Various opinion writers have taken on the task of explaining why Britain's educated classes have determinedly ignored or downplayed the "rape gangs" of Pakistani men preying on lower class white girls. Most such have emphasized fear of being called "racist" or fear of stirring up unrest among a non-assimilated immigrants known for violence. These fears are real enough, but insufficient to explain the persistent refusal to act.
I write to remind readers that very little can be understood about British culture if one ignores the great influence of social class distinctions in that culture. The people making the decisions come from the educated classes, many of whose children don't go to public schools.
The ruling class live parallel lives that only infrequently interact with the lower orders. They voted against Brexit, consider themselves more "European" than Brit, and holiday abroad. They have been snobs since the Norman conquest, at least.
The girls being abused are from the poor white school-leaver class, very often from one parent homes lacking father-in-residence. They are vulnerable because they are latch-key children with little supervision and parental guidance, and few prospects.*
The ruling class understands many of these girls will end up no better off than their mothers, living in public housing, on the dole, and abusing substances. This was true before the rape gangs existed, and may be no worse now. In the upper class view (not mine), jeopardizing civic peace to rescue people living messy, dreary lives isn't worth the grief.
And the relatively large group of Brits in between are anxious not to be lumped in with the irredeemables. The TV series Keeping Up Appearances humorously chronicles the desperate efforts of Hyacinth Bucket to emulate the upper classes while hiding her sister and brother-in-law who are the sort of low-rent Brits whose daughters are being victimized.*The girls Epstein preyed on are said to have come from the US version of this broken-home demographic and were similarly unmonitored and vulnerable.
