Madeleine McCann: Colette Douglas Home Spreads The Fear And Inside Irvine Welsh
MADDIE WATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann, Kate McCann, Gerry McCann
THE HERALD: “Do you want to see every parent in the dock?”
It’s Colette Douglas Home, professional Maddie opinion giver. And to answer her question: yes. Fingerprint them, photograph them and question them for 42 days. Only the guilty have anything to fear.
Fear:
You’ve got to admit, they shouldn’t have left the children unattended and gone out to dinner.” It was a colleague talking to me about Kate and Gerry McCann. He went on: “We go on holiday with a big group of friends but we’d never do that. We put the wee ones to bed and eat downstairs.”
“And do you check on them every half hour?”
“Yes. Well, we send the teenagers to do the checking.”
Fear:
I wonder if he realises how fortunate he has been. If something terrible had happened, can you imagine the headlines? They would probably say something like: “Teenagers checked on missing toddler while parents partied.”
Yeah, who cares that the children have been eaten by alligators, fallen down the plughole or hit the minibar and suffocated in their own vomit – it’s the media’s reaction to it that matters most.
And what of the McCanns, Colette’s favourite subject:
I imagined the fact that Kate and Gerry McCann are doctors would stand them in some regard, since they spend their lives trying to help others. I was wrong. I thought the clear evidence from family photographs that Madeleine was a happy, well-cared-for child would demonstrate that leaving her unsupervised was an aberration, not the norm. But I didn’t allow for jealousy and resentment.
Maybe people are just bored of the McCanns? But Colette cannot face that possibility:
So let’s think about that call for prosecution. If the McCanns are to stand in the dock, who should stand beside them? We can start with those who were on the same holiday and who didn’t hire a babysitter. Then what about all the other couples who have stayed at that or any family-friendly holiday village where they felt safe enough to leave the children unattended while they ate? What about people who eat in the garden on hot summer evenings while their children sleep in the house? What about parents who sleep indoors, maybe one night a year, while their kids sleep in a tent? If we apply these standards, the courts would be jam-packed.
What about them? The McCanns are not being prosecuted child neglect, child abandonment, nor for any other crime.
THE SCOTSMAN: “Crime and Punishment - Irvine Welsh”
Dave Robinson is in Saughton jail. For crimes againt journalism. Ho-ho:
I’M WALKING behind the Famous Author. He’s wearing trainers, a T-shirt, an expensive-looking grey-green leather jacket and is carrying a plastic bag. As I follow him, I’m thinking that the way people walk tells you something about them. The Famous Author walks like a fighter: self-confident, disciplined, head up. He doesn’t walk like a 50-year-old, though in a couple of months he will be one.
How close behind Welsh is Robinson? Close enough to smell him?
Welsh has written a book called Crime, HMP Edinburgh. But he nearly didn’t:
He’s talked to child-abuse survivors’ groups and handles the subject with uncommon sensitivity – so much so, in fact, that he gave up writing the book altogether when the Madeleine McCann story first broke. “Even approaching the subject tangentially seemed frivolous and stupid.”
His is work of fiction, the McCann case is one of fact. What has one to do with the other? The McCann case is a touchstone for a writer’s book, a stepping stone on the PR drive.
Posted: 29th, July 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Madeleine McCann, Tabloids Comments (494) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
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July 29th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
somewhere over the rainbow whoosh clunk again !
m and A
Despite a witch and a wizard being on the same site, we are buggered by gremlins…
-agw...That’s no way to speak to Dorothy
July 29th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
M and A
She is already promised ……to Garfy (aren’t you Julie)
_____________________________
The chicken didn’t reply to my proposal - you kissed him and he ran (think he may be scared of real women)
m and A
bloody wussi, is that the singular of wusses?
