The present phase of Western history is characterized by a political class that seems to have come to prioritize global investments and institutions over the health of its societies.
The native workforce of the more prosperous “core” of the international system, accustomed to a higher standard of living as it is, appears to be seen as a burden, leading to a push to import foreign labour, given that persons from less affluent “Global South” countries are willing to work for lower wages—these are what historian Arnold Toynbee termed the “internal” and “external proletariat.” Importantly, the incentive to bring in foreign labour is accompanied by a tendency to downplay or ignore the adverse effects of doing so, including crime arising within those communities—so-called “political correctness.”
The UK’s “grooming gang” scandal, to which Elon Musk recently drew attention (with calls for a new national inquiry on the matter by Tory leader Kemi Badenoch being rejected by the Labour government) is a case in point.
Reports first surfaced in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, regarding a network of exploitation targeting minors. The ethnicity of perpetrators became a sensitive topic, leading to deliberate concealment of the crimes, enabling decades of continued abuse that affected hundreds of young girls. If law enforcement was incentivised to ignore the crime for reasons of political correctness, perpetrators themselves seen to have been partially motivated by racial hatred, with many survivors (mostly young girls between the ages of eleven and fourteen) describing their ordeal as including “racist abuse.”
The 2014 Jay Report highlights the apprehension among staff about pointing out the ethnic backgrounds of offenders (who were mostly Pakistani) due to fears of being labelled racist. Some employees even recalled explicit instructions from management to avoid such identifications. When Alexis Jay investigated Rotherham authorities, she interviewed council workers who admitted their anxiety about linking crimes to ethnicity, fearing accusations of racism. A separate review unearthed a case where a senior police officer reportedly told the father of an abused child that they couldn’t allow this to “get out” because it involved “Asians.”
Louise Casey’s 2015 review of Rotherham Council behaviour also addressed these concerns. It noted that from the late 1990s onward, child sexual exploitation (CSE) in Rotherham disproportionately involved white female victims and adult male offenders of Pakistani heritage. Case files, meeting records, and additional evidence confirmed this pattern. However, the council and police were reportedly hesitant address the issue.
Journalist Andrew Norfolk, who is responsible for breaking the case in The Times, which led to the Jay Report in the first place, has admitted to struggling with this dilemma. He reflected on the challenge of covering stories that aligned with “far-right narratives,” expressing concern about inadvertently supporting such agendas. In fact, Norfolk initially decided against pursuing the story fully, albeit he returned to it later.
Norfolk eventually uncovered damning evidence, including testimony from a senior officer who described years-worth of ignored cases. In one town, for example, there was evidence of generational abuse coming from the Pakistani community, with fathers involved in earlier crimes now being succeeded by their sons. Attempts to expose this were met with intense, with police and council officials trying to block publication of Norfolk’s investigation and prevent whistleblowing by trying to criminally prosecute his sources.
In August 2013, however, The Times published a front-page story naming a key offender, Ashid Hussein, accusing him of serial abuse—despite the fact that police had yet to arrest or charge him. The evidence supporting this decision was overwhelming, and the resulting outcry prompted the Jay Report, which confirmed that 1,400 girls had been abused over 13 years, making global headlines.
Ultimately, this scandal reflects a profound moral and institutional breakdown, underscoring the dangers of elite disconnect, societal fragmentation, and the erosion of accountability in modern governance.
As an aside, it is sometimes the case that anger over these crimes is manipulated to fuel interventionist foreign policies in the Near East, further destabilizing regions and exacerbating migration pressures. Such vicious cycles need to be resisted.
We have also seen positive developments have taken place, such as coordinated efforts by British mosques to condemn grooming gangs and encourage accountability within their communities. While cultural and religious factors may influence behaviours, deeper discussions about addressing these issues constructively remain vital.
This scandal illustrates more than institutional failure; it reflects the degree to which political discourse affects key public services and can supress even basic considerations like child welfare.
Concerning the proposal for a new national inquiry which Elon Musk has publicly defender and which the Conservative Party has put to the UK Parliament—effectively an updated Jay Report—such an initiative must be viewed positively, and should be a key plank of any post-Starmer government. There are several reasons, chief among which is the potential to uncover the extent of the “grooming” phenomenon throughout the UK and see justice for victims. But in addition to this, the impact it would have on rolling-back the sort of taboo that led authorities to ignore the problem, dealing a blow to decades of propaganda around supposed “multiculturalism” should not be underemphasized.
