[Osem]

Heard the Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk being interviewed on BBC Radio this morning. He seems to share the view that there is a racial element at work and puts it down to the way in which white girls are viewed by certain elements of the community.

Let's not run away with the idea that this is necessarily anything more than a small minority of a particular community, however. Other communities are also represented in the child grooming statistics and clearly that doesn't mean everyone in those communities can be tarred with the same brush for the same reasons. Having said that, had this case involved all white men targeting all black or Asian girls I don't think many people would be thinking there was no racial element or trying to minimise it.

Whilst I can understand and support the genuine concerns about labelling an entire community, I don't think it's helpful to maintain a head in the sand attitude either. Surely it's in everyone's interests that problems in one community or another aren't swept under the carpet simply because it's expedient to do so. Clearly there isn't a racial element in all child grooming but I think it's hard not to conclude that in certain cases this is a factor.

I agree very much with Mohammed Shafiq about the need to tackle this issue head on and thereby send a very clear message to the miscreants that their own communities will not tolerate such behaviour and will expose it. That'd the best way to dispel any myths put about by extremists that certain minorities a) are inherently racist, criminal etc., b) will defend/deny wrongdoing amongst their own and c) are in some way treated more favourably in the eyes of the law.