by Rab Bruce’s Spider

The Oxfam scandal is certainly attracting a great many headlines, and rightly so. It is perhaps naïve of many of us not to have considered that some people would have been attracted to working for such a charity because they knew it would present them with opportunities to go to parts of the world where they were sure to find vulnerable children who could be exploited.

Oxfam, and similar charities, have a duty of care to try to ensure that no such person is allowed to work for them, but let’s face it, many paedophiles are very successful at concealing their true nature from others. However, if anyone is discovered to be a paedophile, or even if there are suggestions that they might be, the charities should ensure that such people face full and proper investigation and face the full penalties the law provides. This is where Oxfam went seriously wrong.

As a result of their attempt to cover up the scandal, Oxfam are in the news, but some media outlets are going completely overboard with their coverage, causing many people to wonder whether there is more to this story than meets the eye.

the cynics amongst us are already pointing out that this story, which relates to events which allegedly took place several years ago, has broken at a very convenient time. It is not long ago, after all, that Oxfam openly criticised the Tory Government for its cruel treatment of the poor and disabled. Some are suggesting that much of the current furore is down to the Government getting its own back.

Not only that, the story coincides with calls by Jacob Rees Mogg to cut the overseas aid budget. Having Oxfam in the spotlight does his cause no harm at all.

Coincidence? Maybe, but there is also news breaking on social media that much of the publicity surrounding Mr Rees Mogg is being generated by Kremlin-controlled Twitter accounts and Bots which generate a sufficient number of comments to make the mainstream media pick up on them, thus creating a publicity story which is intended to manipulate the ever-gullible public.

coincidence? You decide.

And, of course, the other point many are making is that this same Government which is now making noises about cutting grants to charities has consistently lost files which allege paedophilia being carried out by members of Parliament.

Coincidence? Some are arguing that is more like deflection, not to mention hypocrisy.

But the main problem with this whole story is that it rarely seems to focus on the children who suffered at the hands of these unsavoury individuals. Their lives were blighted enough by the natural disasters which devastated their country, and instead of help, they found only cruel victimisation. In today’s UK, it seems such things are of secondary importance as far as the media are concerned. All the public outrage is being directed towards Oxfam who, it must be remembered, employ many hundreds of people, most of whom genuinely work hard to help those who are less fortunate. But I have yet to hear a single news commentary talk about the children.

Even when the children are mentioned, the media distort their behaviour. Many newspaper headlines don’t seem to understand that the children were not "exchanging sex for gifts"; they were being exploited by ruthless, manipulative individuals who were taking advantage of their vulnerability. That is the real tragedy, with the secondary tragedy being that the British media seem unable to grasp this point.