When you read news items, it sometimes helps to read between the lines and not just accept the published text as the be all and end all of a story.  Sometimes, what the journalist, sub-editor or newspaper publisher leaves out of a story can be an indication that there is another story, possibly one that is more difficult, or challenging, for the journalist or their publication to deal with.

The reasons for a journalist or publication not giving all the details that the journo may have had in their possession are numerous.  It could be an unflattering story about a local worthy and their fetish for retiring to their bedroom and nailing their scrotum to a bit of wood or be a story about local  elected representatives who have the whiff of corruption about them.  Both sorts of stories present challenges to local reporters and publishers.

Local journalists especially, are hampered by the fact that they live above their stories so to speak.  Unlike a reporter from a national newspaper who can fly in ask a few questions, do a bit of doorstepping and go away again, secure in the knowledge that they won’t have to go back to the area again, local journalists live among those they write about.

This can be a good thing in some cases, a journalist can learn all there is to know about their patch but there is a downside and that is sometimes journalists or publishers can ‘play safe’ with difficult stories, or even become part of the local establishment. It’s a case of familiarity breeding some level of dependence on local politicians, council officers, police or business people who the journalist feels that they do not wish to upset.  They may then write the sort of stories that don’t make waves.  The position regarding local journalists tackling difficult stories is much worse now than it used to be just a couple of decades ago. Then there were local newspapers with properly employed full time staff writers who would have had some sort of workplace protection if they’d been ordered by their line management to write a falsehood or to lie by omission.  Now, local papers and local web media call on the services of an awful lot of freelances, who by nature of the precariousness of the profession, have even more incentive than employed staff writers to play safe, write only the stories that will not rock the boat and even lie by omission, if they are pressed to do so by those in authority.

A glaring example of a story where relevant details have been left out in such a blatant manner that it leads the reader to assume that there is a secondary story that is not being talked about is this one from the Derby Telegraph.  The published story concerns a very worrying situation that has developed in Derby’s Cathedral Quarter.  A number of women have made complaints to police about men touching them through their clothes.  Some women in Derby are so disturbed and frightened by what looks like a very recent phenomenon that they’ve resorted to shopping only in groups and carrying rape alarms.

What is disturbing about the story, which I’ve reproduced below, is that despite there being a number of different women who have complained to the police about the behaviour there is no description given of the man or men who are alleged to be involved in these offences.  I read and re-read this story over and over again but there was not a single indication of anything that could be described as a description for a man or men that the police are actively searching for.  I find it extremely odd that a police force that was truly committed to apprehending criminals would not furnish the journalist with as best a description as they possibly could.  It’s also concerning that a professional journalist would not ask the very basic question of the police, if they had not volunteered a description, to provide one, or give an explanation as to why one is not available.

Now I’m not one for donning the tin-foil hat but I must say that this story looks like it’s been deliberately scrubbed of any detail that could identify the alleged assailants,  At the very least the detail has been purposely left out which is an odd thing to in a story that is primarily based around the police search for an alleged offender.  The omission is so blatant and so out of place for this type of story that it is possible that there may be another story here one that the local journos and police don’t want touched.  But what can it be?  Could it be that Derby has become yet another place name to add to the lengthening list of towns and cities where groups of Muslims or individual Muslims are indulging in random acts of sexual predation?  It’s not that far fetched a possibility that these offences may well be Islam-related and equally plausible that the police and local media is trying to play this aspect of the case down.

It could of course be that these women were grabbed from behind or didn’t see their assailant or the alleged sex offender obscured their face and this is not a crime that is related to the presence in the UK of the followers of an ideology that to often has shown little or no respect for women.  It might be that this is a local British perve with a pedigree going back to William the Bastard and a vicar for a father, on the other hand it may be something entirely different and much more disturbing.  However, what is difficult to dispute is that when something as vital to the success of a story as a description is left out and there is no explanation given for this lack of identification detail then it will lead many to suspect that this second story, the unwritten story between the lines,  is about Muslims touching up women in Derby city.  This suspicion is especially strong when the omission is so blatantly displayed as in this story.  It needs to be said at this point that that the presumably local commentators below the line in  this story suggest that it could be related to the tramps and street drinkers that congregate in the area.  But, that doesn’t explain or excuse the stunning lack of description of the alleged assailants or provide any credible explanation for the lack of description.  If this isn’t Islamic sex crime but local meths drinkers behind these offences then the newspaper is doing little to stifle rumours that these are Muslim criminals by not issuing any description.

