Pedophiles,

Saturday night, we watched a programme on TVO, TV Ontario. They are a public broadcasting station and basically have no advertising. The film, called Chosen, was about three men who were at a private boarding school, Caldicotte, in the UK during the late 60s and early 70s. These three very brave men were talking about the sexual abuse they suffered whilst at a this school and described what happened to them. One of the abusers was the headmaster, Peter Wright, and there was another teacher also, Martin Carson. The programme was horrifying and it turns out that none of the abused young men wanted their parents to know about it and this is why they didn't say anything until their parents were deceased, often because they didn't want their parents to realise they had sent their children into danger. This meant that the courts figured it was all too long after the event and basically did nothing about it whatsoever. How absolutely dreadful. Children in boarding schools are very much in the power of their teachers and if their teachers are abusive there is not much they can do. I attended two boarding schools and nothing, but nothing, of this kind occurred - to my

knowledge anyway - but I can understand how it could happen and how the kids (around 11 yrs. old) could get involved in such dreadful goings on. One thing mentioned was how the parents and teachers became friends. I remember at one school I attended my parents used to drink in the local pub with the headmistress.  Even today, some 30 odd years after the event (whenever the movie was made) these men were obviously very emotionally involved and had been emotionally damaged by these pedophiles. There was a statistic saying 3 children in every 20 - in Britain - are abused. This, of course does not just mean only in boarding schools. One wonders about the statistics in other countries.

Talking about this to Matt on Sunday morning, he maintained if it had happened to him he would have run a mile, but he is thinking with an adult brain, not as a child. As the three men in the documentary said, they were groomed. First of all they were all in the school rugby team and the headmaster was very involved with rugger. He knew a lot about it. I'm not sure whether he coached the team or not, but this was a way of getting these kids involved with the teachers in question so that they wanted the approval of these men and would basically do anything to get it. And so it went on.

Looking for pictures of the school, I came across this article about another pedophile from Caldicott who was about to be sentenced so lay down in front of an oncoming train. This article talks about a ring of pedophiles and that the abuse had been going on for half a century.As the suicide took place in 2014 it would appear they gradually have been catching up with these men. One of them, Martin Carson, who had been fired, was later found working at another school and eventually was given 2 years in prison but did not finish his sentence as he was released for good behaviour.

This recipe is from the New York Times and looked interesting to me. I should warn you that this is a pretty high calorie meal.

Rum and Chili Roasted Chicken Thighs With Pineapple

 Melissa Clark

• Yield3 to 4 servings

Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

This dish, inspired by jerk chicken, uses amber rum to moisten the rub. The resulting dish is complex, mouth tingling but not searing, and softened by the golden cubes of succulent roasted pineapple. It's not quite recognizable as a jerk, but it is no less pleasing.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
• 6 scallions, trimmed and chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons safflower or canola oil
• 2 tablespoons rum, preferably dark or amber
• 1 tablespoon thyme leaves
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 Scotch bonnet or habanero chili pepper, seeded and chopped
• ½ teaspoon ground allspice
• ½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 6 chicken thighs, rinsed and patted very dry
• ¾ pound pineapple pieces, diced into 1/4-inch chunks or very roughly chopped
• Lemon wedges, for serving

Preparation

1. In a blender or food processor, combine lemon juice and salt, and blend for 5 seconds to dissolve salt. Add scallions, garlic, oil, rum, thyme, brown sugar, chili pepper and spices, and blend until mixture forms a paste.
2. Rub chili paste all over chicken pieces. If you have time, let marinate for up to 45 minutes at room temperature, or up to 24 hours in refrigerator.
3. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Put chicken in a large baking pan and scatter pineapple around it in one layer. Roast until chicken is cooked through (juices will run clear when pricked with a fork), about 25 minutes.
4. Broil chicken and pineapple until chicken skin is crisp and dark brown all over and pineapple is singed in places.
5. Serve chicken and pineapple coated with pan drippings, with lemon wedges.

Have a great day