an investigation where they were starting to do something, and the multidisciplinary child protection team failed at every level ... or we had malfeasance in public office where they turned a blind eye to crime`."

Mike Robinson: "So we`ve now seen the same patterns in Nottingham, in Rotherham, Rochdale and all these other places in the Midlands and the north of England and yet we`re still getting reports like this and no lessons have been learned, it seems."

"No lessons have been learned, except we can learn the lesson that if you follow it through the pattern of cover-up,  the failure, is always the same. The information is there; the child protection teams in the Council don`t do their job; the police don`t do their job; the coroners don`t do their jobs. Of course in general the politicians don`t do their job. Andy Burnham stepped in at this point but the pattern is that politicians will not get involved. The Home Office will not get involved. The Prime Minister says: `Well there`s no abuse going on, it`s just money spaffed up the wall`."

Mike Robinson: "But there is a common theme through all of this and that is Common Purpose."

Brian Gerrish: "Common Purpose, the integration of the authorities into a leadership team where transparency goes out the window. I think we`re going to find deeper Common Purpose connections, but we`ll keep our viewers informed of that."

"Let`s have a look at this, page 18: `Out of the 25 cases within our sample, we have concluded that there was a significant probability that 16 children were being sexually exploited and we cannot offer any assurance that this was appropriately addressed by either Greater Manchester Police or the responsible local authority. In respect of the remaining nine children, we have concluded that given the insufficient available information, we cannot form a view as to whether the children had experienced sexual exploitation or whether these concerns were appropriately addressed by either Greater Manchester Police or Manchester City Council or the relevant local authority`..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4tud9JLclk

Frightening statistics !

[Because population birthrates generally decline as people become more affluent, there seems to be a solution here that is not being discussed in the BBC2 programme, `7.7 Billion and still counting .`]
Professor Danny Dorling, School of Georgraphy and the Environment, Oxford University explains why the population is increasing. "If you look at the world as a whole, the growth depends on life expectancy. Everyone is here on average, longer. So at any one time there are more of us. The second fact is how many babies we have. And tiny changes in the number of babies we have will have a big effect in the future."


Christ Packham informs viewers that the replacement rate fertility is 2.1 babies per woman. If the population birthrate was maintained at this level the birthrate would eventually stabilise. "But currently, the global average is 2.4 babies, and that tiny difference, applied to a large number of people means that our population is continuing to grow.  And because 2.4 is an average, there are parts of the world where the birthrate is still much higher." [i.e. third world countries]
 
==============================

There are also parts of the world where the birthrate is very much lower: 

`7.7 Billion and Still Counting` can be seen on BBC iplayer for the next three weeks.

Free speech for some

Brian Gerrish informed viewers that he was going to be taking a swipe at the BBC. He began by saying: "I couldn`t help but notice `Election explained, What to check for on climate change`. So that`s second from the left on the top of your screen there. If you clicked on that image up came this, which to my mind is a children`s image. Everything about it is probably attractive to two, three, four year old children, but this is now for adults in UK."

"Meanwhile, as the UK Column covers some of the most dangerous stuff going on, this is the childish dross from the BBC`. I have to use that word again, Mike ... "

"But serious things here: the BBC crowing that a High Court judge has ruled in favour of permanently banning protests outside the Birmingham school where parents were complaining that their children were actually being sexualised at too young an age."

"Now what did the BBC do? Of course it ran this story in a completely biased way, that any parent complaining of the content of the sex education, was actually homophobic, and as a result, I believe,... we`ve now seen the school successfully go to court for the protests to be banned."

"And, of course, if these protests can be banned, ... any protest anywhere in UK can now be banned by the High Court."

"Except for Extinction Rebellion," Mike Robinson reminded Brian Gerrish.

"Well I`m going to come on to that in a minute, Mike. But just have a look at the sort of thing the BBC put out. There`s a big focus here on West Midlands Mayor, Andy Street. He said the protests are clearly homophobic, against LGBT teaching at the primary school and it`s got to stop. Well, of course, that`s not the case. The parents, who were Christian, Muslim and indeed Jewish, were protesting that their children were being overtly sexualised at too young an age which is something completely different."

