Browse content similar to 14/01/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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five years the age of 68 might not On Newsnight Scotland: at what | :00:14. | :00:17. | |
point would you take action if you thought a child was being sexually | :00:17. | :00:22. | |
abused? After Jimmy Savile, many across the United Kingdom will have | :00:22. | :00:28. | |
a wish that they acted sooner than they did. Now one Scottish charity | :00:28. | :00:34. | |
says, if you are suspicious, act immediately. How do you safeguard | :00:34. | :00:40. | |
children whilst avoiding the risk of making false accusations? And, | :00:40. | :00:43. | |
remembering the Great War. How should we commemorate next year, | :00:43. | :00:50. | |
indeed, should we commemorate at all? | :00:50. | :00:54. | |
Looking back, lots of people acknowledge that Jimmy Savile was | :00:54. | :01:00. | |
creepy and probably up to no good. If they reported him earlier, who | :01:00. | :01:05. | |
knows? A terrible episode in Our national life and one that the | :01:05. | :01:11. | |
NSPCC want to learn from. If they have started a campaign encouraging | :01:11. | :01:15. | |
people to report their concerns even if they are not certain. But | :01:15. | :01:22. | |
surely that has its own dangers. It was a life lived in the | :01:22. | :01:27. | |
showbusiness spotlight. Bickley of celebrity blinded millions to the | :01:27. | :01:32. | |
truth that Jimmy Savile was a predatory sex offenders. The | :01:32. | :01:37. | |
majority of his victims were children. Plenty of people had a | :01:37. | :01:40. | |
day suspicions but the presenter ultimately went to his grave, | :01:40. | :01:45. | |
unpunished. One by one allegations came to light and recriminations | :01:45. | :01:49. | |
were widespread as people struggled to comprehend how his crimes | :01:49. | :01:54. | |
remained undetected. One consequence of the publicity | :01:54. | :01:57. | |
surrounding the Jimmy Savile scandal is heightened awareness | :01:57. | :02:01. | |
about child sexual abuse. There may be a willingness to do more but for | :02:01. | :02:05. | |
many people, acting upon suspicions that they may have by reporting | :02:05. | :02:15. | |
them to police and others an authority is a bad step to take. | :02:15. | :02:21. | |
That reluctance is the target of a new campaign by the NSPCC but a TV | :02:21. | :02:31. | |
:02:31. | :02:34. | ||
advert which builds ambiguously The children's charity say that | :02:34. | :02:38. | |
calls to their helpline are on the up but more than half of those who | :02:38. | :02:45. | |
do Kohl have taken over a month to report their concerns. The message, | :02:45. | :02:51. | |
do not wait until you are certain. When there are strong indications | :02:51. | :02:56. | |
that something isn't right, people's guts tell them, this child | :02:56. | :03:02. | |
is being abused. But something else says, what if I am wrong? And | :03:02. | :03:06. | |
concerned about what might be the impact on the child. They are | :03:06. | :03:09. | |
worried about what the backlash might be for the accused. They | :03:09. | :03:16. | |
worry about all these things. On Radio Scotland this morning, in | :03:16. | :03:25. | |
sight from one victim. He was a pal of the community. He | :03:25. | :03:35. | |
would tell all sorts of people, old people, DIY, -- help people, | :03:35. | :03:41. | |
charities, but behind closed doors, he was a very clever, manipulative, | :03:41. | :03:48. | |
horrible man. The NSPCC say that there had the | :03:48. | :03:53. | |
nature of the problem means it is under reported. -- the head in | :03:53. | :04:00. | |
nature. The police agree. It is quite widespread, although | :04:00. | :04:04. | |
that is not to say it happens in every family, most children are | :04:04. | :04:08. | |
brought up in a caring, loving environment. But there is a small | :04:08. | :04:12. | |
yet significant number with abuse takes place and the impact that has | :04:12. | :04:19. | |
