It is almost three decades since the sexual abuse, rape and buggery of children became a torrid theme in Britain’s political culture.
It was in the mid-1980s that the government insisted that concern about sexual abuse must ignite intervention by police and children’s services. Not may, intervene, but must. That was a historic moment, when the state took the side of children. Almost instantly child protection combusted.. The government recoiled.
It initiated public inquiries into what to do - and not to do - about sexual abuse. But not into how prevalent it is, or how to prevent it.