"But if you`re not aware of the definition we now have for homophobia here it is: `it`s fear, hatred, discomfort with, or mistrust of people who are lesbian, gay or bisexual... `That definition has absolutely nothing to do with the actual protest by the parents. So the BBC can be very proud because, essentially, they have now helped the British State take a major step in silencing free speech. And, of course, the other thing this relates to is the fact that the State wants to claim it is the parent of your child, or your children."

Mike Robinson: "Absolutely. But if you`re running a school and there`s a potential for protest, you don`t need to worry because there`s some really excellent advice available from the Department for Education ...I`m being somewhat sarcastic when I use the word `excellent`."

Brian Gerrish continued: "Let`s have a look to see what Gov.uk is saying: ... "

"Primary school disruption over LGBT teaching/relationships education. And they`re saying that `relationships education will be compulsory for all primary school aged pupils from September 2020. In addition relationships and sex education will be compulsory for all secondary pupils and health education will be compulsory for all pupils. They`re saying that some organisations are  opposed to the introduction of these subjects, or to some of the expected content set out in the statutory guidance for the subjects, and have been campaigning nationally against the subjects and organising locally to encourage parents to influence their schools’ teaching. The majority of the objections relate to the teaching of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) content, particularly in primary schools."

"And then we come on to point 3 which is all about intelligence sharing and support available. And they say: `It is important that you pass on intel to DfE about disquiet in your local area and signs that this might be building towards disruptive activity. DfE can better support local authorities if there is a real time picture of issues in local areas and patterns of activities... You should seek further support from DfE making clear you are asking for support, not just passing on intel (as above) and an official will be in touch quickly to discuss options.`,.."

"And so the language here building is quite spectacular and your point earlier, which is...`military`."

Brian Gerrish agreed, "It is military language. There is no question that this is military language. Possibly you`re going to pick it up with specialist police teams as well. But I wonder whether we`ve got a hint of, not only the Metropolitan Police in there, but also the 77th Brigade." 

Brian Gerrish then contrasted the immense overreaction at the Birmingham school with what the Department for Education`s Countering Extremism team did when UK Column provided them with evidence of extremism on 9th October 2019.  They had provided evidence that  Extinction Rebellion was not only carrying out criminal activity, it was recruiting school age children, using school premises to train them for that criminal activity.

"We`ve had back from them absolute silence ... So we provided documents for Extinction Rebellion where they were calling for people to break the law; we provided documents showing Extinction Rebellion training the people in primary schools ... and using those Department for Education facilities. We`ve provided BBC documentation where the BBC was saying it was concerned; and we`ve provided the excellent analysis by a former head of SO15, the counter terrorism force within the MET. And the result from the Department for Education was silence."

"So we can call up all these systems to suppress parents who dare challenge what their children are being taught in school; but if you give the Department for Education ... factual evidence of criminal activity by Extinction Rebellion, they don`t want to know."

"What does that suggest?"

"It suggests that Extinction Rebellion represents government policy."

"Indeed."

======================

Globetrotting Greta, now telling the global elites about climate change at Davos, a message they seem more than willing to accommodate.

System detains young people inappropriately

"Evidence to the inquiry into the detention of young people with learning disabilities and/or autism was so `stark` and consistent that the Committee says it has `lost confidence that the system is doing what it says it is doing and the regulator's method of checking is not working. It has been left to the media, notably the BBC and Ian Birrell in the Mail on Sunday, to expose abuse. No-one thinks this is acceptable.` In relation to the Care Quality Commission, the Committee finds that `a regulator which gets it wrong is worse than no regulator at all`... "

"The Committee describes the `grim`, predictable pathway to inappropriate detention in these potentially `brutal` circumstances: Early family concerns raised with the GP or school lead to lengthy waits for assessment and diagnosis while the family struggles on alone, trying to cope. Then some trigger – a home move, a parent falling ill – unsettles the young person and their condition deteriorates. Professionals meet to discuss what should happen, but parents are not included. The child is taken away from their home and the familiarity and routine so essential to them, often many miles away and placed with strangers. Desperately concerned parents are treated as hostile and as a problem."

"Under these conditions, the young person unsurprisingly gets worse and is then put through physical restraint and solitary confinement - which the institution calls `seclusion`. As the child gets even worse so plans to return home are shelved. The days turn into weeks, then months and in some cases even years..."

