Kate And Gerry McCann: Amber Alert, Spotted in Belgium And No More Foreign Holidays
MADDIE WATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
DAILY EXPRESS (front page): “MADELEINE – Kate and Gerry McCann set off on new mission”
Having donated considerable monies to the fund to find Madeleine McCann, Express Newspapers will not now abandon the McCanns. The Express is “The world’s greatest newspaper”.
The only tabloid to feature the story on its front page, the Express says: “Kate finds courage”.
“Kate McCann put on her bravest fact yesterday as she travelled to Brussels to highlight the plight of missing children.”
Madeleine McCann was, of course, spotted in Belgium, of which Brussels is the capital city. Katleen Sampermans is the “child therapist” who saw Madeleine McCann dining in a Belgian restaurant with two adults. Ms Sampermans was “100 per cent sure”. She spoke to the Express.
Kate McCann is brave in the Daily Express. The “40-year-old GP smiled as she waited with husband Gerry, 39, for a train”.
Gerry and Kate McCann have travelled to Brussels to make the case for an EU-wide alert system for missing children. A child goes missing and police, media, border controls are alerted. A warning is flashed on motorway gantries.
Could an immediate pan-European response have made a difference in their case?
“Kate finds new courage” appears on page 7, one page on from: “Sterling’s collapse sends your holiday bills soaring”.
The paper’s front page features the McCanns and the headline “SHOCK £700 INCREASE ON FAMILY HOLIDAYS”.
Madeleine McCann went missing in Portugal. The message seems clear.
THE GUARDIAN: “Kate and Gerry McCann”
The paper looks at the facts. It’s been a year since Madeleine McCann went missing. The Guardian has been investigating:
Gerry McCann is a “£75,000-a-year heart specialist at Glenfield hospital in Leicester”
Kate McCann: “Kate, 40, originally from Liverpool, worked as a GP at Latham House Surgery in Leicestershire, but has said she does not plan to return to work now.”
Any other facts?
“Her face, tired and strained, reflects not only the tragic incident but the sudden weight of world publicity and criticism over her actions on the night Madeleine went missing.”
THE SCOTSMAN: “Bremner unplugged”
Rory Bremner has a new TV show to plug. Alison Roberts finds out more.
When I ask him whether anything can be turned into comic material, the grim subject of Madeleine McCann naturally comes up. Bremner got into hot water last year for including a joke about her in the last series of Bremner, Bird and Fortune in which John Fortune’s character mused on Gordon Brown’s desire to get re-elected: “I wouldn’t be surprised if the night before the election he went on television and said, ‘Look what I found…’ and held up Madeleine McCann.
Says Bremner: “That was complete bollocks.”
…”Firstly, it was in a sketch that John Bird and John Fortune did, and they were in character. They were playing these particular men who were cynical about politics, so straight away that joke is in a context … ”
He pauses for a second, then says, a little desperately: “There is a difference between the real-life Madeleine McCann tragedy and a reference in a comedy programme to her. You know? You’re not actually in Portugal abducting her. It’s a reference…
It’s up to the viewer, he implies, to make a judgment on the McCann reference. Dozens of people are said to have complained to Channel 4.
Yet you can’t be an impressionist and worry too much about the sensitivities of others. Heather Mills once sent him “a very stroppy e-mail” after he adapted an old joke about the Beatles “dying in the wrong order”…
Heather Mills and Madeleine McCann. Now that’s entertainment…
Madeleine McCann: Watching the parents
Posted: 10th, April 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (1,359) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
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July 27th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
So, this is “News coverage” in the UK?
Not impressed.
Moderator - check the date, and we discuss the news, not report it
April 11th, 2008 at 7:27 am
Admin, it was a straight forward question, I have been posting as Dave my own name, for longer than most here, despite Carmen asking me to change it to accomodate multi dave, confused, not as much as me.
April 11th, 2008 at 7:08 am
DuncanR, a quick question before work, I have been lurking for a few days watching things descend into playground farce at times, it appears that every time certain posters don’t like what another poster says, they play the troll or multi poster option. I have noticed that gando, who needs no help from anyone in defending him/herself is a major target, simply is gando a multi poster formerly known as sledgie, and do we have many others.If not isn’t it time to stop the accusers in their tracks, as all they do is turn discussion on its head.