July 29th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Administrator: Not Guilty. Anyone else got a problem? -agw
M and A
Cheryl, be warned the gremlins are out and about today and posts are disappearing
_____
Thanks for the rescue. Now, of course I’m not attempting to cause ‘paranoia’ among any unnamed (perish that thought) posters but with the sudden appearance of “Gremlins” causing mysterious disappearances of postings - could one possibly think the article posted re the latest techniques acquired by CM et al has actually hit cyberland …..
M and a
Sorry Cheryl, was watching Emmerdale, and it started again…. ‘ave we been ‘acked? well dunno, but gremlins anyway….. and I can paranoia with the best of them!!!
July 29th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Julie
“Go ahead, make my day”
Just name the time and place, shweetheart
M and A
She is already promised ……to Garfy (aren’t you Julie)
July 29th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Another smiley :
July 29th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Gotta admit, another line from a very old movie that sproinged into my mind this afternoon was :
“Go ahead, make my day”
July 29th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
Excellent GuessWho - welcome to the land of the smiley posters
If I think of any more, I’ll post them for you - so if I pop up pulling tongues …. I are not being naughty!!
July 29th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
M&A - This is not the televised interview but it includes the same comment. See the bbc radio interview, the first solo interview with Kate McCann. In the broadcast is some of the material I mentioned in my earlier post which was under moderation. KM says to the interviewer’s question about safety: “Good question”, “Keep going over it in my head.” “Why did I feel it was safe?” Then she says she thinks it was a calm place and she was “lulled into a false sense of security.
My point is that if one knows the answer to a vital question, one doesn’t keep going over it in one’s mind. I think the fact that the question appeared over and over in her mind indicates a disturbed state and that KM’s personal speculation on being lulled into a false sense is open to discussion of the different things that could possibly cause such a state.
M&A
Artemis
Thank you for clarifying that point. It is possible, however, that her PR person had worked through all the potential questions with her so that what you are seeing is not an immediate response but a structured set of statements decided upon in advance.
July 29th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Just_me
What you describe has happened to me too on occasions - generally when the site is busy (and available bandwidth is consequently restricted) and my browser gives up trying to get through to Anorak.
July 29th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
Thank you Julie
Now I have to read the rest of the posts and make notes of them
July 29th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Duncan - just a quick note. my post went earlier. I submitted it and then it came up ‘page cannot be displayed’ i clicked back and my user name and email addy had gone. I had to re-enter them to post. The next post went through fine.
M and A
Just_me you were caught out by the gremlins, Cheryl’s email addy was different, she went in to Mods, you are zapping around the ether……whats the view like?
July 29th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
OK what happened to my post after agw’s lengthy tome and my visit to the bone daddy.
Or are replies de facto taboo ?
Administrator: De facto tosh Jimmy. Which Gandolf will be guest writer this evening? -agw
July 29th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Cheryl
Just logged on and saw your post about being put in Moderation.
I have said this before but perhaps this is an opportune moment to repeat it - since we have many new contributors to Anorak since last I posted this information.
Details of posters Username, email address, and IP No are automatically stored by the site software when they submit a post. Each new comment is automatically compared to the details held in that database. If there is a match, then the comment is allowed through. If there is a mismatch as for example, when a regular contributor mistypes their username, or email address, then the software automatically places the comment into Moderation. These instances are nothing to do with any decision by Admin or Mods. It is an automatic process.
Your comment was automatically placed in Moderation earlier because you entered a different email address to that previously associated with your name in the database.
As a general point, if anyone should ever find a comment of theirs has been put into Moderation, a useful first step is to check you have not mistyped your name or email address.
Hope this information helps you (and others) understand the process.
Cheers
Duncan
July 29th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Cheryl Says: Your comment is awaiting moderation.
July 29th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Administrator: I do beg your pardon I was multi-tasking and three posts ahead.
She/he/cross-gender it makes no difference the …frankly m.e., dear I don’t give a damn, is still too good a line to miss. -agw
____________
When Rhett threw those are his parting words, didn’t Scarlett come back with “there is always tomorrow”?
