LOCK GOES ON GROOMING STORY?

CRUMBRIA: 06/05/2025: EXCLUSIVE

THE decision by Labour-daft councillors in Crumberland NOT to press their Government for a national grooming gangs inquiry was reported at length last week by Carlisle paper, the News & Scar.

But since the corresponding online article – a shade embarrassing for the local Council – was posted onto the newspaper’s website it can hardly be accused of “blowing up the internet”.

Despite the immense public interest in the national scandal, the article never broke into the News & Scar’s Top 10 “most-read” articles, web watchers claim.

Incredibly, it also never featured in the paper’s Top 50; allege our astonished observers who say they have watched this interesting lack of disinterest.

Beyond the city walls of Carlisle, the grooming gang scandal continues to generate acres of spiky newspaper headlines and reams of online commentary.

Just not, er, on the News & Scar website.

When it came to public feedback, the paper’s article received just 2 public comments left by readers and not a single upvote or downvote.

One of the comments has since deleted itself out of shame.

Yet in January this year when Labour MPs rejected a national inquiry, a corresponding N&S article garnered more than 50 public comments online plus dozens of downvotes and upvotes.

A week on from the Council decision, anyone wanting to read the article will have to look for it in a search. Some have found it quickly disappears behind a “pop-up” when previously it was available to read in full, say my web watchers.

Today, some browsers are told they have to “register by email” to read it, or “sign-in” to their N&S account.

Why have readers now been “locked” out of the story about the decisions of their local council?

And what does it say about the paper reporting matters of widespread public concern?

If all of these coincidences are correct, there’s probably an entirely reasonable, rational, and innocent explanation.

We just haven’t got a frig what it might be!