UK Home secretary Yvette Cooper has issued an “unequivocal apology” over the failure of the British state to protect young girls from predatory grooming gangs over 16 years, as she confirmed a full national inquiry into the scandal. The recent Casey Inquiry found a large proportion of the perpetrators were men from Asian ethnic backgrounds. A culture of “blindness, ignorance and prejudice” led to repeated failures over decades to investigate. Asylum seekers and foreign nationals are involved in a “significant proportion” of live police investigations into child sex grooming gangs.
Lady Casey said she had been “outraged, shocked and appalled” at the treatment of victims by authorities that were supposed to be protecting them. “We are talking about multiple sexual assaults committed against children by multiple men on multiple occasions, beatings and gang rapes,” Casey added.
This recent report comes 10 years after she wrote a damning report into the culture of denial at Rotherham, South Yorkshire, where at least 1,400 children were sexually abused by grooming gangs between 1997 and 2013.
Downing Street said Sir Keir Starmer believed that “the grooming scandal was one of the greatest failures in our country’s history despite previously having criticized those calling for an inquiry as “jumping on a bandwagon” and “amplifying what the far right is saying”. Elon Musk was one of the most recent voices to make an impact on the subject. The inquiry will be time limited and build on the work done by Alexis Jay, who carried out an independent inquiry into child sexual abuse.
Whether even a shortened inquiry (three years!) will do much to overcome the ‘analysis paralysis’ of previous inquiries such as Grenfell, the infected blood scandal, the ongoing Covid inquiries and earlier child abuse investigations remains to be seen. Alexis Jay who completed a seven year inquiry with a report whose recommendations were barely acted on, pleaded for “action not words.”
Baroness Louise Casey, 29 March 1965 Portsmouth, England, is a crossbench peer with a background in Shelter, the Rough Sleepers’ Unit, the Anti-Social Behaviour Unit, Troubled Families, leading a review of culture and standards in the Metropolitan Police in London following the murder of Sarah Everard as well as into Rotherham child abuse failures.
She has an upfront Aries Sun conjunct Venus; and a heavy-duty Mars Uranus Pluto opposition Saturn square North Node in Gemini which will give her the depth and courage to go into the darkness and not be deterred by what she finds. Mars Pluto Saturn is a tough combination.
Alexis Jay, 25 April 1949, Edinburgh, who wrote the earlier child abuse report, is a steady, determined Sun Venus in Taurus square Pluto; with Mars in Aries conjunct North Node trine Saturn in Leo sextile Uranus. Again she has a heavily aspected Mars tied into the North Node.
Everything has been said before on this subject see: previous post 4 January 2025 – Child Sexual Abuse – too terrible to face ++ ultra-liberal fascism ++ ‘social and state failure’ ++ foreign males commit more sex crimes.
But I wondered about the UK’s 8th house Mars being triggered by the Solar Arc Uranus conjunction at the moment – opening up the sewers. Transiting Pluto in Scorpio in the 1980s/to late 1990s brought a good deal of buried sexual horror to the surface, culminating in the horrific Fred/Rosemary West trial.
Keir Starmer’s Government chart also has Mars Uranus in the 8th which may reflect financial instabilities but could also relate to the resistance to facing up to the grooming gangs. Especially since the Government chart has a ‘caring’ Sun, Moon, Venus in Cancer in the 10th = wanting to look good, but that trines Saturn and sextiles Mars Uranus which has an entirely different feel. There is an intense, emotionally fraught Pluto in the 5th house of children opposition Mercury, making this one of the key issues of Starmer’s Term. Not that Labour are alone in turning a blind eye since the Tories did no better.
My final thought is that ethnicity and religion are really not the key factors – it is more the deeply entrenched tribal background of immigrants from misogynistic cultures which are about four hundred years behind ours, which is the problem.
Thanks Marjorie. Baroness Casey is a very impressive woman I think. Like VF, I hope (almost against hope) we can learn from this, and most vitally, take whatever action is required as soon as possible. I agree about the cultural abyss. It is and has been an ongoing problem that’s been largely ignored so far.
I looked up former MP Ann Cryer, 14 December 1939 (bbc info). She raised serious concerns about grooming gangs in her then constituency, Keighly, back in 2002. She had a terrible time afterwards, being threatened and having to have an alarm fitted at home and police protection – she received death threats. She’s said that at the time she had no idea of the sheer scale of the abuse across numerous towns and cities.
Ann Cryer’s natal Uranus is 18 Taurus, so opposes UK Neptune in Scorpio, and squares UK Venus in Aquarius. I see this current Government’s Mars is 19 Taurus, and Alexis Jay’s Mercury. So much for current statements citing the ‘past fifteen years’ (ie the Tories), this hideous issue goes back to the 1990’s at least. Nobody comes out looking smug. Neptunian confusion and scandal?
Ann’s natal Chiron aligns with the UK Cancer Moon, while the Government’s Chiron, 23 Aries, aligns with Ann Cryer’s natal Saturn in Aries. The UK SA South Node is at 23 Aries, suggesting a fight emerging from the past perhaps. There’s certainly a heavy burden of S Node karma to face up to, one way or another. It would be amazing if Parliament all apologised for this, instead of scoring points off each other, and sidelining the victims yet again.
I noticed, too, that the Government’s 29 Pisces Neptune is in line for September’s Solar Eclipse in Virgo, with added Neptune and Saturn influences. Ann Cryer’s natal Jupiter is also 29 Pisces. Perhaps more will emerge later this summer.
Just to add – tr Chiron is currently around 25 Aries. Alexis Jay has her natal Mars, 26 Aries. Baroness Casey has Mercury 23 Aries. Government Chiron 23 Aries, Ann Cryer Saturn 24 Aries. As Jupiter in “maternal” Cancer crossed the UK Moon in September, Mars in Libra will square it, and then move on to the sensitive Chiron degree just before the Solar Eclipse and Autumn Equinox. This seems like yet another crisis point to me, and hopefully a catalyst for change.
The steely determination of these people is awe-inspiring.
Driven perhaps by charts packed with squares and conjunctions.
Would you guys say that there is something about the UK that these kinds of crimes are more frequent, more talked about, more dealt with, more in the public eye, or anything like that – compared to other parts of the world?
Although everyone is talking about consequences, and there seems to be little talk of causes and possible solutions (e.g. chemical castration, which I think is in effect by law in North Macedonia, for example).
One thing that Baroness Casey said which I’d like to quote here was “If good people don’t grasp difficult things, bad people will, and that’s why we have to do it as a society.”
Vulnerable children should always be at the very top of the pyramid of priorities in a decent society. I only hope we can learn from this.
I agree.