"I repeat that I am simply asking questions, not trying to supply answers."
Then the gap between our positions is not as wide as I thought it to be.
Keith has based his "cultural" proposal on 'evidence' randomly selected from, as far as we can judge, unconnected cases in different parts of the North of England - areas of high unemployment, low esteem, poor housing and virtually non-existent facilities - that, along with the fact that they contain large immigrant populations, is the only things these areas have in common.
Don is, of course right, "the complete lack of any cases in the one third (approx) of British Pakistanis who live in the south?"
If culture had been an issue here it would have effected every single Pakistani community in Britain.
When this was pointed out earlier, Keith's response was that perhaps there were cases we were not aware of - a clear indication, to me at least, that he was prepared to accept purely speculative, non-existent 'evidence' to back up his claim - classic racist manipulation of 'facts'.
If any informed overall conclusion is to be reached about these incidents they have to be brought together and examined, along with every other possibly relevant factor, in the context of the 1.2 million Pakistani population as a whole, otherwise they remain isolated incidents of criminality, nothing more.
I have been involved in several threads discussing clerical abuse in Ireland.
If I or anybody suggested that these cases were "Irish" or "Irish Catholic" or even "Catholic" cultural incidents, I would be guilty of racism or sectarianism - they weren't, they were acts of criminality by clergymen. The only 'Catholic' conection was a church one, where the heirarchy aided and abetted the abuse by actively allowing it to continue - it had nothing whatever to do with the culprits being either Irish or Catholic - merely a case of situation and opportunity.
The cases Keith has put up here are acts of criminality by individuals who happen to be Pakistanis and are a tiny part of the general crime of paedophelia, and until they are proven otherwise, they will remain so and there is no evidence whatever of overall over-representation or any proven connection with Muslim culture.
"why do you ignore my answers."
Because you haven't given any.
Where have to told us why the opinions of a miniscule handful of so-called 'experts' living outside these communities carry more weight than the many thousands of Pakistanis and other ethnic groups, (and indigenous activists working in the field) including community leaders who find these statements offensive?
Where have you told us why you believe and are prepared to repeat these conclusions over and over and over again, apart from that they wer made by "eminent people"?
Where have you responded to the possible effects of your statements on the relevant communities?
And why did you remove a vital part of Jack Straw's statement rejecting your "cultural" or race conclusion when you put it up?
I could list dozens of questions you have been asked and have ignored, but these will do to be going on with.
Jim Carroll