The comments of Jack Straw [see BBC News, Jack Straw: Some white girls are 'easy meat' for abuse, 8 Jan 2011] on the 'grooming gang' issue have sparked a broad range of comment and opinion, some of which is represented here for the record - my usual disclaimer applies:
thisisderbyshire.co.uk, Muslim leader fears stigma after MP's sex case remarks, 10 Jan 2011: "Derby's Muslim community has expressed its shock after Jack Straw said the jailing of two Asian men for abusing schoolgirls highlighted a problem among Pakistani men."
Independent, Yasmin Alibhai Brown: Jack Straw is right to ask hard questions about Asian men, 10 Jan 2011 "Being avowedly a leftie liberal, anti-racist, feminist, Muslim, part-Pakistani, and yes, a very responsible person, I should be in the circle with these objectors – particularly as I can't stand the Rt Hon MP for Blackburn, his devious, shady politicking and moral expediency. However, just as when he criticised the full veil, I cannot condemn his views. How can I? ..."
Nazia Parveen, Lancashire Telegraph, Jack Straw sex grooming comments: the reaction, 10 Jan 2011 "Lancashire Muslims, a group representing professional and business people, issued a statement condemning the actions of gangs of abusers and said they should be brought before courts and victims should be supported.
"“Rather than asking Mr Straw to apologise we ask for all politicians to tackle the wider issues and the breakdown of moral responsibility across society,” they added."
Mohammed Shafiq, Chief Executive of the Ramadhan Foundation, Grooming Of Teenagers Is Evil And Unacceptable To All
Andrew Gilligan, Telegraph, Are white girls really 'easy meat'?, 8 Jan 2011 "Sadly for the racists, the figures just do not support any attempt to paint British Muslims and Asians as sex predators on a national scale."
Yamin Zakaria, Media Monitors Network, It is not Pakistani culture, but the toxic culture of 'freedom', which promotes rape, 9 Jan 2011
etc.