on their lives is tremendous. The worry for some is that high | :04:19. | :04:24. | |
profile cases involving the sexual abuse of children are responsible | :04:24. | :04:28. | |
for whipping up hysteria. The message from the charity sits | :04:29. | :04:35. | |
uneasily with this lawyer. At a time when there is stories in | :04:35. | :04:39. | |
the media like the Jimmy Savile won the risk is that as well as genuine | :04:39. | :04:43. | |
cases you get people reporting things mistakenly or maliciously | :04:43. | :04:48. | |
that are untrue. Yet they can cause serious repercussions for the | :04:48. | :04:56. | |
individuals who are accused. Such is the stigma that the wisdom | :04:56. | :05:01. | |
of anonymous helplines is also being questioned. | :05:01. | :05:04. | |
If you don't know who is making the allegation it is hard to know if | :05:05. | :05:09. | |
you should give it weight a kid at seriousness. The default position | :05:09. | :05:15. | |
will be that any allegation as treated seriously. -- give it | :05:15. | :05:22. | |
weight or afford it seriousness. But my concern is an innocent | :05:22. | :05:26. | |
person being wrongly accused of something like this then been | :05:26. | :05:32. | |
unable to escape the consequences of the allegation being made. | :05:32. | :05:36. | |
One of the most disturbing episodes in national life has prompted us to | :05:36. | :05:42. | |
ask how to protect society's vulnerable. A difficult question | :05:42. | :05:50. | |
and no answers -- easy answers. I am joined by a representative of | :05:50. | :05:57. | |
the NSPCC, and in Edinburgh, a social work consultant. Has this | :05:58. | :06:02. | |
campaign emerged from the ashes of the Jimmy Savile scandal? Is it a | :06:02. | :06:06. | |
reaction? There is a feeling that very few people acted over Jimmy | :06:06. | :06:12. | |
Savile. The Jimmy Savile case, the | :06:12. | :06:17. | |
appalling facts that have been on cover, have no doubt created a | :06:17. | :06:23. | |
climate where people are asking questions. -- uncover. But it | :06:23. | :06:28. | |
struck a chord in all sorts of ways. People abused by Jimmy Savile | :06:28. | :06:31. | |
decades ago and unable to speak about it we're able to speak about | :06:31. | :06:38. | |
it. Others who suffered unrelated abuse also felt able to speak about | :06:38. | :06:43. | |
it. That raised the issues more widely in the country and we hope | :06:43. | :06:48. | |
very much that this can be a watershed, that we can see our way | :06:48. | :06:53. | |
to protecting children better in the future. | :06:53. | :07:01. | |
You had a tremendous up lift and calls. | :07:01. | :07:06. | |
Yes. People can call our helpline when they are not sure. Over | :07:06. | :07:10. | |
councillors will talk through with them. Where the belief that a | :07:10. | :07:15. | |
serious concern, they will pass the details on, but only when they is | :07:15. | :07:20. | |
serious concern. Do you understand the response of | :07:20. | :07:30. | |
:07:30. | :07:30. | ||
the charity in the wake of the Savell allegations? -- Jimmy Savile. | :07:30. | :07:36. | |
I am all for protecting children, that is not really what my concerns | :07:36. | :07:40. | |
about. But there is a danger that more heat than light is being | :07:40. | :07:45. | |
generated by children's charities in particular, around the issue of | :07:45. | :07:51. | |
child sexual abuse. If there are real dangers with calls to report | :07:51. | :07:56. | |
any and every concern and suspicion to the authorities. To what end? Do | :07:56. | :08:02. | |
we know that this will protect more children or protect children? Might | :08:02. | :08:09. | |
it do more harm than good? The public are not stupid and the 80% | :08:09. | :08:13. | |
that the NSPCC seemed to be critical of four or not reporting | :08:13. | :08:19. | |
concerns immediately had very legitimate worries about doing so. | :08:19. | :08:23. | |