Administrator: That could not be a double diversionary tactic could it? Is this syntheses of the Dave we know and love? Not the Dave who on April 4, 2008 said:
“I believe Gandolph has gone off somewhere, so it should be safe to pose this question. Has anyone noticed how Gandolph can turn from being quite pleasant to being or apppearing to be, to deadly serious, in one fell swoop. My grandfather is a known Seer and he said that Gandolph has the sight, he knows things that mere mortals do not, I must admit to feeling or sensing an underlying power in some of his sayings, that I am at a loss to understand, I only know I do, as does my grandfather.”
Not attempting to teach your Anorakian granddaddies how to suck eggs are you, Dave, Dave?? -agw
April 11th, 2008 at 7:07 am
1353 - Vlad
‘effortlessly and timelessly radiant, a constantly smiling and cheeky warden of cyberspace with closely-fitting stylish anorak.’
+++++++++++++++++++++
Has June bewitched you ?
April 11th, 2008 at 6:47 am
1352 - an observer
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Paul and our techie guy are always looking for ways to improve Anorak. Design changes to the site are currently being considered. I put up your request for an improved search function for punters. Perhaps, the next evolutionary version of Anorak will provide this. Best keep your fingers crossed though. From my experience (in my real job) IT support workers are always swamped with work and it generally takes so long to tease a new facility/report/software update etc out of them, that by the time they deliver you’ve forgotten why you request it.
April 11th, 2008 at 6:45 am
Duncan - ‘R’ is for Rex?
Administrator: Generally it stands for Right On and, in this case correctly. I have no knowledge of either autistic behaviour and symptoms or AQ and have no intention of researching the subject. I do know a smattering, perhaps even a smidgeon, of the legal side of things and you are skating on very thin ice. If you fall through, I may not be able to save you. -agw
April 11th, 2008 at 6:23 am
No!…
I imagine her as effortlessly and timelessly radiant, a constantly smiling and cheeky warden of cyberspace with closely-fitting stylish anorak.
But God knows, I need sleep. I think beauty is irretrievably lost, but I need to hang on to what’s left of my mind, however ugly.
Sorry to upset you earlier tonight. I promise to be a bit gooder for a short while.
[whispers:] Watch out for the Thane of Cawdor!
Goodnight
[end, Act Five, Scene One]
April 11th, 2008 at 6:18 am
hi duncan
we “spoke” a few months ago about the possibility of enhancing the search capabilities for us plebs.
any news?
April 11th, 2008 at 6:13 am
P.S Don’t tell her I said that!
April 11th, 2008 at 6:06 am
1349 - Vlad the Impaler
++++++++++++++++++++++++
Needs her beauty sleep
April 11th, 2008 at 6:02 am
DR - hello, nice to meet you… what happened to June?
DuncanR Says:
April 11th, 2008 at 5:28 am
Vlad
“Try to be more careful in your choice of words.
I am not aware that Gerry and Kate McCann have both been officially diagnosed as autistic?
If you wish to suggest this of them (or anyone else), make it clear that it is your opinion only - based on your observation that certain individuals show behavioural characteristics often found in those who have been diagnosed as autistic. O.K.?
My ‘beef’ with your earlier post was that you were presenting as ‘fact’ what in reality was your opinion. A thing is not necessarily true just because you (or I) believe it to be so!”
________________________
OK, Duncan.. I’ll try to be even more careful in my choice of words… but I suggest that, just maybe, you’re over-reacting.
I’m taken aback by your sensitivity to my reference to ‘autistic tendencies’ / autistic spectrum. Perhaps because I live in a mostly normal but slightly ‘autistic’ world, where use of the term is really no big deal.
When I first saw your response to my - perhaps autistically - innocent reference to certain aspects of the behavioural profile of the McCanns (and in passing a certain, now unnamed, UK politician), I was really shocked.
I felt like a gay in the 50s or something.
