by Hardeep Singh, spiked
The Casey report is right to refer to ‘Pakistani’ men as overrepresented in these crimes.
One of the many refreshing things about Louise Casey’s 197-page national audit into grooming gangs is that it does not shirk from uncomfortable questions about the ethnicity of many of the perpetrators. The report, published earlier this week, refers to men of ‘Pakistani’ origin being overrepresented in grooming gangs a total of 28 times. Here Casey is simply relaying what has been clear to most people for years, yet has nevertheless been obscured by the authorities, the media and academia.
The report includes a chapter titled ‘Denial’, which highlights how the truth about these crimes has continually been obfuscated. Sadly, if the BBC’s coverage of Casey’s report is anything to go by, then this obfuscation and deflection are only going to continue. This week, in an article setting out the ‘key takeaways’ from the report, the word ‘Pakistani’ was not mentioned once. The state broadcaster referred instead to ‘Asians’, until it was later updated to ‘Asian and Pakistani’ following criticism online.
The BBC is not alone in this, of course. When dismissing calls for a national inquiry as a ‘far-right bandwagon’ earlier this year, UK prime minister Keir Starmer boasted that he had, as a former director of public prosecutions, ‘brought the first major prosecution of an Asian grooming gang’.
One of the many refreshing things about Louise Casey’s 197-page national audit into grooming gangs is that it does not shirk from uncomfortable questions about the ethnicity of many of the perpetrators. The report, published earlier this week, refers to men of ‘Pakistani’ origin being overrepresented in grooming gangs a total of 28 times. Here Casey is simply relaying what has been clear to most people for years, yet has nevertheless been obscured by the authorities, the media and academia.