Here’s the report in question from the Derby Telegraph.  It’s the complete story so that there is no suggestion of selective editing.  As is usual policy for this blog the original text is in italics whereas my comments are in plain text.

The Derby Telegraph said:

Women shopping in Derby’s Cathedral Quarter say they will be walking in groups after police warned others had been inappropriately touched there.
Officers are investigating whether “a number of reported assaults” on women walking alone between December 21 and Friday are linked.
They have become more frequent recently, with one reported on Thursday evening and another Friday morning.

I’d say that the fact that these offences have suddenly started and then got worse suggests that something has changed to bring these offenders into the area or embolden them to commit these alleged offences.  There certainly does seem to be a link of sorts between the incidents and whether that will be Islam or one or more individuals with catastrophic drug and mental health problems remains to be seen.

Jane Morris, of Chaddesden, was shopping in the Cathedral Quarter on Saturday morning. She said the news was worrying.
The 47-year-old said: “It’s usually very safe and I like coming here. But now it’s made me think twice and if I do it will be with s friend. I think being in pairs and groups will really help. It’s terrible that you need to do that but I thinks it’s important.”
Whatever the cause of these offences it’s a terrible situation to arrive at to have women feeling that they cannot go shopping alone and can only go in pairs.
Diana Webster, 57, of Gerard St, said: “I love shopping in this area and I come in on the bus once a week to do my shopping. I arm myself with a rape alarm and I’d urge my friends to do the same now. I don’t want to come in on my own now.”

It’s a bad state of affairs when there is this level of fear.

A police spokesman previously said: “All of the incidents involved the offender touching the women inappropriately, over their clothing, before running off.
“The incidents have happened at various times throughout the day and our detectives are considering whether the attacks are linked or not.
The second part of this officer’s statement should really be answered by the phrase ‘No Shit Sherlock’.  The modus operandi of each alleged offence is so similar that it strongly suggests a link of some sorts and the time for ‘consideration’ about this should be over by now.
“They are asking you, particularly if you are alone, to be vigilant whilst walking through the city centre and to report any incidents, no matter how minor, to us.
Anyone with information about the assaults is asked to contact police on 101, quoting incident number 474 of December 29.
They can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

The final part of this story is the usual ‘don’t have nightmares’ reassurance stuff that the police put out in these situations and the only relevant part of it is the appeal for information.  Let’s hope that this man or men can be apprehended as quickly as possible before more women restrict their movements out of fear or the offender graduates to more serious offences.