Again, maybe it’s my own ‘autistically’ distorted perspective (which has now somehow become a much bigger deal than it should be, or usually is), but I’m, well, flabbergasted that you should object to a casual reference to a non-medial position on a standard spectrum of human behaviour, while (thankfully) allowing (to me) far more outrageous suggestions a home in yur patch of cyberspace.
So yes, OK, I’ll be hypersensitive to precise use of a highly imprecise term.
In the meantime, maybe you could do a bit of research, and relax a bit.
I’m glad you didn’t notice that there were in fact a couple (IMO, ahem) of far more sensitive points in one of my posts. I doubt the lawyers will spot them either.
April 11th, 2008 at 5:54 am
You could be right on both counts , but I have not seen the footage nor am I sure that having seen it I could make such diagnosis. Although I note that you are stating your view as an impression only. Of what I have seen, emotion is lacking. It’s just really hard for me to make a call without face ot face, or more info!
April 11th, 2008 at 5:45 am
VQ: my point about Kate probably being, um, under medication in the Panorama footage, was that this might create an appearance of ‘emotional detachment’ that didn’t actually reflect her ‘normal’ personality.
My strong impression, however, is that KM’s normal personality is pretty detached emotionally.
April 11th, 2008 at 5:40 am
When I say that Kate may have been “doped up” I am not saying this is evidence of guilt. My nephew “committed suicide” several years ago, and there is no doubt that his mom was “doped” up to get through the arrangements and funeral and weeks and more after. Being “doped up” says nothing about autism, IMO, or about guilt or innocence.
April 11th, 2008 at 5:28 am
1342Vlad
Yes, agree, there is something odd about the Mc couple. But what is it. At the interview Kate was certainly distracted, but why. Had she to watch her step! I think so. That woman is under a certain amount of stress. What does know, what does she have to endure!! We will know soon enough.
April 11th, 2008 at 5:28 am
Vlad
Try to be more careful in your choice of words.
I am not aware that Gerry and Kate McCann have both been officially diagnosed as autistic?
If you wish to suggest this of them (or anyone else), make it clear that it is your opinion only - based on your observation that certain individuals show behavioural characteristics often found in those who have been diagnosed as autistic. O.K.?
My ‘beef’ with your earlier post was that you were presenting as ‘fact’ what in reality was your opinion. A thing is not necessarily true just because you (or I) believe it to be so!
April 11th, 2008 at 5:27 am
Vlad, you may have a point, but I’d need a lot more first hand observation to make this claim. I admit I have seen less footage than you, and I have no doubt that K may have been “doped up.”
I’ll have to “sleep on” what you are saying about the new black, new queer. I’ll revisit in the morning.
April 11th, 2008 at 5:19 am
Now look…
I should have been in bed a very long time ago (sorry for the tired typing).
Let’s forget ‘autism’, ‘Asperger’s’ and superficially precise diagnoses, and focus on the behavioural ‘bottom line’.
Humans relate to their environment, including fellow humans, both emotionally/intuitively and analytically. They ‘read’ others and themselves, so to speak, both from ‘inside’ (their heads) and ‘outside’ (automatically, reactively). Some people work more from ‘the inside out’ than the other way round. It’s a pretty smooth ‘curve’ from one extreme to the other, but genetic males (for example) tend to be on the ‘inside-out’ side, and females (overall) tend toward the intuitive/emotional side of the spectrum (this is not folklore, it’s science).
I’m amazed that allusions to this spectrum provoke such sensitivity. Maybe it is the new black, the new ‘queer’.
And yes, Gerry is ‘very good at socializing’ in some sense. But read Mrs Wilkins account of her holiday in PdL in the Observer a few months ago. He’s good at performing ‘from the inside out’ for an audience for which he really doesn’t have much intuitive feeling - so he talks too loud and too much, doesn’t know when to stop, and doesn’t recognize that the audience is seeing soenthing different in the performance to what he sees.
As for Kate - OK, she was doped-up in the Panorama film, but her emotional ‘detachment’ from Day One (and doubtless before) should be bloody obvious, even to observers with very low IQ and AQ.
April 11th, 2008 at 5:17 am
1338 lyn
Sadly, I think you will find that most autistic children are severely disabled.
Not all, but most.
