The national obsession with Jimmy Savile’s alleged paedophilia continues. This morning, the Telegraph investigates how the police let prisoners down in failing to nab him. As this torrent of accusation gathers speed, I have reluctantly had to conclude that I was wrong about Sir James Savile; but the non-stop coverage is both a distraction and a sign of MSM gullibility.
The case (which is really about an odd former wrestler abusing his fame with under-age girls, not mainstream paedophilia) is up there purely because the perpetrator was a celeb. Most paedophiles succeed because of their ruthless secrecy: they are anonymous teachers, social workers, and care home owners….hidden away in every job with access to pre-pubescent kids.
The gullibility comes from the mass media being surprised that police, senior BBC executives, and fellow performers never shopped him. Of course they didn’t: it was too risky career-wise, and might cost them a lot of money. Aversion to risk and expense now rules the ethical roost in Britain.
Savile is also the Top Hot Topic in the Sunday Mirror, alongside the Ten Best Things about the X-Factor. Katie Price has been sending flirty texts to a District 3 singer. Chantelle will never get back with Alex Reid.
The Sunday Sun reports that 126 former footballers are in prison, and this is a ‘shock’. It isn’t to anyone else. Francine Cornell breaks her silence about Ronan Keating, Esther Rantzen faces the sack for not shopping Jimmy Savile, and pleb-row minister Andrew Mitchell faces an open revolt from Tory backbenchers. It will surely be punishment enough for the cop-abusing Whip that he will henceforth forever be pleb-row minister.
The IoS reveals the existence of a document called ‘Coalition 2.0’ being drawn up between top Tories and Lib Dems about life after 2015. One memorable phrase therein, apparently, is ‘horizon-shift’. I can understand the need for this: keep kicking cans down the road, and sooner or later you’ll have to move the horizon further away. I’m just not sure how they’ll do it. Nick needs a nap in the afternoons, and Dave is busy spreading privilege everywhere. Sounds like a job for Jeremy-Frunt to me. Six decades of Savile sex abuse also gets a mention.
The Observer opines that the Jimmy Savile revelations ‘have made people realise how damaging child abuse is’, a statement as inaccurate as it is daft. Beyond a tiny minority of paedophiles, there is nobody in Britain who thinks child abuse is safe and desirable. And firmly on blame-message, The Obviouser suggests ‘Faster emergency response could have rescued up to 58 of the 96 who died in the Hillsborough disaster’. Not rushing the gates in the first place would’ve helped: but Liverpudlians have been absolved of all blame, so we should move on before the insults start pouring onto the comment threads. Oh – before we go – ‘The BBC’s shambolic response to the [Savile] saga demonstrates the unfit state of its management structure’…headed by a gratuitous picture of Chris Patten. Know what I mean? Nudge-nudge, Tory scum etc etc.
I have to say, today’s Mail on Sunday is pretty good, but then this is Dacre the Mad’s day off. It seems Education Secretary Michael Gove has told friends that, if there was a referendum today on whether the UK should cut its ties with Brussels, he would vote to leave. Gove also told friends to tell media hacks at the Mail to tell the readers that he felt this way. Gove is edging carefully towards a Johnson/Frunt future.
There’s a lead piece about how, 28 years on, a teacher and his 16 year-old lover are still happily married with four children. A letter suggesting that Surrey Police dropped its investigation into Savile sex abuse allegations because of his ill health and senility is revealed to be a fake. And UK shop-owning Gurkha Taitex Phlamachha was pushed up against a wall and told to ‘hand over the money’ or get stabbed as he approached a cashpoint. He proceeded to bash the mugger up good and proper. Hurrah.
And finally, I couldn’t find a single thing in the Sunday Express I wanted to read, beyond a sport piece claiming that Manchester City want their bad-boy striker Mario Balotelli to become the ‘shining light’, and a perfect role-model for City’s youngsters. This is slightly at variance with the Sunday Mirror’s story, ‘Balotelli not a role model we want say City’. There’s only one way to settle this….
The Slog 