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@KeepTakingTheSoma https://www.spiked-online.com/2025/01/08/academias-shameful-role-in-minimising-the-grooming-gangs/

On the day of my viva (an oral test in which PhD students defend their thesis), my examiner drew attention to one story they were particularly affected by. It was the women’s account of the constant sexual harassment that they and their children were subjected to by a group of Iraqi asylum seekers. The refugees had been moved on to the estate and then abandoned by the authorities. The women talked not just about the disrespect shown to them by the asylum seekers, but also about the silence and inaction of the state when they expressed their concerns and fears.

In 2015, this story formed the basis of an article I wrote for the Guardian about working-class fears and concerns over refugees being accommodated in their midst – concerns that had been ignored by those in power. As soon as it was published, the backlash began. My fellow academics accused me of racism and likened me to Enoch Powell. They ridiculed me in private email exchanges and publicly denounced me, including in the Guardian itself. Blogs and academic peer-reviewed articles characterised me as a far-right extremist.

This is why it does not surprise me that many academics have long refused to acknowledge the horrific reality of the grooming-gangs scandal. They are blinded by their class prejudices.