LONDON // After years of misplaced fears about "stranger danger", experts hope that the torrent of child abuse allegations against children's TV presenter, Jimmy Savile, will teach Britain that the real threat comes from people in positions of authority.
How Savile was able to avoid the allegations during his lifetime has fascinated and baffled the British public, with the story barely leaving the front pages of newspapers for the past month.
But experts such as Dennis Green, a child protection consultant with a firm called RWA, want the Savile case to "highlight the need to ensure there are proper protections for children in large organisations like the BBC".
"I hope the Savile case will make people realise there is a much greater threat from people in positions of authority than from the weirdo in a scruffy mac stood outside the school gates," he said.
It is becoming clear that hundreds of women felt that they could not speak out against the primetime BBC presenter and charity fund-raiser while he was alive.
Savile died last year, at the age 84, still worshipped for his charity work, and holding a knighthood from both the Queen and the Vatican.
Since a documentary last month in which several women alleged sexual abuse by Savile when they were children in the 1960s and 1970s, police have said that they are pursuing 300 leads.
The BBC and health authorities also face a series of inquiries and a grilling from parliament over their failure to protect children in their institutions.
Shame, and fear that they would not be taken seriously, were clearly factors in keeping the victims quiet. Savile's connections and saintly reputation also offered him a great deal of protection.
Others have argued that different attitudes to child abuse helped shield Savile from criticism.
Max Clifford, a high-profile public relations guru in London, garnered controversy this week when he said that ageing celebrities are "frightened to death" of being dragged into the scandal.
In those hedonistic days, he said, TV and pop stars "never asked for anybody's birth certificate".
The 1970s were certainly a more liberal time. For several years, a group called the Paedophilia Information Exchange (PIE) openly campaigned for the removal of the age of consent and public acceptance of paedophilia.
PIE found partial acceptance at a time when left-wing groups were challenging broader censorship laws, but it soon became clear that their academic arguments were a cover for criminally abusive behaviour.
However, experts dispute the idea that society was more tolerant of paedophilia in those days.
"The law was the same then - people were fully aware it was wrong," said Mr Green.
What has changed is that people have become much more open to discussing interpersonal relationships, said Kieran McCartan, senior lecturer in criminology at University of the West of England.
"There is an openness to talking about sexualised behaviour that means victims feel more confident to come forward. A lot of that came from the feminist movement and the media's increased willingness to talk about these issues," he said.
The increased coverage of child abuse has not always been positive, however.
The case which did more to raise the issue than any other in Britain was that of eight-year-old Sarah Payne. In July 2000, she was kidnapped, sexually abused and murdered by Roy Whiting, a stranger who lived near her grandparents' home.
Whiting was caught and convicted, but the case sparked months of hysterical press coverage, including a campaign by the News of the World demanding that the names and addresses of known sex offenders be provided to the public. The paper even published some names itself, but backed down after this sparked vigilante attacks on the homes of suspects. "It generated a lot of fear because it gave people the feeling that this could happen to anyone," said Dr McCartnan.
Along with another case in 2002, in which two ten-year-old friends - Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman - were murdered in Soham, the coverage left families with the impression that the primary threat to their children was from strangers.
In fact, the National Society for the Protection of Children (NSPCC) says the vast majority of victims know the offender beforehand, with 80 per cent of incidents happening in one of their homes.
Part of the problem is also a basic lack of information. Although child abuse dominates the news agenda, it is not clear how many predatory paedophiles are out there.
Official figures show in 2010 there were 37,225 registered sexual offenders in England and Wales, but this does not distinguish between those who have targeted adults or children. The NSPCC has filed a freedom of information request with the government to find out why specific data on child abusers is not available, but is still waiting for a response.
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
MATCH INFO
Juventus 1 (Dybala 45')
Lazio 3 (Alberto 16', Lulic 73', Cataldi 90 4')
Red card: Rodrigo Bentancur (Juventus)
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
More from UAE Human Development Report:
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Aayan%E2%80%99s%20records
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
What is a calorie?
A food calorie, or kilocalorie, is a measure of nutritional energy generated from what is consumed.
One calorie, is the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water by 1°C.
A kilocalorie represents a 1,000 true calories of energy.
Energy density figures are often quoted as calories per serving, with one gram of fat in food containing nine calories, and a gram of protein or carbohydrate providing about four.
Alcohol contains about seven calories a gram.
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
SPECS
Mini John Cooper Works Clubman and Mini John Cooper Works Countryman
Engine: two-litre 4-cylinder turbo
Transmission: nine-speed automatic
Power: 306hp
Torque: 450Nm
Price: JCW Clubman, Dh220,500; JCW Countryman, Dh225,500
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Match info
Costa Rica 0
Serbia 1
Kolarov (56')
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
more from Janine di Giovanni
Rooney's club record
At Everton Appearances: 77; Goals: 17
At Manchester United Appearances: 559; Goals: 253
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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If you go
The flights
There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.
The trip
Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.
The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
THE SPECS
Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Transmission: six-speed manual
Power: 325bhp
Torque: 370Nm
Speed: 0-100km/h 3.9 seconds
Price: Dh230,000
On sale: now
The specs: 2018 Ducati SuperSport S
Price, base / as tested: Dh74,900 / Dh85,900
Engine: 937cc
Transmission: Six-speed gearbox
Power: 110hp @ 9,000rpm
Torque: 93Nm @ 6,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 5.9L / 100km
