Adam Wren has written up a critique of the 250,000 number.
https://x.com/aswren/status/2067052409658949869 He has something to do with the rape gang investigations, but I think he is a lawyer who has represented some of the victims. I'm not sure. Anyway, he says they came to this high number by using the number from Rotherham and scaling it across the country. So, it's not based on any evidence.
This is one issue, one major claim presented and paraded that falls apart with a little bit of scrutiny, there are quite a few others.
I won’t detail them because there are deniers and apologists that will use any vector possible to attack and minimise this topic and I don’t want to give them ammunition.
We need to recognise that we’re still operating in a hostile environment & extraordinary claims need to meet extremely high evidentiary standards to be presented as fact.
I think it’s risky, for example to publish a report talking about ‘red rooms’ and girls being killed on livestream when streaming over the dark web is basically impossible and journalists have searched for years trying to find them and failed.
Credibility is everything, and in the next few days some of the smarter opponents of this might pick it apart.
If that happens it could be incredibly damaging for survivors and the efforts of others seeking justice, especially given that lot of american accounts in particular don’t seem to understand that this isn’t some official report — it’s already extant information with testimony from people that chose to approach the inquiry and some religious/political opinion commentary.
He is worried that this report, because it makes claims that have no evidence, is going to harm the real victims. That people who don't want it investigated or anything done about it, will use this as a weapon.
That said, the interviews and testimony was worthwhile and powerful. Not something that would be in an official inquiry so a nice gap to step into & I know some of the people that worked on the project are great & upstanding people, sincere in their efforts & desire for justice.
I suppose it would be a good idea to take any hard claims about numbers with a grain of salt, but not discount the testimony of the victims.
I have no idea why they went back to the 1950s. Doesn't really make sense to me, but maybe someone will explain.