Go to https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/joint-select/human-rights-committee/news-parliament-2017/detention-learning-disabilities-autism-young-people-report-published-19-20/?fbclid=IwAR2FhTgIij2ItHiL4v6SBgBFzQWyfFavwMm_w3mSCiFxjKLbus8wRk49SdE

　

https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news

Governor of Tavistock resigns

====================================

"The trust running the country’s only NHS gender identity service for children is under fire for dismissing a damning internal report that branded it `not fit for purpose`."

"Marcus Evans, one of the governors of The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust has resigned, after accusing its management of having an `overvalued belief in` the expertise of its Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) `which is used to dismiss challenge and examination`."

"Evans’s decision to part company with the London-based trust, after a 35-year association, will intensify scrutiny of the service which has found itself in the eye of a storm as thousands of young people considering transitioning to another gender seek its help."

"Some parents who contacted the Observer have accused the service of `fast-tracking` young people into changing gender, a charge strongly rejected by the service."

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/feb/23/child-transgender-service-governor-quits-chaos?CMP=share_btn_tw

Stories that make the news and those that don`t

 

James English talks to Anna Brees, a former BBC journalist, about journalism in general and topics such as the cover-up of Westminster paedophiles.

 

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Her book, `Making the News in 2018`, discusses why some stories get heard and others do not.

"Reflecting on my own experiences of working in a newsroom as a newspaper and TV reporter from 2000 until 2011, and, more recently, observing the impact of producing TV-style reports on my mobile device and boosting them on social media, this book is about the power of the message, the money to deliver it, and the instinct of truth and trust that follows."

"When I worked as a journalist, we didn’t have the all-encompassing social media presence in quite the same way as we do today. Journalism was an absolute necessity and existed as a point of contact, a person or organisation who collated and disseminated news. So, as I write this book in 2018, the question I pose is, do we really need journalists anymore?"

Pornography education for children

Mike Robinson of UK Column was talking to Alex Thomson via video link on Friday 11 October 2019.

"Well this is the Times and the headline here is Parents take on John Swinney over porn lessons in new curriculum... That`s quite a headline."

"It is because `parents` is deliberately dishonest. Both the Times and the Scottish Sun came to this only yesterday whereas it had been put out on YouTube by the man asking the question the previous weekend. His name is Richard Lucas. His YouTube channel is easily found: Scottish Family Party. We`re not endorsing that or any other party, but it`s easily found. And there was disingenuously not a single mention... in the serious Times, or the sexualised dumbed down Sun, of the fact that it was Mr Lucas, the chairman of a political party, and he was just described as another dad in both of these articles."

Mike Robinson: "And he intervened in a Q and A with Mr Swinney; so let`s have a listen to what happened and how Swinney responded to this intervention..."

"Well my first response to this is that is quite a spectacular response to his intervention because as he rightly said ... in the middle of that, if that material is not suitable for that audience, and to be live streamed onto YouTube, how can it possibly be suitable for a high school or a primary school audience?"

"Correct Mike. The most shocking thing that most people have found about this much shared clip has been the arm waving lady. Now the real shocker is this: the arm waving lady is not officially the Scottish government. You might think that she was there as a bag carrier for John Swinney, the number two of the Scottish National Party, but no, she is in fact Joanna Murphy the chairwoman of National Parent Forum Scotland. Now the last term is the give away. Scotland, under the SNP, has done what Canada did in the 2000s, which is to tag the name of the country onto the end of a genuine NGO to create a government front NGO. So National Parent Forum Scotland, the last word negates the previous words. It is no longer therefore a national parent forum otherwise why would this lady be playing Stockholm syndrome for the sexualisation of children, which is what parents are supposed to be there to prevent? No, by putting Scotland on the end, she has become captured in the way that the whole of the third sector is, particularly in Scotland, and bounden to do the bidding of those who pay, which is the Scottish government."

"So there she is in a particularly egregious case of cognitive dissonance because she is there to be basically Scotland`s chief parent, although I know that title was stupidly given to Nicola Sturgeon, chief mammy, but she`s there representing the parents of Scotland, if anyone else is surely her, chairman of that body but she cannot abide what`s being said because she is there really to protect the Scottish government. It`s the unified government model again, the Scottish model of government."

