“”I cant believe they’re not on the list”"

I think they are on the list…….but unnamed.

They have after all benefited from their scrounging off other people.

FIONA Phillips is more annoying than the washout summer, chavs and Heather Mills.

The GMTV host, who is leaving the show at the end of the year, was voted most irritating celeb.

She beat Portuguese winker Cristiano Ronaldo, 23, junkie Amy Winehouse, 25, and whining James Blunt, 34.

The breakfast presenter, 47, topped the celeb list of shame for her cringe-worthy interviews.

Her on-screen gaffes include telling the parents of missing Madeleine McCann: “There are light moments. You’ve acquired this odd celebrity status.”

Prime Minister Gordon Brown, 57, was also high on the hate list, coming sixth.

Benefit scroungers topped the poll of the most irritating things of 2008.

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I cant believe they’re not on the list

Since last May Ocean Club executives have remained tight-lipped on the incident, and Robin, despite finally opening up, is still reluctant to comment.

Over the past 16 months reports have sporadically emerged stating that, as a consequence of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance, Ocean Club guest figures have plummeted, that people considered Praia da Luz to be an unsafe spot for families and resulted in the temporary tarnishing of the Algarve’s idyllic image.

Robin is quick to rubbish all of these reports, as have other leading authorities and tourism officials, denying that having the resort’s name associated with one of the biggest child-related mysteries of modern times had a damaging effect.

“But no one wants that type of publicity, at all”, Robin admits, stating “there were some immediate cancellations, until around October last year, but then things levelled out again”.

He explains that, after the initial period, these cancellations were not severe and limited mainly to families with pre-school children.

Forty per cent of the Ocean Club’s visitors are regulars, many of whom return every year.

“Our regulars know the resort and the area and they know it is not unsafe. They tell their friends and family who tell their friends and family. They have not been put off”.

Prior to the interview Robin had prepared a written statement to The Portugal News, voicing his view on the world-involving incident.

“It was of course a terrible tragedy and all our hearts went out to the family, the whole village as well as our staff were deeply upset and the out-pouring of grief was enormous”, he says.

He carries on explaining how, with much difficulty, he had to continue his role as Managing Director, to ensure The Ocean Club carried out all its responsibilities to their other guests.

“We still had another 600 guests to look after who had paid to stay with us and who had nothing to do with this event and wanted to enjoy their holiday”.

A team of psychologists, crisis management experts and senior staff management were sent out by Mark Warner, who Robin guarantees, contrary to reports, are “not pulling out of The Ocean Club”.

He says that, whilst figures were not as good as in 2006, when the Algarve experienced a mini-boom in tourism, this year “The Ocean Club continued to attract families with children of all ages with the exception of April and early May when there were fewer families with pre-school children. But by June, these had also returned to normal and by July and August things were more or less back to normal occupancy figures”.

Criticised at the time for its lack of CCTV cameras, as were many resorts last year following the debate for new safety measures, Robin retorts: “Most of the resort is spread throughout the village, the units are accessed via public roads and paths and in Portugal it is illegal to have security video cameras in public places. On private property we don’t need them as we have manned receptions”.

In the meantime, The Ocean Club is planning to make “considerable investments” during this winter, which include upgrading restaurant areas.

Robin continues, “We pride ourselves on providing good quality accommodation with good friendly service at very competitive rates, all set in the most idyllic scenery. This has always been our policy and it pays off whether there is a recession or a boom period”.

At present, Robin agrees with the general sentiment that there is a bit of a lull in people’s spending power, and is of the opinion, therefore, that self-catering apartments, such as those of The Ocean Club, are the perfect solution.

“Twenty five years ago the people who came to Praia da Luz had more money to spend but there were fewer of them. Nowadays there are more people but with less to spend. The advantage of self-catering is it saves money”.

So after 26 years, having confronted a number of recessions, booms, and a controversy of global significance, what does Robin think of Praia da Luz?

“Luz is a beautiful, family-friendly, ideal spot for all generations, all seasons of the year.”

Does he think Praia da Luz is safe?

“Absolutely”, he replies without hesitation.

“It is a small, safe community where everybody knows everyone else and their business. This in a way helps to prevent crime. You cannot get away with things like you do in larger resorts”, he argues.

No further expansion is on the cards for the Ocean Club, but there is always room for improvement.

“We want to keep doing what we have always done but better. Here in the centre Praia da Luz is now fully developed, so we can’t expand as such, but we can improve our facilities and occupancy”, explains Robin Crosland.

And what about after retirement, will Robin stay in Luz?

“We will keep our home here, but we have a lot of travelling to catch up on”.

Carrie-Marie Bratley

Edition: 979

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lips are loosening

But clearly not for the PJ who have now released the files, and thereby informed the world, including the McCanns and their accolytes, that the child trafficking or even “serious case’ exemption does not apply.
And that therefore …

are now available

Rare, yes; of course you are right that, more often than not, the clues in missing children cases lead directly back to the parents, family, or close acquaintances. And yet, non-family abductions do happen; there have been several high-profile examples in the region both before and since Madeleine’s disappearance.

It continues to puzzle me that it is only in this case that the possibility seems to be discounted out of hand. As for where someone might strike, it certainly sounds as though each of the children we’ve heard about in the past year have disappeared, not from some lonely, isolated spot, but from a brief, chance opportunity in his or her normal life: from the sidewalk, the swimming pool, the beach, the garden.

I’m not some crazy alarmist, thinking there’s a pedophile hiding behind every tree, but it’s just as unwise to pretend there are none or that they lurk only in dungeons and dark alleys.

I suppose you missed his song as well? Tsk!

oh dear jo, you dont’ want to tell me he didn’t reckon with me and you and all and sundry having a look at what he (and she) said do you? because of course that that could be seen as a real impediment to a fair trial could it not.

it does make you wonder why you, or one is, always seemingly a step behind. i kind of hope then that not every detail is included in the publicised files.

Well on my version of Jools he’s just interviewed him.

They really want to think that dont they?they really want the public to believe madeleine has been abducted and is (still) in the hands of a paedo….
What a fucking sicko liar

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3872865.ece

I think exactly like you. They only started thinking the abduction wasn’t a good hypothesis when they found no sign of it, and realised it was almost impossible. I think the dogs discovering blood and cadaver smell in the place pointed to something quite different, but until then the PJ had included it as a possibility of course.

Actually, when you think of it, there weren’t many hypothesis :
1) the least alarming, the child has gone outside to look for her parents, and will be found sooner or later.
2) She was abducted. If by a rapist, her body will soon be found somewhere in the area, as in most cases. Or she has been abducted by a gang and taken away. But the chance of such an abduction is very small, usually an abducted child is abducted by a loner, sexual predator. And a gang wouldn’t chose a place like a touristic complex full of cameras to perpetrate a crime.
3) something else, difficult to believe, but unfortunately quite often the case when parents report a disappearance….

As time went by, the first hypothesis proved untrue and the second one difficult to believe, but the third one was never proved. So, there we are, still wondering, and still hoping for the truth to be known one day.

I find the files very interesting as they show us how the PJ worked. But they will not give us the solution of the case.