Welcome to another week.

As the nation’s Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse starts to roll out its £1 million pound advertising campaign, the decision is being met with mixed feelings.

Whilst the hope is that the campaign will help to engage more survivors, a sense of dissatisfaction is growing amongst those who have been abused. One complaint aired by victims’ groups is that they have been excluded for the most part from proceedings,  with survivors’ voices rarely heard during evidence sessions. They argue that there is no point in attracting more engagement if those who speak out are ignored.

Writer and broadcaster Beatrix Campbell OBE, whose book about child sexual abuse in Cleveland is considered to be an important work on the scandal, feels that our Inquiry is lacking the same level of engagement and open dialogue which has made Australia’s own inquiry so successful. Researching Reform agrees with this view, and has written about this phenomenon as well. But there may be other reasons for our Inquiry’s ongoing troubles.

Unlike Australia which has become with time, a little removed from its colonial past, the heart of imperial politics lies in Westminster, and has changed little. As a result, there may be hidden pressures the public cannot see which are inherently connected to an elitist establishment still controlling vast sections of government. An elitist establishment which may stand to lose more than a few cabinet ministers if the truth ever gets out.

Our question then, is this: what factors do you think are playing a part in our Inquiry finding it so difficult to get the engagement they need to carry out their work in full?