Madeleine McCann: Scottish Government’s Pink Teddy, Shannon Matthews And Liverpool’s Capital Year
MADDIE WATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann, Kate McCann and Gerry McCann
BELFAST TELEGRAPH: “Gran’s Christmas present for Madeleine McCann unopened for second year”
The Irish grandmother of missing girl Madeleine McCann had a Christmas present ready for the five-year-old this year.
Don’t spoil the surprise…
For the second Christmas in a row, Eileen McCann left a large pink teddy bear on Madeleine’s bed, as she clings to hope that she will return home.
Oh, no! Not another pink teddy. Who buys two pink teddies for a little girl? They want nail polish and a Bratz styling head and Aquabeads…
Last year, she decided that a huge pink teddy with a white heart on it, a gift to her from the Scottish government, would be her present for Madeleine.
THE STAR: “Family torn between hope and despair for missing son”
Andrew Gosden was aged 14 when in September 2007 he left his family home in Doncaster and headed to London with just a couple of hundred pounds in his pocket.
A runaway?
Of course the anguish for Andrew’s parents has been played out against the backdrop of two much more high-profile cases of missing children - Madeleine McCann and Shannon Matthews.
The family feel some affiliation with Madeleine’s parents, who like them still await answers, but are troubled by the effect the Shannon case might have had on the British public.
“Charlotte was quite angry and upset, feeling that when so many people work hard to raise awareness of genuine needs, it is undone so readily by an unusual but highly publicised case such as this,” Kevin said.
“I wonder myself if it causes the public to make assumptions that there are dysfunctional families behind all missing cases. All I can assure you is that that is not the case.”
Although not everyone can be a doctor…
LIVERPOOL DAILY POST: “What a Capital year for the city”
Highlights of the Liverpool year:
MAY – Local politics became nailbiting with the Liberal Democrats in Liverpool holding onto control by a whisker when the independent councillor Nadia Stewart agreed to join their ranks. The party’s leader, Warren Bradley, saw off a challenge to his leadership later in the month.
It was the first anniversary of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Gerry and Liverpudlian Kate McCann, attended Our Lady of the Annunciation, Childwall, Kate’s parents’ parish.
Early signs of the credit crunch came with news that repossessions were up by almost a third in Liverpool.
A missing child found amid the credit crunch and local politics. A capital year…
Posted: 31st, December 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann, Media Comments (111) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
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December 31st, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Story Was Hijacked By Web Trolls
FROM the Anorak Forums - by AGW
‘Curious and curiouser,’ said Alice
One of the most bizarre and troubling aspects of of the Madeleine McCann story has been the way the coverage of the story has itself become the story.
Anorak is not a site which has ever been (or ever will be) dedicated to the alleged crimes of abduction and subsequent claim and counter-claim of deeper, darker deeds involving in turn a resident Englishman in the Portuguese holiday complex where the McCann family had been staying and then the parents and their friends themselves.
Right at the beginning of all this I had predicted it was a complex story which would run and run. I confess to being bemused by the the tale’s longevity. The Madeline McCann story has become Dianaeque in its telling and re-telling, worse it is on a par with the empty and drifting ship the Mary Celeste.
The story of a photogenic, pretty little white girl from a professional and middle-class background was sure to attract attention.
I had always expressed serious doubts about the wisdom of the parents’ determination to avoid clear police advice and follow their own route to infamy…because that it what it has become.
The story divided neatly pro and anti. Not pro and anti the hunt for a little girl or her remains but pro and anti the parents. It has become a love-hate story. Every day in Anorak there are those who praise or condemn, support or vilify.
Professional journalists have watched with increasing bemusement, bordering on horror, at the activities of sites created and devoted exclusively to the Madeleine McCann story. They have risen, flowered and been cut down. The same individuals, only the names have been changed to protect the guilty, have in their turn raged or praised as each site flourished and then fell by the wayside.