"Absolutely, Well let`s just have a quick look at Swinney`s response to this.... So again Alex he is trying to fall back on the tired old position: this is just the way the world is and therefore we`ve got to bombard our children with this material to make sure that they`re equipped to deal with it but, in fact, there`s no evidence whatsoever that this protects children in any way. Quite the contrary this, in fact, drives these types of thoughts into the minds of children. It`s not a productive thing at all. It is a dangerous thing. Where is the precautionary principle in this case because again with respect to global warming and so on we have the precautionary principle shoved down our throats, but in this case, and... one or two other policy areas as well, it`s nowhere to be seen?" 

"Mike, wherever we see the precautionary principle thrown out the window, it is because the government and regulatory bodies are actually financially interested in one side of the equation and we`ve seen that with 5G, obviously, and here is the same case with pornography. I`m afraid it`s a repetition..."

"I agree absolutely and I`ve mentioned this several times before, that my mother who was a primary school principal always held the view that behaviour issues in schools were not being reflected by programmes such as Grange Hill, which the BBC was pushing out when we were children, Alex, but in fact the television programming was driving the behaviour problems in the schools and that applies equally here I think as well."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeRZ1518pZc

Breaking the law and non-violent extremism

On Wednesday 9th October in Glasgow, a group of primary schoolchildren could be seen being paraded around an empty, wet George`s Square by their teacher chanting about climate change.

As one observer asked: "Should teachers be using young children like this for their own political agendas? " 

The spectacle was more dramatic in London over the weekend.

"Well speaking of destabilisation, of course, Extinction Rebellion have begun their protest in London today. Well, it led over the weekend with this." 

Referring to the recent demonstrations in London, Mike Robinson on UK Column News 7 October 2019 remarks: "Here`s a tweet from Damien Gayle: `Police use a battering ram to break into Extinction Rebellion warehouse `... Well they`re having a hard job getting in there it seems, the heavy door. If you read the rest of Damien Gayle`s tweets he`s been quite pro-Extinction Rebellion ... In fact the police was acting on behalf of the landlords who were wanting to get these people out and perhaps they were taking advantage of that to get some PR in; but no evidence today that the police are actually doing anything to get the Extinction Rebellion protesters off the streets."

"Or under control," adds Brian Gerrish.

"But we don`t need to worry because there`s a ... new Countering Extremism policy coming through because this is Sarah Khan who leads the commission on Countering Extremism and she`s carried out the first ever national conversation on extremism - I`m sure you know all about that."

Brian Gerrish says sarcastically: "Well I do now, yes. But I don`t think the average person does."

Mike Robinson: "Yes, so was there a national conversation then? I`m not aware there was. And she has apparently received the government`s current approach . So they have today decided to publish their findings and recommendations in their report which is called Challenging Hateful Extremism. And they have categorised a new kind of extremist behaviour outside terrorism and violent extremism which has been called `hateful extremism,` so that`s what we`re looking at now."

"So it says: `Hateful extremism is behaviour that can incite and amplify hate, or engage in persistent hatred, or equivocate about and make the moral case for violence; hateful extremism can also draw on hateful, hostile or supremacist beliefs directed at an out-group who are perceived as a threat to the wellbeing, survival or success of an in-group; that cause, or are likely to cause, harm to individuals, communities or wider society`."

"So the examples she gives are the spreading of hate filled views: LBGTQ+ people during the row over relationship teaching in Birmingham. Were you aware that there was hate filled rhetoric about LGBTQ over that?"

"Well of course there absolutely hasn`t been Mike. You wouldn`t believe that if you read the BBC report but if you follow through where the parents have protested in Birmingham, they are simply protesting that children`s innocence has been taken away too early with the RSE education and they are not directly focusing on anything to do with the LGBTQ community at all. It`s to do with the age of the children and the material that they`ve been given. So this seems like a back door effort to help clamp down on those parents, I would say."

"Amongst other things. So she also said, another example is: three quarters of those countering extremism on the ground have personally received abuse, intimidation and harassment because of their work; is what she`s claimed.. And she said that `unlike the government`s response to terrorism the current response to hateful extremism is inadequate and unfocused` so she`s calling for `a new focus and a robust victim centred and rights based approach to ensuring that we respond appropriately to the threat. And therefore she`s recommending a rebooted government strategy and a new taskforce led by the Home Secretary.` So they would `work with the Home Secretary, with government bodies and civil society to assess any ongoing or emerging situations and put a response in place`."

