PeteBrant

It was a genuine question, I wasn't sure if there some other thread I was unaware of beyond the obvious benefits.

Skoobie Dhu

iTrader: (3)

Rannoch - do you honestly believe the parents are taking all these actions themselves? I think you'll find there are probably senior UK and Interpol experts in child abduction advising them of the action they should take - this is probably why their actions seem strange. Clearly they've been advised to keep the story in the media.

As for leaving the children on their own - there's nothing anyone can do about this now so there's no point dwelling on it.

TelBoy

Yeah, pretty much.

TelBoy

No problem. I guess it's unlikely that she's been taken to a Catholic country with little media coverage, but you've got to give it a go i suppose....

16vmarc

Havn't read the rest yet but I'm glad you've said that Rannoch.

j4ckos mate

i think the press coverage has harmed the case, she cant be taken anyware even disguised, because of her eye. thus what would you do with her? if you let her go she will talk so i fear the worst

j4ckos mate

the pope thing is daft, its opening themsleves upto riddicule

how can you have a strong faith when this sort of thing happens

DCI Gene Hunt

Well that statement makes sense

TelBoy

I agree, Mr Mate, but i think the key word here is "hope".

Personally if it were me i'd be asking for my money back having followed a religion all my life only to have this happen as thanks for all my devotion.

j4ckos mate

yep three things happened to me this weekend to show me what aload of old crap it was
1. them flying to to see the pope, wonder what that carbon footprint was like?

2. my supposed deeply religeous kindly neighbour parking in a disabled spot at the gym whilst doing her aqua aerobics lesson

3. being asked to pay £1 to sign into the club (catholic club) becuase i didnt have my card on me. i asked the old trout " does the church rely on my pound to fund one of the worlds richest organisations " to which she shrugged her shoulders.

i think being a good person is a lot better than being a god person

MattW

In that case I deem that unacceptable. I fully appreciate some may not agree, but that's my view.

Wheelysexy

I personally think that this whole thing has now got slightly out of proportion - there are plenty of families that have children missing and it doesn't create this much of a media circus around it.
I think at the end of the day why the hell were the family living 3 very young children alone in an apartment while they went for dinner. If they had done that in this country they would be arrested for leaving their kids home alone! Also not just purely for the reason of anyone breaking in and taking their child - the kids could have woken up and got up to anything whilst they were out. There's nothing to say that they couldn't have been seriously injured or otherwise in their time left alone. I just think it was highly irresponsible of the parents and the guilt they will suffer will no doubt be with them for the rest of their lives. But unfortunately as others have pointed out they are also continuing to neglect the small twins by leaving them in day care at the resort and jetting off to see the pope! Its madness!

TelBoy

And that's fair enough. The ones who don't agree aren't able to voice their opinions though, as they will be castigated in much the same way as the McCanns have been. All i'm saying is that it does happen, day in day out, usually without any incident at all.

G-STAR

Personally, I think it's the profile of the family driving the media coverage.

If the parents were of a lower social standing than the McCann family, I'd almost expect the media to focus upon their lack of attentiveness.

Another thing that concerned me, ever so slightly, was the follow image:



Whilst I can appreciate how it's important to bring an element of normality to their other two children's lives, if my child had recently been abducted, you certainly wouldn't see a smile upon my face.

Freak

I hope the tapas was worth it

TelBoy

*pulls hair out* lol


Yes but for HOW LONG is it "acceptable" for them to walk around like death warmed up? We're all being sooooo judgmental over an issue we can't even nearly begin to come to terms with.

Devildog

The fact its usually without incident doesn't excuse the behavior though.

And it clearly shouldn't happen, day in, day out.

And sorry Tel, but they've lost a daughter. Yes they have to get over it, but FFS they should at least look as if they care....

Its only been, what, four weeks?

TelBoy

I acknowledge that, Devildog, but i'm not saying it happens day in day out to facilitate a nice meal and a bottle of wine. And i think they DO look as if they care, at least they did at their press conference today.

The twins need a "normal" Mum and Dad right now, not a morose couple who burden them with their ongoing troubles. They've got to be allowed to smile once in a while!!

Shark Man

Considering they have no closure on the matter, it could be indefinite. Either they are very good at supressing emotion or they have none.

Now if supression of emotions is a good thing, then I'll stand corrected.

Maybe my judgement is slewed, media hasn't helped that though, nor the people in the background handling the case constantly telling them what they should/should not do; By that I mean the people that told them to go and see the pope and leave the kids behind. As I'm sure a mother's wishes, or at that, the parent's wishes would be the family to go as a whole. Unless I have missed some hugely obvious reason that the kids should stay in Portugal during their travels, no matter how well cared for they'll be.

TelBoy

Exactly, there's no closure. They must still have moments of hope, it's not like they're actually grieving for a loss of life. Yet.

jjones

what would they be facing had poor maddie been found dead in the kitchen after having an accident as she was home alone, unsupervised? public outrage and most certainly prosecution (50 minutes is the latest figure quoted between "welfare checks")

instead they are having an audience with the pope for being negligent and selfish.

thoughts are with maddie wherever she may be.

