Re: Toddler 'abducted' during holiday
 

Yes I agree its not like they asked for it after all.

Re: Toddler 'abducted' during holiday
 

Sorry, I dont see why UK social services would be be getting involved ? (Im quite probably missing the obvious?)

The BBC says that they are getting together (Police and Social Services) to discuss 'their response' to the case ?

Forgive me for being thicker than a whale omelette but brain is not working :D

---------- Post added at 14:47 ---------- Previous post was at 14:47 ----------

Warning: The quoted post may contain large amounts of sarcasm :D

Re: Toddler 'abducted' during holiday
 

Absolutely. They asked for help to publicise their case in order to find their missing daughter. I don't see how tailing them home from the airport meets their request.

Assuming of course that you're being extremely sarcastic, I don't see how it serves any news agenda either. Even the likes of Harold Shipman and Ian Huntly weren't tailed around the countryside by helicopter.

The McCanns are under suspicion of harming one of their children. It is quite normal for Social Services to consider whether they need to intervene to ensure the safety of the remaining children in the family. Police would have to be involved if a decision was made to remove the other children.

Re: Toddler 'abducted' during holiday
 

The McCanns were wrong, I agree, and they will bitterly regret leaving their children alone until the day they die, I'm sure. I just don't think they derserve to be "strung up" for what they did as had been suggested, and I think some of the other criticisms of them are unfounded. :rolleyes: Kate McCann answered the criticisms as to why they thought it was safe to leave the children alone in her interview with The Independent. We know how tragically wrong she was.

I also hope Social Services don't take any action against the couple. It would only make an awful situation even worse, assuming they are innocent in her disappearance. If they did, they have to take action against the other parents too. Otherwise they'd be penalising the McCanns for being the unlucky (for want of a better word) ones.

Re: Toddler 'abducted' during holiday
 

To be fair though neither Shipman or Huntley went to the PR media campaign levels that the McCanns have. I mean the pope ???? I can understand trying to find your child but whats the pope going to do ???????????

Thanks for the explanation on the second part, thought as much but the old noggin is not working today at all !

Re: Toddler 'abducted' during holiday
 

Yes true but.....visits to the Pope, trips to Americia, what was that all about?
Team McCann popping up every 5 minutes making statements.
If you court and control the media in the way the way they have, they cannot turn off the tap, when it suits them.

Re: Toddler 'abducted' during holiday
 

Chris T "Absolutely. They asked for help to publicise their case in order to find their missing daughter. I don't see how tailing them home from the airport meets their request.

Assuming of course that you're being extremely sarcastic, I don't see how it serves any news agenda either. Even the likes of Harold Shipman and Ian Huntly weren't tailed around the countryside by helicopter."


Agree - I have said this before but the media are a law unto themselves. Anyone who seeks their involvement had better be aware that if/when the story goes cold they can and will make it up as they go along and are only too happy to bite the hand that feeds them.

As much as I can't believe how the McCanns acted with their children initially, I do think they should be left alone until the authorities decide whether they are going to be charged. What effect is all of this stuff having on their other children? They've done nothing wrong and don't deserve to be put through all this media attention. As for the press - just how many more pictures of the McCanns do we need?

Re: Toddler 'abducted' during holiday
 

It's never safe to leave a child on their own though !!! I'm not a parent and even I know if i had three young children I would not leave them without adequate supervision in place !!!

Re: Toddler 'abducted' during holiday
 

I totally agree, and I'd be the last person calling for a news blackout. I have worked on a newsdesk, I know how it goes. However for the same reason, I think one or two news editors have taken leave of their senses lately.

I don't think the McCanns can expect to be left alone. On the other hand, I don't think the PCC Code's 'public interest' defence can be invoked to excuse some of the excessively intrusive tactics being used this week.

Re: Toddler 'abducted' during holiday
 

No, it's never "safe" but it happens. I'm a parent of four children, all are happy and healthy, despite not having a perfect mother, although I never actually left them alone to go out socially. But my parents regularly left me asleep when I was as old as Madeleine to go to the pub near their house and my husband's parents did the same with their 8 children and went considerably further living in a very isolated house. Talking to friends this seems to have been quite common in previous generations and still happens a lot more than one would believe reading blogs and message boards now.

But children become more "precious" with each generation it seems.

Re: Toddler 'abducted' during holiday
 

yeah, my thoughts would have been (and i apologise for the disrespect) 'f**k the pope, I've got a kid to find'.

I think part of the problem is that they haven't helped themselves - given that their original story changed so many times, or had holes poked in it, people can't help but wonder if they are lying, rather than being 'confused'.

The possible differences between when the children were supposedly checked on, and the last time there were actually checked on, leaves a big window in which something could have happened - and I can't see any valid explanation as to why they wouldn't tell the truth there - the damage has been done, not giving people the correct time frame would surely mean they would be looking in a smaller search area than they would be with real timings?
Were they worried it would make them look bad/worse than they already seemed? - again surely your thoughts would be 'f**k everyone, find my kid - and Ill worry about the repercussions later'

Re: Toddler 'abducted' during holiday
 

Didn't the Daily Express run 30 front pages in a row or something about here?

Re: Toddler 'abducted' during holiday
 

Yes, I agree I think the media coverage of this story has been crazy and if the McCanns are charged, well... you aint seen nothing yet.

Re: Toddler 'abducted' during holiday
 

I wouldn't be surprised. I even saw Diana bumped down to second place on the Express' front page a couple of weeks ago by a 'Maddie' headline. I think that counts as hysteria on the Express newsdesk.

---------- Post added at 15:32 ---------- Previous post was at 15:29 ----------

I think you're right. I have visions of OJ Simpson, and I'm not happy. I don't think we need a news media in this country that indulges that sort of sensationalist coverage.

The Press has been pushing against the boundaries pretty hard in recent months, regarding what can and cannot be said whilst a criminal trial is in progress. If they are showing so little respect for our own legal procedures, then Heaven only knows what will happen if they get to cover a high-profile trial in another country which will place no reporting restrictions on the media in the UK.

*If* it comes to a trial, of course.

Re: Toddler 'abducted' during holiday
 

The black and white minstrel show, comedians being sexist and racist all things that used to occur, does not mean it is acceptable though.......