Brian Gerrish: "So this is `participatory democracy` - so called participatory democracy - because you`re not going to involve voters and the general public; you`re going to bring in the NGOs and the think tanks in order to get your desired policy across."

Mike Robinson: "Well indeed which is why this national conversation took place and nobody knows anything about it because, of course, the only people who took part in it were the NGOs and civil society organisations...."

"And charities."

 

"Yes, that she wants to encourage.... Well this was the Commission`s website when I took the screenshot of it this morning. Within ten minutes of me taking that they had put up the latest news story which is that the independent commission for countering extremism has published four new peer reviewed academic papers on Islamism and Sikh extremism. So they`re not talking about Extinction Rebellion, they`re not talking about anything other than Islamic extremism, and now Sikh extremism."

Four Academic Papers

`Mainstreaming Islamism: Islamist Institutions and Civil Society Organisations`
`Mainstream Islamism in Britain: Educating for the `Islamic Revival`
`What is to be Done about al-Mughajiroun? Containing the Emigrants in a Democratic Society`
`The changing nature of activism amongst Sikhs in the UK today` 

"And I thought that title was interesting because what they`re now doing is conflating activism with extremism. So if you`re an activist, you`re an extremist. But if you`re an activist for Extinction Rebellion, that`s not extremism."

Brian Gerrish: "Absolutely not."

Mike Robinson: "We`ll come on to that. So they`re saying that second generation street activism is getting too close to the far right, so really we`ve got to be concerned about that now."

"Right. So that`s fascinating. Actually if you have a look at Ms Khan on the internet, you`ll find a lot of people deeply concerned with her inability to do the job that she`s been given. But we`ll let you do your own research on that. But come to Extinction Rebellion because of course Extinction Rebellion has rapidly become the darling of the BBC. We`ve all seen the almost unlimited, free publicity, thanks to TV licence payers. So here`s one of the headlines: "

"`Who are Extinction Rebellion and what do they want? And they`ve gone from law breaking organisation to - we`ll show you why we`re saying that - to peaceful darling of the BBC. So these are the sorts of reports and what the BBC are saying. In London, it aims to `peacefully occupy the centres of power and shut them down.`We`ve got: What is Extinction Rebellion? And here it describes itself as an international `non-violent civil disobedience activist movement`." 

"This is another one that came out shortly before it became live. `Extinction Rebellion UK arrests as global demonstrations begin. They want governments to declare a `climate and ecological emergency` and take immediate action to address climate change`. Although interestingly Extinction Rebellion doesn`t say how, apart from a citizens committee. It describes itself as an `international non-violent civil disobedience activist movement`."

"So what can we say? Well this was an earlier report from the BBC and we highlighted it a couple of weeks ago... if you read this they had a journalist working for them..."

`2019 has marked a change in public attitudes to climate change driven in part by a huge new global protest movement.`

`In this timely and powerful documentary, reporter Ben Zand gains access to the most important of the protest groups, Extinction Rebellion. He is with them for four months, as they build towards `the rebellion` ll days of protest in April during which they take over and occupy four iconic locations in London.`

`The film follows three young people who have been inspired to join and lead the protests. Many are not only protesting for the first time in their lives but are also putting their liberty on the line to demand radical action from the government. We are there as they organise street protests and direct action - risking arrest for their commitment to the cause.`

`16-year-old Dan from south London has never been on a protest before. Since joining Extinction Rebellion in 2018, she has co-organised nationwide school strikes. Sam is 22 and a recent graduate, but now works full-time for Extinction Rebellion and is willing to get arrested again and again until something changes. Jack joined the movement recently at age 18. He is inspired by the tactics and research laid out by Extinction Rebellion and has an eye on organising controversial splinter actions for the movement`.

`Ben also spends time with the leader of the movement, Roger Hallam, who has spent years academically researching tactics for social change. He says you need 2000 people to get arrested and 400 people to go to prison if you want the government to meet your demands. Ben challenges him on his methods and asks whether it is justifiable to encourage young people to break the law.`

`This film is the first to get inside the new climate movements. It reveals how they have mobilised a generation to take radical action to help save the planet from climate change.`

"And he`s actually talking about young people under the age of sixteen. So the BBC knew the reality, knew Extinction Rebellion was grooming young people to break the law. All that`s now gone Mike. It`s now a wonderful peaceful organisation. And let`s have a look at this carefully manipulated BBC clip here. Here`s Roger Hallam himself: And if we have a look at the video and listen to what`s being said, fascinating stuff."