___________
WHAT? NOW YOU PUT ME IN MODERATION AFTER ALL THESE MONTHS…AND ALL I’M DOING IS REMINESCING ABOUT THE MOVIE ‘GONE WITH THE WIND’ WHEN AGW QUOTES RHETT AS HE WALKS OFF ON SCARLETT?
M&A
Artemis
Cheryl, the programme put you into moderation, and I just rescued your post from it.
Administrator: Not Guilty. Anyone else got a problem? -agw
M and A
Cheryl, be warned the gremlins are out and about today and posts are disappearing
July 29th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Administrator: I do beg your pardon I was multi-tasking and three posts ahead.
She/he/cross-gender it makes no difference the …frankly m.e., dear I don’t give a damn, is still too good a line to miss. -agw
____________
When Rhett threw those are his parting words, didn’t Scarlett come back with “there is always tomorrow”?
Administrator:
Not nearly as good as: “Flash I love you but we only have 14 hours to save the earth.” -agw
July 29th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
Brandon, oui, vous
July 29th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
Time for some food.
Good sleuthing !!!!
July 29th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
The problem with suing real people, individuals, for slander/libel is that truth is an absolute defense to it. And once someone is sued, a capable lawyer can instigate discovery proceedings, which would include deposing complainants (presumably the fragrant couple themselves). In fact, once sued, a defendant or two could add hundreds and thousands of fellow defendants–why not make it a bloody class action a la America? Discovery could take years and years, and who knows, perhaps a CIVIL court judge would even authorize a re-enactment in PDL!
Anorakers aren’t newspapers. And the damages the Maccaccaroonies could claim against individuals blubbering over a little lost girl might be a lot less than they imagine. But the discovery process could yield some very intersting information that not even the British police would have.
CLASS ACTION! CLASS ACTION! CLASS ACTION!
July 29th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
The RTE with Clarence was quite good!
July 29th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
chenier
I can’t stand seeing Kate and Gerry on T.V.. If he’s questioned he gets angry and if he’s supported he’s gleeful. When Kate’s questioned she gets irritated and when she’s supported she’s slightly blank.
But I suppose how well they come across will depend on how indulgent the host is and if they’re interviewed as celebrities or as the parents of a missing child.
July 29th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
twins 3 madeleine 4 ?
July 29th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
chenier
Maddie’s parents set for Irish visit
Yes…of course Ireland is preparing her emerald self!!!!
The autumn….Ireland…..the files in public domain….the mccanns going….. the saga continues….unless?
July 29th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Colette Douglas Hume basically said ‘anyone who doesn’t agree with me is resentful and jealous’.
Incisive journalism as usual.
Leaving the door open at night is not my idea of safe. And being in a Tapas restaurant isn’t my idea of being in your garden… and Madeleine actually being missing seems to back my theory up…
July 29th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
chenier Says:
July 29th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Will they be doing a Reconstruction ??
Sounds like it.
July 29th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?saddr=Skipton,+UK&geocode=&dirflg=&daddr=saddleworth&f=d&sll=53.960978,-2.011944&sspn=0.064435,0.15295&ie=UTF8&z=10
July 29th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
They are really into informed journalism, I can see.
‘RTE bosses are hoping that the McCanns will come on the show and reveal first-hand the terrible trauma they’ve experienced. However, programme bosses are remaining tight lipped until closer to the scheduled visit.’
One wouldn’t want all that terrible trauma to go to waste, would one?
July 29th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
matt
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?utm_campaign=en&utm_source=en-ha-emea-uk-goog-gm&utm_medium=ha&utm_term=map
July 29th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
brandon flours Says:
July 29th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Whats the name of the place thee mc canns go to stay at friends or rellys at beginning with S?
________________________
Pass ….
July 29th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
brandon flours Says:
July 29th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Skipton.
Where Dr K’s cousin lives.
July 29th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Matt. Says:
July 29th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
jo Says:
July 29th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Wot ‘appened to me “e” ???
****
I think there was a misunderstanding along the line and cables got tangled up but I am mental so if I were you I would not take much notice of what I say.Also english is my third mother tongue