The same experts and lost souls appeared again and again, and yet again, during the brief existence of these sites. Sometimes only the keystrokes or style and use of phrases and words revealed their true identity. They took full advantage and became legends in their own lunch-times, master spies, superheroes CyberMan or DigiWoman each using the Internet’s basic anonymity to change gender, location and re-invent themselves as brilliantly clear thinkers, defenders of the faith and public morale and morals or, very sad solicitors posing as desperate housewives.
The 3 Arguidos site is probably the strongest of the allegedly Madeleine McCann dedicated sites. I have no access to it nor seek any since it regularly appears to be an outrageous vipers nest of sad people, many of whom have had brief cyber-existences here. It has attracted an interesting group of supporters and helpers and we should genuinely wish them well. They are the Jerry Springer end of the coverage.
The McCann story can not sustain sites like this and they have to diversify. Recruitment from sites such as ours is one way of doing it.
The Moderators here at Anorak have noted a recent surge of activity as the once-again revamped team at the 3As have become our new friends. Avid letter writers to Anorak and when gently challenged, retreat to vent their spleen within their own site. We had such an incursion yesterday.
We are aware the 3As site has suffered dreadful problems lately and we sympathise but do have our own course to run.
There is always a suspicion, often borne out by later scurrilous attacks, the new best friends have their own agenda. That’s fine we all do…and I do not intend to give the 3As site any further creditability by association with us.
It is worth passing on one of the alleged solicitor types in there tried to publish our editor’s telephone number. Why? It is freely available on this site and he is more than well-equipped to be happily entertained by the odd moronic or dirty phone call.
We remain secure in the knowledge of many things but among them are:
Anorak is the leading site of its genre
It has the most experienced and competent team of Moderators
Its writers are skilled and entertaining
It is growing and constantly evolving which is a healthy thing
It is often not a comfortable place to be but remains vibrant and exciting
Imitation and jealous rages remain the sincerest forms of flattery.
…and the headline to this piece? It is often forgotten that the very next line in that quotation is:
“You ought to be ashamed of yourself”
December 31st, 2008 at 7:19 pm
17 Gonad lf Says:
December 31st, 2008 at 6:25 pm
How fekin thick is this plot gonny get, http://www.thesargeants.net/dblog/articolo.asp?articolo=202 You couldn’t make it up, I see were the mad monk is coming from now about the robes and the unholy church, mibees aye mibees naw somethin is afoot and it aint 12 inches, Coco will be disappointed, she needs laid………..in 6 feet of concrete…
……………………………………………………………………………………………
Gonad LF - you sound like a nut-case ….. again! And you are not thinking things through! Strewth! I hope you never have to get rid of a body in a hurry.
Eddie and Keela would still find me under six feet of concrete though - so why not take me deep into the wilderness where the salts of the Earth will dehydrate me and where roaming wild beasties can nibble the flesh from my bones instead?
But don’t take your mobile phone Gonad LF! - Coz them there satellites and them there bloody masts are a bastard for picking up on your whereabouts …….
Cue the Twilight Zone music ……. again! ….. Du du du du …… du du du du
December 31st, 2008 at 6:26 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcBh9IgMz5U
December 31st, 2008 at 6:25 pm
How fekin thick is this plot gonny get, http://www.thesargeants.net/dblog/articolo.asp?articolo=202 You couldn’t make it up, I see were the mad monk is coming from now about the robes and the unholy church, mibees aye mibees naw somethin is afoot and it aint 12 inches, Coco will be disappointed, she needs laid………..in 6 feet of concrete…..
December 31st, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Happy New Year to all of you!
December 31st, 2008 at 5:31 pm
It was after I received the autopsy photos of two girls who are victims of pedophiles that decided to learn more about the subject. It’s all horrible and premeditated. One of the killers was repeated and was captured but the other had the audacity to send off the body of the girl, 9 years on the road of a major metropolis with Brazilian police scattered throughout the city to make searches. Luckily a trader to identify. Now he is being hunted throughout Brazil and even outside of Brazil. I believe he will be caught. Now I think we should be more control of people who approach the children, who work with children and have children at home.