"Absolutely fascinating piece of BBC propaganda there. One of the clues as to what is going on here is the fact that the clip is two minutes and nineteen seconds long* . This means that it can be tweeted out. The limit is two minutes 20 seconds for a video clip. So what we`re seeing is the BBC taking an organisation which it has said has been calling for people to break the law - criminal activity, extremist activity- and it gives them a soundbite where now - oh no no no, the blame is not on Extinction Rebellion, the blame is going to be on the authorities as a result of peaceful Ghandi type action. This is disgraceful propaganda by the BBC in order to support Extinction Rebellion, and that clip absolutely crafted, for people essentially to copy and tweet out support for Extinction Rebellion."

 "Now we`re just going to remind you that we got a hold of this document. which is Extinction Rebellion planning for people to break the law. We know that includes essentially children, those under the age of sixteen. `We need people prepared to be arrested and go to prison`. And we also confirmed... this document with Extinction Rebellion themselves. They said yes it`s their document, albeit one that is out of date. "
"We`ve also shown you that this excellent report by Richard Walton, the former SO15 counter extremism officer with the MET says that not only is this a dangerous law breaking organisation but actually it`s going for overthrow of the civil order and liberal democracy in UK. So that`s what a senior policeman says, but basically what does the BBC do? They promote them. Now in the background Extinction Rebellion is using Department for Education school facilities to recruit. This is the Grove school in Totness in Devon where they`ve been holding recruiting meetings. It`s freely available in the public domain. And this is the school itself."

"Now we have tried to ask the Department for Education for their policy on Extinction Rebellion and its use of schools to recruit, and the result has been secrecy, arrogance and a dismissive fob off. Now if this was Tommy Robinson and his crowd up to something Mike, or it was an organisation which had got the slightest hint of being right wing, we can imagine that these people would have been rounded up yesterday, but not Extinction Rebellion."

 

"And this is where it gets very interesting; because if you look at the government`s own website here`s Educate Against Hate and that is sponsored by the government, the Department for Education and the Home Office. It`s got a number on there. It says `If you`re concerned, call us,` which is what U|K Column did and this is the sort of response we got, that staff on the other end of the line wouldn`t give their names. They said: `We`re anonymous and we don`t give out names.` So we`ve got a secret organisation working within the Department for Education.  They obfuscated, they blurred the discussion; they were dismissive of the information we passed, most of which was in the public domain, that Extinction Rebellion is breaking the law and they clearly had little if any interest in any of the concerns. So we were eventually told to take our request for `What is the policy on Extinction Rebellion?` to the Department for Education press team. And at one stage there was a not very subtle attempt to say that the conversation was aggressive because we didn`t back down and give in to the fob off. They ended up by saying, email us information. So we are going to do that and we`ll see what the response is."

"But to come back to your lead Mike,  this is the Independent here reporting the Commission`s report and of course what is the focus? It`s on Islamic and right wing extremism. They`re not interested at all in anything to do with Extinction Rebellion."

 

"Now just to end the segment here, we did a little bit of homework on Countering Extremism. The document that`s the Policy 2015, this goes back to David Cameron and Teresa |May. So who`s in charge at the moment? Well we`ve got Priti Patel as Home Secretary, she`s responsible for Countering Extremism. We`ve got the Minister of State for Countering Extremism. That`s a Baroness William... She recently got a degree in nutrition. That`s going to get her a long way I think. And we`ve got this lady, Victoria Mary Atkins, barrister, now British Conservative party member Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for crime, safeguarding and vulnerability, and that includes countering extremism. We`ve got a lady inside the Department for Education who`s responsible for due diligence and countering extremism. She`s Sophie Taylor. I can`t find a picture of her but at least we`ve pinned down one of the key people and then we bring in Sarah Khan and her commission."

