Madeleine McCann: Britney Spears, Lolita And Birthday Cards
MADDYWATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
DAILY MAIL: “Woolworths forced to withdraw LOLITA bedroom furniture range for girls”
The Lolita Midsleeper Combi, a wooden bed with pull-out desk and cupboard designed for girls aged around six, retails on the Woolworths website for £349.99
The name has “sexual connotations”. A “mother” sees it and writes: “Am I being particularly sensitive, or does anyone else out there think it’s bad taste for Woolies to have a kiddy bed range named ‘Lolita’?”
Well, you don’t have to buy it…
A spokesman for the company says: “What seems to have happened is the staff who run the website had never heard of Lolita, and to be honest no one else here had either. We had to look it up on Wikipedia. But we certainly know who she is now”
Trusting Wikipedia for information has its own dangers. (And look out for an article on the state of British education.) But no danger is bigger than a bed named, perhaps, in honour of a charcter in a novel by Vladimir Nabokov
Or Lolita Fatjo, pre-production coordinator for Star Trek
Or many other women called Lolita
“On-line parent power has been growing in recent years. In 2006 Tesco stopped selling a pole-dancing kit on its website over accusations it was destroying children’s innocence. And last summer an on-line campaign by Mumsnet resulted in a cinema advert about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann stopped from being screened before the children’s film Shrek the Third”
THE TIMES: “Staff at Woolworths baffled by fuss over the little girl’s bed called Lolita”
“Woolworths has withdrawn bedroom furniture for young girls bearing the sexually charged name Lolita after a campaign waged by a mothers’ online chat room”
An internal company e-mail seen by The Times goes: “As discussed, we’ve got the product below on our website. Can it be hidden as soon as is possible? Then I really need to find out how it came about being on our site and who bought it. Lolita is a word that means sexually active young teenagers, so a young girls’ range of bedroom products is in very poor taste. We’ve had an approach from a website who are clearly a little disturbed by this”
THE SUN: “Gift from Maddie for twins”
No, not furniture
“Twins Sean and Amelie McCann will get a special present from their missing sister Maddie today on their third birthday. Parents Kate and Gerry got the gift for the pair who, at three, are the same age as Maddie when she vanished last May”
Sad. But is it relevant to the case? Is it news?
Grandmother Eileen McCann tells us: “Of course Madeleine being there would be our dream but we’ll do our best to make sure the twins have a lovely day”
DAILY TELEGRAPH: “Card from Madeleine at McCann twins party”
The twins are getting a gift in the Sun…
“Gerry and Kate McCann will throw a birthday party for their twins tomorrow - complete with a card from their missing four-year-old daughter, Madeleine”
DAILY STAR: “MISSING MADDIE’S SPECIAL PREZZIE”
“Little Sean and Amelie McCann will open a special present from their big sister as they celebrate their third birthday today”
With a card?
Says Eileen McCann: “There will be presents galore, lots of fun and games, lots of food and a big cake. Of course, Madeleine being home would make it complete and we continue to pray for that blessing”
SUR (Spain): “Marbella suffer their first loss of the year against Linares”
A football match: “Wearing T-shirts to raise awareness of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann and Mari Luz Cortés, the children playing in the tournament accompanied the players onto the pitch as mascots at the beginning of the game”
RADAR: “Theater of Cruelty, Carnival of Souls”
“British rags hardly pretend to be providing straightforward news. What they are doing is what used to be the job of popular fiction; namely, processing myth out of characters sucked in from real life. Right now the cast list includes such durable regulars as Kate Moss—with or without Pete Doherty—Princes Harry and Wills, Posh and Becks, and Kate and Gerry McCann, whose daughter Madeleine’s kidnapping/disappearance in Portugal made them last year’s headliners”
ALISTAIR CAMPBELL (TIMES): Britney Spears: person or news commodity? She’s a great singer but obviously ill: we in the media have to decide to leave her alone”
Britney Spears and Madeleine McCann..?