One of them was whether they could trust at any good would come for | :08:23. | :08:29. | |
the child. Are you accusing the charities of | :08:29. | :08:36. | |
creating moral panic? There are elements of moral panic, | :08:36. | :08:42. | |
especially as every day brings a new story about the sexual abuse of | :08:42. | :08:49. | |
children. Which is a problem... I want to pick up on that point. | :08:49. | :08:58. | |
Moral panic or well intentioned? Abuse is hugely under reported. The | :08:58. | :09:04. | |
most extensive study showed that children who are abused sexually in | :09:04. | :09:09. | |
childhood, 72% will not tell anybody during childhood, and many | :09:09. | :09:14. | |
of them won't say anything as an adult. So there is a huge problem | :09:14. | :09:20. | |
and children are not been protected at the moment. | :09:20. | :09:25. | |
We hear about the tremendous under- reporting of abuse from the police, | :09:25. | :09:32. | |
is acting on suspicions not a way to address that? | :09:32. | :09:37. | |
I quite accept that there is under reporting but that once the case | :09:37. | :09:43. | |
much more for information, education, advice. Rather than the | :09:43. | :09:50. | |
call to simply report. Who are we reporting to you? Who are the | :09:50. | :09:57. | |
experts that know what to do? I want to pick up on that point. In | :09:57. | :10:01. | |
England they it Crown Prosecution Service actually apologised for not | :10:01. | :10:07. | |
picking up any prosecutions. What we are saying is serious | :10:08. | :10:11. | |
concerns. People know when something is wrong with a child. | :10:11. | :10:18. | |
They know how an adult behaves when profoundly disturbed. These are | :10:18. | :10:22. | |
concerns we're talking about. We are saying to people, you may well | :10:22. | :10:27. | |
hesitate because you are not absolutely certain, but the nature | :10:27. | :10:32. | |
of sexual abuse is such that abusers will go to extraordinary | :10:32. | :10:37. | |
lengths to conceal what they are doing. Be a very good at convincing | :10:37. | :10:41. | |
the children it is their fault and they will get into trouble for | :10:41. | :10:47. | |
telling anybody. So we really need adults to stand up. Put yourself in | :10:47. | :10:52. | |
the child's shoes. What would they expect you to do? That is the | :10:52. | :10:58. | |
question you should ask yourself. Would you have fate than the | :10:58. | :11:07. | |
authorities once the report is made? -- faith in the authorities? | :11:07. | :11:15. | |
No, but not because I think they are malevolent. Sometimes the | :11:15. | :11:21. | |
result is not good. The idea of experts that we can just be a | :11:21. | :11:25. | |
everything up to, and somehow there is a magic solution, that is not | :11:25. | :11:32. | |
right. I want to pick up another point. | :11:32. | :11:38. | |
Malicious allegations being made, some people could use that as a cue. | :11:38. | :11:43. | |
How can people be protected? There is a difference between | :11:43. | :11:48. | |
acting to protect a child and making an accusation against | :11:48. | :11:51. | |
somebody else. There is a difference between a criminal | :11:51. | :11:55. | |
proceeding and an intervention to make sure that a child is safe and | :11:55. | :12:02. | |
well. Child protection has improved in this country. The police, social | :12:02. | :12:08. | |
workers, the handle this as sensitively as they can. The NSPCC | :12:08. | :12:18. | |
:12:18. | :12:27. | ||
Do you think there should be no anonymous tips? I think he is right, | :12:27. | :12:32. | |
what a hot lines to a helpful, they allow people to discuss concerns so | :12:32. | :12:36. | |
I would say to people that if they are concerned and in need as source | :12:36. | :12:42. | |
of advice they should vote for help line because they can be useful. | :12:42. | :12:46. | |
Where to help lines then say that in reporting rather than discussing | :12:46. | :12:50. | |
your concerns and finding a way forward for that child and for the | :12:50. | :12:54. | |