"But the reality is these people don`t want to deal with Extinction Rebellion even though it`s boasting it wants people to break the law and it`s recruiting people under the age of 16 using school facilities. So why would that be Mike? A guess from myself would be that actually Extinction Rebellion is partly being promoted by the government because of its climate change agenda."

"It represents a policy that the government is supportive of ..."

"And the rest can go under the carpet. We don`t mind what you do because the government wants this false climate agenda to come in. So we will keep asking the questions; we will be sending the Countering Extremism department more information and we`ll keep viewers and listeners up to date with what responses we get."

The Green Party and 5G

"Well let`s just remind people that at the end of last week the Green Party conference in Newport Wales was going on. But something that the Green Party didn`t want to get involved with was protesters warning about the dangers of 5G. So we`ve got a remarkable situation that the Green Party of course is everything about protecting the environment, except when people say: `Well ok what are you going to do about 5G?` and they don`t want to know. And a motion to talk about the dangers of 5G was prevented from getting into the conference debate. But people were outside protesting, so this caused some embarrassment to the Greens. This was a bit more of the protest outside the building itself, but lots of questions to be asked as to why the Green Party supposedly protecting the environment, protecting people, protecting nature, but when it comes to the big business of 5G they simply don`t want to know. So we`ll continue to ask questions on that front as well. "

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fubv3x6fP04

* The copy of Hard Talk on the blog is from youtube and is over 20 minutes long in contrast to the version produced on UK Column

The Thunberg family

"Teenage activist Greta Thunberg's mother has hit back at suggestions that she is secretly masterminding her schoolgirl phenomenon daughter's global climate change campaign..."

"Malena, 48, is a classically trained opera singer who has performed in theatres across the world including Berlin, Vienna and Amsterdam, as well as her native Stockholm."

"She broke into pop music in 2009 when she represented Sweden in the Eurovision song contest in Moscow, with her song, La Voix [the voice]..."

"She married Swedish actor Svante Thunberg in 2004, shortly after the birth of their first child Greta."

"The family live in a sprawling apartment in a sought-after part of central Stockholm. The flat has views over one of the many rivers that pass through Sweden’s capital and is within walking distance of the country’s parliament..."

"Malena was forced to defend herself as speculation swirled in Sweden that Greta's campaign was stage-managed with a PR guru to promote a book that she has written about Greta's battle with Asperger's Syndrome."

Read More https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6962683/Mother-climate-activist-Greta-Thunberg-DENIES-masterminding-daughters-rise-fame.html

Piers Corbyn, someone you don`t see on the BBC, gives his alternative views about the cause of climate change.

The inhumane treatment of a child abuse survivor and whistleblower

[UK Col 5 October 2018]

"What better place to go than IICSA, ... Theresa May`s child abuse inquiry because it`s just been talking about its findings in Nottingham and [it has] mentioned Beechwood children`s home, of course where Melanie Shaw was abused; and then Melanie became the lead whistleblower. So Sky news here says, `One of the most notorious children`s homes in Nottingham, known as Beechwood, has been singled out by the inquiry for special investigation. There were 136 allegations of sexual abuse from children there between the 1960s and the 1990s,` and, of course, this is a special investigation of Beechwood because the lead whistleblower Melanie Shaw has never been called to give evidence to that inquiry. On the contrary, the inquiry has done everything it possibly can to make sure that Melanie has not appeared at the inquiry. They`re not interested in speaking to Melanie and as their media lady said to me in a slightly agitated state, `What do you expect us to do? Break into the prison, Styal, in order to get Melanie`."

"Well what`s going on here I think is becoming pretty clear. It`s John Mann MP.  He said. `It is a total betrayal; the system didn`t work for them, the institutions didn`t even co-operate and hardly talked to each other. It is quite astonishing how they were let down... This is institutional failure but we need to learn for the present and the future`."

"I thought I`d just slap a label across this. No, no, no Mr Mann, it is not `institutional failure.` This is criminal activity;  and the evidence is easy to see, that institutions fully co-operated in the abuse and subsequent cover-up. So I`m not sure what Mr Mann`s plan is here. He is apparently representing three of the abuse victims. I called his office before we became live today in order to see what he had to say about the fact that the lead whistleblower Melanie Shaw hadn`t been called but there was nobody to answer the telephone. We`ll try him again this afternoon."