December 31st, 2008 at 5:06 pm
HELP!
December 31st, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Aaaaaggggghhhhh! Help me! Help me! I am in moderation and I can’t breathe!
December 31st, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Aaaaaaaaaaggggggghhhhhh!
December 31st, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Oh! - Forgot to say ………… Looked in the crystal ball last night and there ain’t no sign of Madeleine/Madeline/Maddie coming back for her pink teddy bear - but I will keep you all posted
Eddie and Keela are away for the New Year - but I will be posting their latest thoughts here and there!
Saul! - Don’t you dare get out of your bed tonight! I will be sending many of our friends and some friends of theirs who we don’t really know very well to make sure you are OK - so you are not really alone - technically speaking - Even though you may think so - So don’t go wandering off - because Daddy won’t be covering the swimming pool tonight - because we might be doing a bit of skinny-dipping and errrrr …… things ……
And don’t you dare go in the kitchen pretending to make a cup of coffee - you could have scalded yourself to death last week ……. And don’t do anymore of that pretend ironing - you left it switched on yesterday and scorched the carpet! You could have set fire to the house! And don’t touch Mummy’s femidom again - you could have suffocated and errrrr ………. things ……
I will only be at the bottom of the garden having a few wines and canapes. Any messing and I will buckle you up in your pushchair again. And don’t awaken your
December 31st, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Happy New Year to one and all!
Health, wealth and prosperity to all of you - with buckets of merriment and mirth! 
May all your aspirations be realised. May you all be able to pay your fuel bills!
May you all give grave consideration to the box that you tick when this Government decides to give us the chance to finally have a say in whether or not we want a Gordie and Sarah Brunie administration - with accompanying laws to monitor all our emails and text messages!
The end of the World is nigh!
Very nigh! - So nigh that I am already stocking up on tobacco and candles! Having taken a leaf out of Kennedy’s book.
December 31st, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Well hello!!!!!!
Lurked in several times, but this new site defeated me.
Another year over with no real news on Madeleine.
Hope 2009 sees the resolution of this case, one way or another.
In the meantime, Happy New Year all.
Lone…. what variety of offspring?? Congratulations!!
December 31st, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Happy New Year
Since joining forum land, I’ve had two birthdays, two Christmasses and nearly two New Years and I still don’t have a clue about what happened to poor Madeleine.
People with ’sources’ have come and gone and most of their information was wrong. I suppose the only way we’ll find out what happened is if someone cracks and confesses. I find it difficult to believe in the abduction theory because I’m sure some greedy person would have come forward to collect the reward by now or someone would have grassed for revenge IMO.
LOL, here’s to another year of frists, sconeds, turds etc.
December 31st, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Another year gone and it would appear no nearer a resolve in this mysterious case. The cruelty that passes for the dark place knows no bounds, their vitriol masquerading as care and concern for Madeleine knows no bounds, no one is safe from their collective libel and disinformation. I only hope that in their righteous certainty they remember, what goes around comes around, the guilty will be guilty who ever they are, despite the poison of the dark place.
Spare a thought for Madeleine amongst the festivities of this time, may the coming year bring all you wish for and an end, hopefully an end with a living Madeleine, to this mystery.
December 31st, 2008 at 1:35 pm
probably!
Happy New Year - be healthy and happy if not rich!
December 31st, 2008 at 11:24 am
Happy new year too everybody xxx
will we still be here none the wiser next year?
December 31st, 2008 at 10:20 am
I see that Sara Payne got a gong in the New Year’s honours for her campaigning
December 31st, 2008 at 9:05 am
ice econd that
December 31st, 2008 at 8:59 am
Let me be first to wish you all a Happy New Year when it comes
December 31st, 2008 at 8:58 am
Frost?