better protection of children, where there are saying report, | :12:54. | :13:00. | |
report, a report, we have a situation where if an adult | :13:00. | :13:05. | |
particularly a man sees a child lost in the street they tell us, | :13:05. | :13:11. | |
this is a statistic, that they would be scared to help that child. | :13:11. | :13:19. | |
Now, many of the thousands of war memorials across Scotland are set | :13:19. | :13:21. | |
to be renovated or restored to commemorate the country's losses in | :13:21. | :13:24. | |
the Great War, which started a hundred years ago next year. The | :13:24. | :13:28. | |
Scottish government is allocating a million pounds to the project. It | :13:28. | :13:32. | |
is one of several ways the war will be remembered. And of course, last | :13:32. | :13:34. | |
year, David Cameron gave details of how the British government intends | :13:34. | :13:44. | |
:13:44. | :13:54. | ||
It has long been recognised that Scotland made it a sacrifice in the | :13:54. | :13:57. | |
Great War which was disproportionate to the size of its | :13:57. | :14:03. | |
population. The First Minister at chose their Aberdeen Show at | :14:04. | :14:09. | |
village here to make the announcement today. 67 names are on | :14:09. | :14:15. | |
this memorial. They're just from this part of the parish. As far as | :14:15. | :14:22. | |
you can estimate that was one fifth of the young fighting aged men. If | :14:22. | :14:26. | |
you think about that and you know that the casualty rate was almost | :14:26. | :14:32. | |
twice the mortality rate, then probably half of the young fighting | :14:32. | :14:40. | |
men of this village were either killed or injured in the Great War. | :14:40. | :14:42. | |
This is one of the first initiatives have a great number | :14:42. | :14:46. | |
we're going to make, we want to make sure that all memorials in | :14:46. | :14:50. | |
Scotland are in good condition. As good as the highly commended | :14:50. | :14:55. | |
memorial here. Although many are in this sort of condition, many others | :14:55. | :15:01. | |
it could do with a bit of upkeep. So that we can commemorate the | :15:01. | :15:08. | |
extraordinary events in respectful fashion. The Scottish Government's | :15:08. | :15:12. | |
initiative is additional to plans announced by the UK Government. | :15:12. | :15:18. | |
David Cameron launched his ideas last October. Whether it is a | :15:18. | :15:25. | |
series of friendly football match as to mark the truce, or another | :15:25. | :15:31. | |
campaign from the Royal British Legion with their iconic poppies, | :15:31. | :15:35. | |
adding should get out there and make this centenary a truly | :15:35. | :15:39. | |
national moment which mean something in every locality in our | :15:39. | :15:44. | |
country. Some people have questioned if it is appropriate to | :15:44. | :15:47. | |
hold a major commemoration but the start of the conflict rather than | :15:47. | :15:57. | |
:15:57. | :15:58. | ||
to wait for the centenary of the Armistice in 20 team. -- in 2018. | :15:58. | :16:02. | |
I am joined now by Stuart Crawford, a former officer with the Royal | :16:02. | :16:05. | |
Tank Regiment. He is in our Edinburgh studio. And I am joined | :16:05. | :16:07. | |
in Glasgow by Professor Murray Pittock, vice-principal of Glasgow | :16:07. | :16:17. | |
University. Was that the sheer scale the losses that meant this | :16:17. | :16:19. | |
conflict is embedded in our national consciousness? You're | :16:20. | :16:23. | |
absolutely right. To pick up a point from the First Minister, if | :16:23. | :16:30. | |
you exclude Commonwealth dead in the British Total of dead was | :16:30. | :16:38. | |
886,000. The Scottish National War Museum -- memorial in Edinburgh | :16:38. | :16:43. | |
Castle has 180,000 names. 17 or 18% of the casualties were Scottish. | :16:43. | :16:49. | |
The impact was enormous. Should be commemorate the beginning of this | :16:49. | :16:57. | |