"BBC is on the bandwagon. Now remember of course that this is the same BBC that has removed all of their earlier articles about Beechwood and the abuses and those that featured Melanie Shaw; but they are telling us that `three witnesses who gave evidence on Tuesday had all been through branches of Beechwood community home in Mapperley`."

"`The facility is one of three case studies for the Nottinghamshire branch of the inquiry, which opened at Trent Bridge on Monday. A woman in her 50s, identified only as D7, said she grew up in Mansfield and went into care in the 1970s. She recalled being attacked `on several occasions` by John Dent, a social worker who lived on site`."

Brian Gerrish refers to a picture of Melanie Shaw: "So there, remarkably, this particular victim of Beechwood she said that children were not only abused but murdered on that site and has been completely blocked so far from this inquiry."

"David, I predicted a very long time ago that IICSA would be a cover-up. I believe...that even more. This is a very carefully crafted government cover-up, as to the scale of the abuse, and the links through to high level abusers in the establishment and the political system in Westminster. And the fact that [they] are now reporting on Beechwood without even interviewing the lead whistleblower says to me that I`ve been correct. Sorry to be a little bit arrogant there. What do you feel about IICSA?"

David Scott: "Well look what it`s doing? It`s now been running for how many years? Exactly how many shocking headlines have we seen ? How many ... politically connected people [have] been charged? How many have resigned in disgrace? How many changes have been made? There`s been nothing. What it is is a nice quiet gentle ease out from where we were three or four years ago where we had daily headlines about people like Leon Brittan, what he was up to with small boys, and a general view that the people who rule over us have shown themselves to be utterly corrupt. And now this is just easing the public down gently. So there`ll be some lessons to be learned. There might be a few low level people thrown to the wolves but what`s going to change? I don`t see any momentum here for change."

Brian Gerrish: "But of course you need the abused children because as you`ve demonstrated if you have the abused children who go through life damaged and suffering, the state can then use that to bring in controls over parents who do look after their children."

"But this little part of the story gets worse because it was kindly pointed out to us that the Independent Monitoring Board had recently produced a report on HM prison Styal where Melanie has of course been held. This is the Board; it`s independent; it`s always important to tell people that; it`s an independent Board `appointed by the Secretary of State from members of the community in which the prison or centre is situated`. Now I spoke to a very nice lady at this organisation this morning and I questioned her about this report. I`ve been invited to email the Board although I`m not to know who`s on the Board at the moment. But why did I have questions? Well I had questions because the report that they wrote has concluded that prisoners are overall treated fairly in the prison although a small number with poor English are at a disadvantage. `Are prisoners treated humanely? The view of the Board is that prisoners are treated humanely by staff in the prison. However conditions are adversely affected by the poor state of the buildings.`"

"So overall this is a good review for this prison. But when we get into the report there`s some interesting things there. `Five women have spent between 31 and 42 days on the... segregation unit under Rule 45 or Rule 49. A sixth woman arrived on the Unit under this provision on 7 November and, despite several unsuccessful efforts to begin a return to normal location, remains there at the time of writing, with appropriate authorisation. The unit is not ideal for anyone to spend more than a few days`."

"Now some people suggest that this particular person that they are referring to is Melanie Shaw. I believe that could well be true. But I simply asked the question of the Board: If people were spending a long time in a unit where you should only be for a few days, how is this humane? And they seemed to get rather confused by my question. Hence the invitation to email them."

"I`ll just add in this from the report, because if you go into the depths of this report they`ve got a massive increase in self-harm and mental health issues that`s occurred over the last few months. And it`s interesting that the prison governor has recently had to step down, although the Ministry of Justice at the moment will not tell anyone the reasons she`s been removed from the prison; so HMP Styal ... is effectively out of control; it doesn`t have a proper governor. The government who appoints people who do the inspection isn`t saying why this lady has been removed but we seem to have another report smoothing the waters, although conditions in that prison are pretty unpleasant."

"And I`ll just put this image up which I did tweet out yesterday."

"But as I watched Theresa May cavorting on stage in front of her adoring conservative audience, I thought: `Yes, this is the dancing queen that was of course responsible for putting Melanie Shaw in prison and Melanie has finished her jail term but is still - I think it is 3 months later - is still in prison, still not receiving the [care for her] mental health needs that she deserves.` So well done Theresa May."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4SRjkdEBUY