April 11th, 2008 at 5:08 am
1320
Vlad the Impaler Says:
April 11th, 2008 at 4:14 am
But, observer 1312 (and others), Gerry had a DIGITAL camera. Do you know anyone who would wipe the uploaded photos…. edit
————————————————
i think there is more to this saga than meets the eye.
missing wallet. photos recovered. euros missing.
is this not the same trip where hero GM rescues an un-named / unidentified poor soul from an in flight illness?
April 11th, 2008 at 5:03 am
The autism topic is topical in the US right now because of growing support for the claims of thousands of parents that their children’s behavior changed immediatly after they recieived a megadose of multiple immunizations. The medical and pharmaceutical establishment has been denying this for years, but the ediface appears to be cracking.
April 11th, 2008 at 5:02 am
Will add here that over the years I have been surprised to learn that some folks I have known and know are supposed to have As. syndrome or be Autistic. They are no different to anyone else. Probably like ADHD - normal kids who annoy their families with being too active, so they dope them. In my day there was no ADHD - we were the neighbourhood kids, full of life, go-carting in the streets, etc. Nowadays, we would be doped up to make us less of a nuisance to parents.
April 11th, 2008 at 5:02 am
VQ: (putative) fortunes based on stock-market valuations go up and down with the market, so sometimes it’s Bill, sometimes Warren Buffet, sometimes someone else. Bill (like Warren) has ‘become’ the richest peron in human history several times.
April 11th, 2008 at 4:58 am
People with Asperger’s syndrome don’t socialize much I believe, and have problems thinking about several topics. No expert, but looked it up! Kate and Gerry are very social.
April 11th, 2008 at 4:57 am
1333 Vlad
(Bill Gates is frequently the richest man in human history).
—
what do you mean?
that he has multiple lives?
April 11th, 2008 at 4:55 am
Google amazon.com for Temple Grandin.
I have read Thinking in Pictures and Animals in Translation and have heard her speak of two occasions. She gives great insight into Aspergers. Not that others might not have more to say.
April 11th, 2008 at 4:53 am
Thanks, lyn - it’s a ’spectrum’ - on the standard test, from 0 to 40. And to some extent, the threshold for ‘autism’ is an arbitrary number on the spectrum.
The ’syndrome’ threshold is slightly different (as yet, the experts don’t yet quite agree what it means).
Basically the significant medical ‘threshold’ is marked by the ability or inability of a specific individual with ‘autistic tendencies’ to integrate (or not) in their everyday environment.
Many ‘Aspies’ have abnormally high IQs as well as AQs. In the right environment (typically science, computing &c) they perform better than people closer to the median line on the spectrum, and are accepted and appropriately rewarded (Bill Gates is frequently the richest man in human history).
Would the Mods prefer me to be vague and old-fashioned, and talk instead about people being ‘introverted’???
April 11th, 2008 at 4:52 am
vlad
re who was eating where 1st / 2nd may seems to be clouded in uncertainty
sorry this took for ages. no mirror forum data to google now either. all gone. even cache. can’t get to google’s own cache or if you can i don’t know how.
try reading this to get an idea
http://the3arguidos.net/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5590&st=0&sk=t&sd=a
April 11th, 2008 at 4:44 am
1328
No idea what you are talking about.
I’m just holding out for the next shift to arrive.
Should be a good day for Anorak, better than the April snow awaiting me.
But god has given me an internet connection, so I will prevail.
April 11th, 2008 at 4:42 am
Wow… is Asperger’s the “new black”.
Come back Meej, we need you!
Look, Bill Gates is widely identified as an Aspie, along with me, Isaac Newton, Einstein, Jesus Christ and quite a few (actually, something approiaching a majority) of ‘world-historical figures’[.
Do a bit of research! It’s not a term of abuse.
A very good friend, who runs a very large hospital in the UK, is also an Aspie.
Do you think we’re ‘queer’ or something????
April 11th, 2008 at 4:41 am
1327 Lyn
I would wager made up story.
I have a colleague who has an autistic child and who herself has austistic “tendencies.”
Her so called “tendencies” are surely influenced by having to be total caregiver for this child, without any outside support. Autism is pretty much a spectrum, anyway.