Trout

iTrader: (1)

As I have already posted, my wife refuses to discuss it. She is desperatel hopefull that Maddie is alright and is found, she is equally disgusted and angry a the parents for leaving her. Indeed SO angry I cannot discuss it with her.

She would never do it and neither would many of the mothers out, a number have already made their views clear on this board.


However, not to dwell on that, the only reason I said I was 'almost' certain they have media is advice is because I do not absolutely know. However I have worked with the media and have experience of staging media events. For people who do not have media experience they are doing extremely well.

The photo linked to above is an excellent example. Tell me that is not a staged media shot?

TelBoy

They're being shadowed everywhere they go. It's a fine line between actively avoiding the lenses and having a few pictures taken that they hope will keep their plight in the headlines. Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

mightyyid

Heck this is great reading chaps. The variety of views makes it that way. My opinion is mainly with the kid who must be all over the place if she is still alive which no-one knows. It does seem the cops have not done a great job of it, since they seem to be no further forward (although it may be their reporting structures) but the bottom line is why we can vilify the parents for doing something stupid, there are hundreds of parents who do the same thing in this country. However, we have yet to have an abduction from the UK in these circumstances - or not recently anyway. I think that fact you put it in a sunny holiday environment, a Mark Warner holiday camp, a family that are respectable (doctors etc) and not chavs, all points to it being a horrible event rather than anything else.... hence the media coverage.

I have no issue with it but I d hope Maddie turns up one way or another for closure. If nothing else, I am sure it has made thousands of parents who otherwise may have wilted to the temptation of 'popping next door for a swift drink with the neighbours while the kids are asleep' think better of it. Then again, perhaps it has not as it was in another country and 'that could never happen here'.

They screwed up big time, but don't they know it. And let's hope the kid turns up and a few more parents behave more responsibily in the future...

Trout

iTrader: (1)

We will have to agree to differ. Their media presence, even though appearing passive, is in a different class to the media hounding of other unwitting 'victims'.

These are not candid media images we are seeing and you would be naive to believe it.

It is great that they are 'trying' to find their daughter. I am suggested their cynical use of the media, Church, public money, the Government and the Treasury has lost sympathy with me.

For every move they make there will be scores of parents in the UK grieving because they did not get the same attention from any of the authorities (Kidscape report 5-7 similar instances in the UK alone every year for the past twenty years. That's well over a hundred Maddie's...)

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Sadly not true - this was covered in The Times in an interview with Kidscape. There are five to seven child abductions every year that typically end in death. The primary cause is paedophilia.

We just do not get it reported nationally.

TelBoy

Rannoch i do agree that this makes it seem that they've had preferential treatment, and yes, partly because she was a pretty little girl maybe they have. But it's not their fault this has caught the media's attention and in the lack of any other strategy i'm sure most other parents would take advantage of all the attention coming their way. I just don't get this same sense of "milking it" that others obviously do.

Trout

iTrader: (1)

So using publically contributed money, with no oversight, to build a 'strong advisory team' which is certainly advising them on strategy, to maximise the coverage is not milking it.

OK, as I say we agree to disagree.

Spoon

You know what, I'm sure no matter what you believe is right or wrong here, it would be far more difficult to say no to the 'circus' than it would yes and just run with the fact that however publicity is sought, it's sought.

The general public will always get fed up listening about anything at some point.

markGT

Firstly let’s hope that this poor child is returned safe and those that have taken her are caught and delt with in the harshest way possible and I'm not talking about a jail sentence so read in to that what you will. Lets just hope the media keep it in the public eye and it leads to her safe retun.

Now I am not a parent but I have young nieces and nephews and if they had been abducted I would be ready to take away, I feel sick just thinking about it. You don't need to be a parent or a woman to feel the gut wrenching tragedy of this situation.

Now a number of points.

1.If the parents were just normal run of the mill working class people I doubt the media hype surrounding this tragedy would be anywhere near the same. I remember I few years ago a child went missing in County Durham and the media never lifted a finger because the mother was on benefits a single parent and of course it was up north.

2. Why haven't the parents had the other two children taken off them as they are clearly not fit to look after dogs? They broke the law and should be made accountable. Again I feel that if they were on the dole or in low paid jobs this would have happened already. However if you are rich then all sins are forgiven. Then again they have to look at themselves in the mirror every morning knowing that their self cantered selfish actions have had tragic consequences.

3. Now for the parents to say that thousands of parents would have done the same does not excuse their actions. Thousands of people murder other people every year but that doesn't make it right!!! I feel this is a way of justifying their actions to cope with their guilt!

4. The thing I find most distressing is that they said they had a line of sight to the apartment. If you look at the photo of the resort he must have been looking through a telescope as its miles away. Could he see in to the appartment to see one of the children was choking or had fell etc etc! It takes a few minutes to choke to death not half an hour!

5. Why are they praying to a God that is quite happy to stand by a let these terrible things happen?

6. If I was a member of their family I would do time for them both!!