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(not satire – it’s UK libel laws)
The CPS has revealed that Cyril Smith would be charged with child abuse today – but the inevitable question on everyone’s lips is how on earth did he manage to get away with it for so long.
I can answer that.
Way back in 1979, Smith managed to close down any discussion of the allegations by threatening to sue the equivalent of today’s Twitter users and bloggers if any of them tried to reveal or discuss the subject of child abuse by rich and powerful people in children’s homes.
Obviously there were no tweeters or bloggers in the 1970s, but there were the equivalent – small independent magazines published by volunteers who sold them on independent distribution networks around pubs, clubs etc.
The people who wrote for these independent magazines were the bloggers of their day and the people who bought them and discussed the articles with their friends in the local pubs were the tweeters of their day.
One such magazine – Rochdale Alternative Press – published an article about Cyril Smith MP in 1979 which alleged he and other prominent people were involved in abuse of children in children’s homes around the country.
Here’s the front page of the magazine from May 1979:
What happened after the magazine published the article?
In a story remarkably similar to that we are seeing today, Cyril Smith, a very powerful and wealthy man at the time, quickly announced he was taking out an injunction against Rochdale Alternative Press and threatened to sue them – or anyone else who dared to repeat the allegations – for libel.
The result?
Although Smith didn’t actually take anyone to court, everyone was so terrified of being sued, there was a total gag on any media – a gag which successfully closed down all discussion about the scandal for nearly four decades.
And now amazingly – so many years later – we’re seeing exactly the same method being used to shut down all discussion about the subject of child abuse by the rich and the powerful too.
The similarities are uncanny.
My question is this.
Are the plebs really still so terrified by the threats of libel from the rich and powerful that we’re going to allow another four decades to pass before we can even discuss this subject again?
I hope not.
Because our nation’s children deserve better.
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Related articles by Tom Pride:
Why are UK police helping McAlpine sue twitter users when he’s a tax exile in Italy?
I hope Lord McAlpine isn’t going to sue me for saying this?
It was the police – not the BBC – who wrongly named Lord McAlpine in abuse allegations
High level child abuse cover-up? Why has Theresa May barred a US journalist from the UK?
The Death of Satire? The Mail’s David Rose complains about being smeared
Steven Messham is not just a child abuse victim. He’s a hero.
An APOLOGY to The Daily Mail from TOM PRIDE
Child abuse scandal can of worms – just who is Daily Mail reporter David Rose?
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Pride's Purge 
Ok first question: when did the cps info come out? ( i dont live in real world) next, the nun thing i mentioned to you. If you got patience and wade through legal bollocks ( its the similar of talking out something in parliament) the result is an inevitable white wash. But in the legalise bollocks is several refs to bryn alyn.. Go and look , odd eh?
Are they connrcted??
Ok am talking to S now , ok?
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You stole my thunder! Cyril was on the list that began here:
A Brief History of Libel, Part 1 — John Major « Class Antagonism of a New World Order
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No you are not talking shit Bryn alyn is the place we should all be concentrating on! joining the dots thats the clue
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Aaah. Again thank you misty, its so frustrating !!! Just need someone with an investigative mind who will BLOODY LISTEN and pay attebtion.. Hello anyone out there.?
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I think tom is asleep, harold wilson was stitched up by MI5 , peter wright admitted it.
And it connected to colin wallace story which connected to kincorra boys home.,,aint life strange … Dots , jigsaw pieces
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http://ricosorda.blogspot.com/2012/11/daily-mail-journalist-david-rose-he-is.html
I have been left shocked these past weeks. It has really saddened me how so many crawled back under rocks a soon as libel was mentioned. The establishment played a clever game and it worked. So come back out everybody its ok. Whilst everyone hides the abuse carries on.
We, the bloggers, have smashed the establishment cover-up in Jersey but still they use the media to suppress the truth. My blog has been going for 21/2 years and its all about the jersey child abuse cover-up. What I have noticed is how the same formula is used in covering abuse up.
rs
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Rico – your blog has been an inspiration to many people – including me. Keep up the good work, not all of us are scared.
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The Antagonist – excellent blog post!
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Thanks rico, im posting about nazareth house at the moment, i am sure that jersey, kincorra , bryn alyn, nazareth house are all connected.
Misty and i noted in the house of lords whitewash of nazareth house that bryn alyn was mentioned a few times.
Peter wright was obsessed over harold wilson being a kgb plant, colin wallace was orderd to smear wilson but he refused . But it coverd up kincorra boys home.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4796145.stm
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http://m.topix.com/forum/uk/scotland/TTKTPAK2MV0QMPPCC/p92#bmb=1
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http://annfreespirit.50megs.com/photo3.html
Ok rico, what do you know if snything about:
Construction contracts, rent boys and a secret flat?
When the daily mirror caught up with the owner of bryn alyn he was working in hotel. He made a fortune out of bryn alyn he was convicted paedo, it said in the article he rented out boys to rich clients so that ticks a few boxes there.
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Ok so give us a friggin hand here Tom , ok?