There’s something really odd about this story and it’s not just the strange lack of assailant descriptor detail and that is the suddenness of the start of the offences in December and the apparent escalation.  It’s making me really curious as to what has changed in that area?  Have there been massive cutbacks in services in the area for those with co-morbid drug, alcohol and mental health problems? Has there been a change in the policing in this particular area of Derby?  One thing that has changed and which may account for the cageyness with how the police are handling the details of this case and how they are being reported, is a sudden influx of ‘Syrian refugees’ or other dodgy ‘asylum seekers’.   Back in April2016  the Derby Telegraph reported that the county would be taking 50 ‘Syrian refugee families who would be scattered throughout the county towards the end of 2016, although Derby City denied involvement with these 50 families as they were already housing a large number of ‘asylum seekers’.
Armed with the knowledge that Derbyshire and Derby City in particular, has been burdened with a large number of people from outside the UK, many of whom will be Muslims, from cultures where women are considered as having slightly less value than a cow, you can spot a possible reason for the sudden start and spike in these offences.
Could it be that the ‘Rapeugees’ that Derbyshire and Derby city has been landed with are making their unwelcome and misogynistic presence felt?  It’s certainly a credible explanation for both the sudden start to these offences, their escalation and the tardy and lazy way that the police seem to be  investigating them.
It would also be a believable reason as to why the reporter who wrote this story and the newspaper which published it left such a massive information hole in it.   After all, the very definition of a ‘difficult’ local newspaper would be one where the local politicians, worthies, virtue signallers, social justice warriors and possibly the newspaper’s management itself, back a cause, for example ‘refugees welcome’, only to find that the new guests are a serious problem.   This would be an embarrassing scenario for all those who’ve foolishly jumped on the ‘refugees welcome’ bandwagon and an incentive to play down problems with these invaders/’refugees’.
If, to give a comparable scenario,  I helped, either with malice or by naivety,  to invite someone to a dinner party, who moaned about the food, moaned about the company, did a shit in the fridge than complained to the host that there was a steaming turd in the fridge, then I think I would be a little sheepish about my involvement in this person’s invitation.   Muslim migrants and the current crop of ‘refugees’, as we have seen from the litany of incidents throughout Europe,  are the walking, living embodiment of the unwanted guest that craps in the fridge.
Therefore, to conclude,  although it may be that these offences have been committed by local junkies and street drinkers, it’s equally possible that Derby could have an on street Islamic sex crime problem that no part of the local Establishment, possibly including the newspaper itself, wants to admit exists and details are being withheld for ‘community cohesion’ reasons.
So what do you the reader reckon?  Is this a case of sloppy reporting or no real description being available or are the local Establishment trying to hide an outbreak of Islamic sex crime?  I can see both sides of the argument but the sort of behaviour that constitutes these alleged offences certainly smells badly of badly behaved Muslims just as much as it does of mentally ill drunks.

Links
Original story about street pervert or perverts in Derby’s Cathedral Quarter

http://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/woman-shopping-in-groups-after-pervert-strikes-in-derby/story-30038271-detail/story.html#cqC5ZBsotGm0o4I2.99

‘Syrian refugees’ being dumped on Derbyshire

http://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/syrian-refugees-set-arrive-county-later-year/story-29034976-detail/story.html

Data dump from below the line comments from this story as of 17:50GMT 09/01/2017

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BillDerby  |  January 09 2017, 9:28AM
Well this report will frighten people not to shop there.
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kevvvvv  |  January 09 2017, 9:08AM
Can we have a description of the attackers please???!!
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dianae  |  January 08 2017, 7:12PM
looneylaneyloo – beggars, street drinkers and such are unlikely to surprise many first visitors to Derby because they will have seen them in the cities they come from. Last time I saw women being harassed in CQ, it was on NYE. It was not homeless beggars but middle aged men standing having a smoke outside the Standing Order threatening to carry out sexual assaults on much younger women walking by. Other well dressed men standing nearby thought this hilarious. On the same evening, the beggars on St Peter’s St were asking for money or quietly sleeping in doorways.
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dianae  |  January 08 2017, 7:05PM
markoo – last I remember hearing is that the D2N2 team for Cathedral Quarter made sure that CCTV continued. maybe you are too optimistic about the clearness of any images, only takes the person responsible to be wearing clothing that is unmemorable and hides his face ..

Lack of police presence and why is there no CCTV images I thought a city would have them ………or have they been turned of because of cut backs ?
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loonylaneyloo  |  January 08 2017, 11:29AM
They’ve been emboldened because anti social behaviour anywhere in the city centre that’s not Intu isn’t being tackled. Street drinking and aggressive begging is rife. People coming to Derby for the first time have been shocked that this has been normalised. Anti social behaviour needs aggressive and consistent tackling. If it isn’t then I predict ever more serious crimes will be committed. My disabled daughter has been aggressively harassed on more than one occasion in broad daylight in the city centre. Police were informed, but nothing was done.

Read more at http://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/woman-shopping-in-groups-after-pervert-strikes-in-derby/story-30038271-detail/story.html#cqC5ZBsotGm0o4I2.99

Read more at http://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/woman-shopping-in-groups-after-pervert-strikes-in-derby/story-30038271-detail/story.html#cqC5ZBsotGm0o4I2.99