“In some sections of the media, Madeleine McCann and her family are there. As I said in the Cudlipp Lecture on Tuesday, her disappearance was an interesting and important story, the stuff of every parent’s nightmare. But it quickly became a commodity in which most of the media got close to hysteria, and some have remained there. Let us not pretend the coverage was driven by concern for the child - there are many missing children - or compassion for the parents - certainly not once the mood shifted - or regard for the truth. It has been the worst example of recent times, on a par with Diana, of some newspapers thinking that the word “Madeleine” sells, and finding literally any old nonsense to keep her name in that selling position on the front”
THE GUARDIAN: “Mechanics of the McCann campaign - Professional media management may have generated coverage of Maddy’s disappearance, but it hasn’t helped with public sympathy for the family”
“Try as they might neither Clarence Mitchell nor Justine McGuinness could quite shake off the sense that the way they’ve managed this case might have contributed to some negative public sentiment towards the family. In place initially as what Mitchell described as “a buffer” between the shocked and distraught parents and the world’s media, hungry for news about Madeleine, it’s clear that what developed was a professional media management operation. With city PR firm Bell Pottinger on hand - primarily, we can assume, to defend the interests of their clients Mark Warner Holidays - as well as Justine and, latterly, Clarence with all their experience of Westminster spin, the McCanns could not have wanted for more professional advice. But as time went on media management itself - and once you’ve started feeding stories to the press to get control of the agenda, you really can’t stop - began generating negative reaction from other parties”
Madeleine McCann: Making news and sensation from grief
Posted: 1st, February 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (1,022) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
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February 1st, 2008 at 5:24 pm
669
just_me Says:
February 1st, 2008 at 5:23 pm
667 - bye bye lone
Bye just_me x
February 1st, 2008 at 5:24 pm
661
Stevo Says:
Late August interview given to Chilean TV and rebroadcast Oct 4 by CBS:
“I knew straight away she’d been taken,” Kate replied.
“At the first moment?” Schindler asked.
“Well,” Kate responded, “put it this way: I mean, she hadn’t walked out of the apartment.”
———————————————————————————————————————————
How could she be so sure?
Because she was
i) already dead, or
ii) too drugged to stir, as were her wee siblings.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:23 pm
667 - bye bye lone
February 1st, 2008 at 5:23 pm
659 Matt
This made me chuckle….
‘….in the latest slur against Kate and Gerry McCann, the hypodermic needle was allegedly found in a cupboard at the apartment where their daughter vanished’
Always a slur! Yet when anything is said about Robert Murat and others its never a slur is it!
Jeez, its so strange the way they get so much media support!
February 1st, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Hey guys i’m off for the weekend. Train to catch. Have a good one. See you all Monday.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:22 pm
661…Stevo
Dr K is always too befogged to remember how the Script is supposed to go.
Is why Dr G P keeps her under close observation and prompting.
He’ll have a Coronary if ever she has to go into the Dock on her own.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:22 pm
i’ve been posting that i think it was a medical experiment gone wrong for a few weeks now.
monsanto being involved, which i was unaware of, points to the awful possibility that madeleine was genetically modified during the ivf.
mad, i admit, but possible all the same.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Stevo
660
As I write this it’s ironic because Will Smith’s “Men in Black” has just come on the radio but that’s the sort of thing - men in black or men in Renault’s…to come deal with it.
——————————————————————————————————————
Whenever we talk ‘disposal’, I always think of Harvey Keitel playing Victor the Cleaner in ‘The Assassin’.
It’s a shame medical records are confidential. I’d love to know whether the child was being prescribed any legitimate drugs by a hospital or her GP, or whether her parents were (illicitly) self-prescribing or even obtaining drugs by dubious means thru’ their work.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:20 pm
656 coolandcalm
Did you notice my post today where I conclusively showed that the Daily Telegraph articles have times of posting listed throughout 24 hours?
There’s no evidence at all that 12:01am is the time that all articles are posted - as you incorrectly pointed out the other day.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:18 pm
639
dcb
?????????
Why post that again?
February 1st, 2008 at 5:18 pm
Here’s an interesting about turn/U-turn:
Late August interview given to Chilean TV and rebroadcast Oct 4 by CBS:
“I knew straight away she’d been taken,” Kate replied.
“At the first moment?” Schindler asked.
“Well,” Kate responded, “put it this way: I mean, she hadn’t walked out of the apartment.”
Ocean Club GM/Alex Woofall Oct 5:
They gave no indication that they thought she had been snatched, let alone by a paedophile. Their early assumption was that she had wandered off and had an accident or been taken in by a well-meaning stranger.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Ok…imagine this scenario:
A group of doctors are invited to test a new drug. Maybe JM found out about it and alerted brother GM about it. Such a trial would involve a lot of money. It would be outside the sphere of normal drug testing but the rewards would be great. But…it requires total secrecy from all parties.
Basically, it goes pear shaped. Someone dies and it’s because of the drug. There is bound to be some kind of contingency arrangement for such a scenario. Someone to call 24/7. Someone to come and deal with it. But perhaps it’s never happened before. As I write this it’s ironic because Will Smith’s “Men in Black” has just come on the radio but that’s the sort of thing - men in black or men in Renault’s…to come deal with it.
All the help from benefactors would be part of the contingency plan. But it’s never been required before…
It explains the money, the weird testimony, the truthful lies (eg. We played no part in her abduction). It goes a long way to neatly explaining this.