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Oh, while we’re on the subject of unrelated cover-ups:
NOTW editor ‘spiked paedophilia scoop on Arthur C Clarke for fear of Murdoch’ – Ex-reporter claims story never ran because the sci-fi author was the proprietor’s friend
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Hangon bryn alyn , bryn estyn., got mixed up., so more than one? Oh i remember the coconut shell ‘story’ now i know it was bollocks now..now then rico stuff about kids being ‘hired out’ now fits the mirror story.,and the info that i had about rent boys..and. a secret flat and big construction contracts that were being awarded..
A previous poster spoke of nazareth house and the nuns who apart from abuse were colluding with ‘lords’ in the abuse of children.
In all this ‘MI5’ keeps coming up… The other poster re nazareth house mentioned official secrets act used to silence abused kids..
So..kincorra, colin wallace black ops order on wilson, peter wright obsession, official secrets act, northern ireland anti ira, loyalist child rapists,lord moneybags being bombed by ira , also carlton club bombed by ira..,another naz house in ireland..nuns, lords , celebs, police , judges.. Maybe an astronomer., jeez.,
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Better late than never?
Cyril Smith MP abused boys, Manchester police find – Police find ‘overwhelming evidence’ former Rochdale MP attacked vulnerable boys and CPS criticises 1970s decision not to prosecute | UK news | The Guardian
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Tom You ask a question that, notwithstanding the 4 people conversing here, no one has responded to; and unfortunately I can’t help feel that omission goes some way to your reply!
However I’m not convinced we plebs are terrified of libel, more that, so many of us feel bombarded with the seemingly never ending amount of evidence revealing the truly revolting nature of the rich & powerful, we’ve become numb.
Compound this with the real threats of potential homelessness, total poverty etc so many of us are faced with and we have a Nation overloaded into shock and, maybe worst of all, without a Leader we can support; you have a Country whose plebs are felled into believing they are powerless.
Just my thoughts, please keep it up xx
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This is just one example of why we need the #LibelReform campaign in the UK.
It’s not just paedos getting away with abuse, it’s quack therapists selling false cure (Singh vs British Chiropractic Association) and rich businessmen keeping their criminal practises out of the spotlight (Hindujas et al). They don’t even have to *actually* sue; As in Tom’s example, just the threat of libel is enough to shut down a story that’s not published by someone with deep pockets (or an -n-house legal department). It’s known as ‘Libel Chill’
Exposing child abuse should *always* be covered by a public interest defence.
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I have been asking if MI5 have returned the file they stole containing evidence about Cyril Smith, but thats a silly question. They must be kept busy stealing stuf to protect those higher up the ladder!
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Bob – no, I’m wide awake. 🙂
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No matter what is evidenced, no matter all the ersatz investigations, no matter the public furore – this abuse continues and will continue because that is the way to completely demoralise the masses. We are seeing coverup after coverup seemingly being “uncovered” but there is no resolution, no convictions, just puff and bluff and smoke and mirrors.
This is psychological warfare on a now massive scale due to the global nature of media. We are like rabbits caught in the headlights. We are being trained to accept that we are powerless. And we are caught in the fascination with pure and satanic evil without the emotional release of getting the criminals banged up.
A few minor personalities may be thrown under the bus, some deceased monsters lose their blue plaques – so what? Psychopaths already know the endgame and it isn’t looking good for the non-psychopaths.
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Jayne that pretty much sums it up , info overload.. And as you say feeling powerless. I wrote as much as i came across to see if any of it joined up. Its trying to see if all these abuse places link up. Jersey wales scotland mi5 construction carlton club police lords nuns celebs
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The fear is totally justified, given the situation and system we live in. The reason of the fear, however, is not. Lady Justice is supposed to be blind, but from what I read here, she became a gold digger a long time ago.
It’s crazy that money can buy freedom.
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3 points on the smith case. Same question is / was there a ring of prominent ppl involved. Next CPS as usual failure to act, next it says this activity happened outside of the time he was mp.. Er so? What if they happened when he was member and mp? Would abything have happened? Or this lets keep it quiet stuff happen… Even in this police statement after his death there is a hint of cover up.
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Mi5 file on smith? Here we go again, the spooks,,mr rose calling mr rose…
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Ok bryn alyn ..bryn estyn. .. Two places..or one place or or..
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It’s trauma-based mind control. When you receive shock after shock you become numb and apathetic. It’s been proved with mice receiving electric shock treatment when travelling through mazes – after a while the mice don’t even try to go down those passages where they’ve received shocks.
We are being trained. Tavistock Institute, BBC, Common Purpose, Fabian Marxism – it’s all about destroying your individuality and normal responses. Welcome to the Hive Mind.
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Dont bite my head off tom, we are on the sane side..ok? Right .. If the idea is that there is a huge abuse ring fine.., then lets see what we got to stand that up. After the welsh avuse stuff the victims later all die mysteriously .,that means that someone knew where they were. So someone had them traced.,, how you do that? Pvt detectives ex coppers – council records.,,bribes etc., ok one victim was found dead in a flat. Murderd no foubt., some abuse was carried out in a secrtrt flat.,years earlier..,
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I would love to be taken to court for libel I never got my day in court , I was stopped by con gov of the day when they introduced a time directive, any one abused be for that year it was tough shit, Not only did it protect the RC. church but also kept officials in the clear, That way it could keep on happening.AMEN.
Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2012 20:50:58 +0000 To: cathcourtney@hotmail.co.uk
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yeah they are similar except they arent.
1. Cyril Smith threatened people with libel to shut them up, so few journals were published after the one you mention
2. McAlpine did not sue Scallywag, nor did he sue David Icke over his book, nor did he sue the people sho spread Icke’s allegations all over the internet in the years before 2012. He did not try to have Icke’s books pulled or anything else (that we know of.. if he did, im sure Icke would have told us all about it).
3. McAlpine sued only after it became a problem in 2012 when the BBC repeated it, when people were spamming the entire web (including twitter, youtube, facebook, blogs, forums, wikipedia) with PAEDO in all caps, when google search was suggesting it after his name, when journalists were camping out in front of his house, when his neighbors were all being “informed” of the stuff
4. McAlpine sued to stop people lying about him. It’s not just Messham who said McAlpine is a mistaken identity case, there is another source as well. The journalists who followed the story over the years knew it was bollocks.
Just because a lot of people have used libel law to cover their crimes, doesnt automatically mean there are no legitimate cases of libel. For example – if 10,000 people started calling you a pedophile, mr Tom Pride, would you want them to stop?
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on the contrary, i think rapists and abusers are shaking in their boots about the Savile case. now, granted, some of them are complete sociopathic and animalistic personalities, and wont change their behavior. but what will change? is the behavior of those who look over children – producers of kids shows, people who run care homes, hospitals, etc. social workers may be given more respect now, who knows what changes may come of all this. court cases and convictions and prison would be ideal, but is ‘zero’ really the only alternative to ‘ideal’?
it has spread beyond, to the Peel situation as well. i think some of the ‘happy hands’ managers at BBC, and other corporations, might be surprised to find their world view not tolerated anymore. some things really have changed since the 60s, ask any woman what it was like to work in a corporation back then vs now. there is still a long way to go but pretending like it ‘doesnt matter’ or ‘doesnt change anything’ doesnt really seem to match the evidence if you ask me.
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no, people crawled back under the rocks because ‘hes innocent’ was mentioned by two of the people who originally accused him, the reporters who aired the story, the chief of the network that aired the story, the people who spread the story, and on and on on. not everything is a conspiracy.
there are hundreds and hundreds of cases with evidence about child abuse being covered up, if the blogosphere spent as much effort digging into them as they did into bashing McAlpine they might actually contribute something. example: a well respected journalist, Leah McGrath Goodman, is trying to have her Visa restored so she can finish her book on the Jersey care home Haute de la Garenne. There is a petition on change.org to have her visa restored. It was taken away from her for no apparent reason.
So, let me ask you. How much time have you spent online ranting about McAlpine, who is innocent according to anyone with two brain cells to rub together.
And then, let me ask you, have you signed the petition to get Goodman allowed into the UK and Jersey again?
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You said yourself that these perpetrators are sociopathic, I would say psychopathic. Psychopaths never believe that they have done anything wrong and will lie and lie and lie keeping a straight face at all times. It should be remembered that paedophiles rarely act on their own and have a network of fellow travellers to call on both to protect themselves and to procure new victims.
Paedophilia is on the agenda, there may be bumps along the road with a few disposable “C” list individuals being sacrificed on the altar of public opprobrium to give the impression that the controllers give a damn, but it is a “must be”. Liz Truss said that on-line porn should be taught at school, whatever the publicly voiced reason for this, the mind-benders know that in practice this will lead to greater acceptance of porn and sexual deviance. They have to pervert the minds of youngsters first to bring in their agenda of complete moral debasement of society. A weak society is more easily controllable than a strong, principled and moral society. Look at how sex is increasingly taught to younger and younger children. You should take a look at Bertrand Russell who was supported by the elite to conduct research on the effects of sex education on very young children – the effects were to break down the traditional family bonds. The people at the top know much more about our psychology than we do about theirs.
No, no conspiracy here 😉
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Messham is the straw man used by the powers that be to create distrust of abuse victims’ testimony. Messham was told by police officers at the time that it was Mcalpine – no details about which Mcalpine and there was another Lord M at the time of the alleged abuses – so now telling people that it was a case of mistaken identity is the perfect cover story and for a public that has a very short attention span and little use for joined-up thinking this has been a PR coup for those wishing to protect high profile abusers.
Please name the journos who said it was all bollocks. “An expert said” is not the best way to prove your point.
Always discredit your critics – I believe Mcalpine’s book explains this tactic more fully than I can.
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Facts. The BBC didn’t call McAlpine a paedophile. Neither did ITV. Why should he get over a quarter of a million for not being named when the real victims get nothing?
As for me being accused of paedophilia?
No – I wouldn’t object – or sue – if the BBC DIDN’T name me as a paedophile. And if I was mistaken by the police for my cousin who was a paedophile – I would first want to know how my cousin got away with it for so long and secondly I would want to know why the police wrongly gave my name to victims.
Thirdly, I would campaign for the victims to get proper compensation.
McAlpine has done none of these things.
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