There have been a few good pieces in the press spotlighting the terrible consequences of the slavish, ingrained devotion to cultural relativism - and sheer cowardliness - which have been the hallmarks of the case of the Asian men convicted this week of the shocking sexual abuse of under-age white girls.

Brendan O'Neill of Spiked online writes

'...it seems it is now virtually impossible to have a serious discussion about problematic cultural attitudes, because to do so would apparently offend minorities and, even worse, stir up the passions of the latently racist white masses. And so, in the name of protecting Muslim communities' sensitivities and dampening down white working-class people's alleged savagery, we keep quiet about certain things; we gag ourselves.'

And Allison Pearson describes her own experience as a teacher: '

You will already have noticed a lot of embarrassed evasiveness about this disgusting case, particularly on the BBC. Turning a blind eye to appalling, illegal practices because “it’s their culture” is what has brought our country to this obscene pass. I have watched it unfolding since I did my teaching practice in 1982 in Southall, west London. I remember being encouraged to “teach the children their own culture” even as I found myself wondering why British Muslim girls couldn’t be taught the enlightened beliefs of the egalitarian land in which they lived.

When it comes to women’s rights, not all cultures are created equal, particularly those whose attitudes are frozen some time in the mid‑14th century. But we weren’t allowed to say that. Actually, we weren’t even allowed to think that. If you inhaled enough toleration of the intolerable, then you were well on your way to the opium of political correctness.

All those years ago in the classroom, it was clear to me how dangerous it would be if we didn’t insist that newcomers signed up to our social norms. What was going to happen if we were nervous of offending them, not the other way around? This week, over Liverpool, the sky was dark not with rain clouds but with chickens coming home to roost.'

Of course the ridiculous Keith Vaz MP has pronounced that there was no racial element involved. He might be living in his own little universe but unfortunately, the police, social services and indeed much of the media have obviously joined him there, with tragic results. Rest assured that if this case had been about a group of white men systematically abusing exclusively asian girls, it would have turned into a case of Stephen Lawrence dimensions.  

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