Up the road from me is DuPont and Dow…and Union Carbide. If you want proof of corporate dollars covering up scandals look no further than the Bopal incident.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:15 pm
657…dcb
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/17693/‘Syringe-found-in-Madeleine’s-apartment’
February 1st, 2008 at 5:13 pm
656 Coolandcalm - read the thread - there are many sources quoted.
You’re not usually as thick as this, is Hedgeslammer’s intellect rubbing off on you?
February 1st, 2008 at 5:12 pm
650
Stevo Says:
February 1st, 2008 at 5:07 pm
“…This could explain the discarded syringe/needle reported in apartment 5A. In other words, a simple, legitimate explanation for the McCanns…..”
++++++++++++++++++
Wow - never heard about the syringe/needle before. Do you have a link to this?
February 1st, 2008 at 5:11 pm
653 Aardvarko. Yep. Updated as correct by The Portugal Resident.
and your incorrect source is?
February 1st, 2008 at 5:10 pm
650…delboy
Like M3……..zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
February 1st, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Transfattyacid’s Blog…….
Article……”"”"01/02/08
………………MORON OF THE WEEK “”"”"
http://trannyfattyacid.blogspot.com/
February 1st, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Cooland calm - the article was dated as UPDATED yesterday, please do be accurate!
As I said earlier, read this thread and the multitude of other sources, many dated today, which clearly demonstrate your source to be inaccurate, at best, AS YOU WELL KNOW!!
February 1st, 2008 at 5:07 pm
649
delboy Says:
February 1st, 2008 at 5:05 pm
+++++++++++++
A bit like “home by Christmas”
February 1st, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Alex Woolfall was the Spokesman for Monsanto in the UK:
“The lawsuit says Monsanto plotted to set up a worldwide cartel in
genetically-modified seeds with “co-conspirators” DuPont, Dow Chemical,
Novartis, AstraZeneca and other big biotechnology firms. It also alleges
that their products went on the market without sufficient testing to
prove they were safe for health and the environment.
Monsanto dismisses the lawsuit as groundless. “The claims that are being
made are outrageous. We are very confident that we will prevail in this
case,” said Alex Woolfall, a spokesman in London for for the firm’s
British unit, Monsanto plc.”
Interestingly, Monsanto make growth hormone. I’ve suggested before that the McCanns probably gave Madeleine HGH as a possible treatment for her very small height. This could explain the discarded syringe/needle reported in apartment 5A. In other words, a simple, legitimate explanation for the McCanns.
It seems to me that if nobody knew anything about this case, one could see this as an early intervention by a corporation to defend possible problems with some kind of illegal drug. They are the type of organisation to have the clout to send people from Bell Pottinger. Mr Woolfall already acted as spokesman for Monsanto - he’s well versed in this kind of work. My guess is that MW didn’t send for Mr Woolfall at all. I bet someone else did…
February 1st, 2008 at 5:05 pm
never thaught of that one, sledgie said friday at 11.30am,…mmmmmm didnt say which friday or.. year… did he?, my mistake………..just thaught he meant today…..
February 1st, 2008 at 5:05 pm
The good old British Civil Service ought to be more than a match for these foreign interlopers when it goes to invoking the applicable interdepartmental procedural protocols.
Johnny Foreigner should have asked for an in principle procedural ruling before initiating his formal application.
Went off half -cocked what what hey hey.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Aardvarko…. 640
the item was dated YESTERDAY and is in Algarve newspaper. So you know more than they do hmm? Not.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:04 pm
643
delboy Says:
February 1st, 2008 at 5:01 pm
635, lone pigeon……CROWN OFFICE…????is that like the taxmans office or what?
It’s like sledgies orrifice
February 1st, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Delboy - It would appear we have a lifetime of 11.30s ahead of us to appreciate and admire the receipt of Sledgie’s news. I was just thinking about today…
February 1st, 2008 at 5:02 pm
640
Aardvarko Says:
February 1st, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Previous post
67
dcb Says:
February 1st, 2008 at 9:22 am
56
Rockhopper Says:
February 1st, 2008 at 9:09 am
Better safe than sorry, the slightest hiccup in serving legal papers could ruin a case.
+++++++++++++++
Exactly - avoid loopholes at any cost irrelevant of delay.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:01 pm
635, lone pigeon……CROWN OFFICE…????is that like the taxmans office or what?
February 1st, 2008 at 5:01 pm
574 Sledgehammer:
Good news for cuddle cat after all? It may stay with the twins!
Happy birthday to Amelie, Brandon, Karen and Sean! (In alphabethical order)
February 1st, 2008 at 5:00 pm
632
lol