conflict rather than the end of it? In a way that is a bit questionable | :16:57. | :17:03. | |
and I can see the reasons for objections. In World War and to be | :17:03. | :17:06. | |
generally commemorate the beginning of the end of the war. -- World War | :17:06. | :17:15. | |
II. World War I was a moment when a huge amount of your it was caught | :17:15. | :17:18. | |
up in a fervour which I think we would want to avoid happening ever | :17:18. | :17:23. | |
again. On the other hand it is the beginning of a period of you | :17:23. | :17:28. | |
sacrifice. Especially for Scotland as we have been hearing, it it was | :17:28. | :17:34. | |
unparalleled. We can see both sides of the argument and it is strange | :17:34. | :17:39. | |
to commemorate the beginning in some ways. Should national | :17:39. | :17:44. | |
commemoration start with the Great War or on Armistice Day? The Great | :17:44. | :17:49. | |
War is the first time that warfare in general became known to the bulk | :17:49. | :17:53. | |
of the jet at -- bulk of the population. Before that British | :17:54. | :18:02. | |
wars were mostly abroad with a small professional army. With their | :18:02. | :18:11. | |
Great War or after 1914 we have the Volunteer movement and after that | :18:11. | :18:14. | |
we had conscription. In many ways it was the first war in which the | :18:14. | :18:20. | |
whole population became involved. The commemoration will come in 20th | :18:20. | :18:29. | |
August 14. That is in the midst of the referendum campaign. -- in 2014. | :18:29. | :18:36. | |
It will it be help sensitively. but I do not think we can make | :18:36. | :18:39. | |
comments on the politics. One thing I hope will be remembered and does | :18:39. | :18:42. | |
not just a UK or Scottish thing, is the extent to which British forces | :18:42. | :18:47. | |
from the British Empire what not just across the world but on the | :18:47. | :18:56. | |
Western Front. We are prone to forget the sacrifices of Australia, | :18:56. | :19:04. | |
New Zealand and Canada and India and troops of other nations. Even | :19:04. | :19:11. | |
more than World War II it was a British Imperial War or and so in a | :19:11. | :19:15. | |
sense it is not just about Britain, or Scotland, it is about the whole | :19:15. | :19:19. | |
of the imperial nations as they then were. To take it as an Anglo- | :19:19. | :19:23. | |
Scottish thing would do an injustice to all the people from | :19:23. | :19:27. | |
across what became the Commonwealth. What kind of a European dimension | :19:27. | :19:33. | |
could there be involving Germany, perhaps? I think that in the spirit | :19:33. | :19:38. | |
of the Christmas truce which has gone down in history as being an | :19:38. | :19:43. | |
interesting and unusual event, I think there's all sorts of scope | :19:43. | :19:48. | |
orange all -- for involving former allies and adversaries in the | :19:49. | :19:55. | |
celebrations. There we can look at the great sacrifice his of previous | :19:55. | :20:00. | |
generations. Bringing in a European dimension would be very appropriate | :20:00. | :20:07. | |
as 100 years approach. It was a very different sense of celebration | :20:07. | :20:14. | |
for the 50th celebration in London in 1995. The First World War as | :20:14. | :20:19. | |
viewed very differently, isn't it? There is no doubt about that. With | :20:20. | :20:24. | |
the hindsight of everyone that fought in it, they are all dead | :20:24. | :20:33. | |
effectively, it was a war that was justified and said it -- -- it was | :20:33. | :20:37. | |
not a war that was justified, it was an appalling conflict. The way | :20:37. | :20:41. | |
we look back at it is bound to be different but it shaped our modern | :20:41. | :20:47. | |
world and that is what we should remember. But you for joining me. | :20:47. | :20:55. | |
Now a quick look at tomorrow's front pages. Millions will lose out | :20:55. | :20:59. | |
in the pensions shake-up say the Herald. And HMV is in | :20:59. | :21:07. |