Madeleine McCann: Bobby Hands, Cannes And A Hunger For Publicity
MADDIE WATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
As Leslie Felperin, the excellent reviewer for Variety magazine remarked to me: the newspaper-reading public can’t be persuaded to react in the same way: they care about Madeleine McCann in a serious mood, or in a non-serious mood, they care about Sir Alan Sugar or Simon Cowell. The idea of actually caring about a violent arthouse film investigating the life of Bobby Sands is a very tall order indeed.
Fact and fiction - the story of Madeleine McCann

May 27th, 2008 at 10:23 am
Moin!
May 27th, 2008 at 10:26 am
second?
May 27th, 2008 at 10:27 am
Congratulations !
(I don’t think anyone’s spotted this new thread yet.)
May 27th, 2008 at 10:29 am
they’re all still sleepy from the bank hols!
May 27th, 2008 at 10:34 am
phew! Too much to have to run this time of the morning
May 27th, 2008 at 10:35 am
I was complainig about being cast aside…
May 27th, 2008 at 10:40 am
And I am worried about Lone Pigeon.
Mind you, provided he hides the black tie and steers clear of Nigeria he should be ok…
May 27th, 2008 at 10:41 am
and I was trying to figure out why M&A said my post was ‘balderdash’?
M and A
Most of the multi posters are pros, not anti. The banned ‘anti ‘mob do get rebanned when they show their ugly mugs. A certain one who was haunting you and I has reappeared under 3 different guises and shot down, but they come to disrupt, and its best to scroll past if we are not around
May 27th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Darn….make a cup of tea….and a new thread is sneaked in.
May 27th, 2008 at 10:41 am
hallo! fresh air it seems
May 27th, 2008 at 10:44 am
7
chenier Says:
May 27th, 2008 at 10:40 am
And I am worried about Lone Pigeon.
Mind you, provided he hides the black tie and steers clear of Nigeria he should be ok…
Eh?
M and A
Look at the ‘taxi driver losing his penis’ thread, BUT before you do metamorphise into something else, pigeons are to blame!!!
May 27th, 2008 at 10:44 am
1238 coolandcalm Says:
” I know the story of Madeleine has been bigger and has stayed in the news longer than the Ben Needham disappearance but I still wonder if it will eventually just fade away with no-on ever knowing what really happened to Madeleine.”
No way. Nowadays there is compulsory education everywhere in the world, even for girls. Whether this be reasonable or not in general, it may at least lead to Madeleine being found when she eventually reaches the legal age of school attendance (which is six years in many countries).
May 27th, 2008 at 10:47 am
12…Ferdinand
Am sure that there is the case history of, at least, one family in Austria which
rather takes the legs of that Theory.
M and A
Which? Elisabeth was 18, doubt whether her children were registered, can you imagine the proud father…….
May 27th, 2008 at 10:48 am
11
lone pigeon Says:
May 27th, 2008 at 10:44 am
7
chenier Says:
May 27th, 2008 at 10:40 am
And I am worried about Lone Pigeon.
Mind you, provided he hides the black tie and steers clear of Nigeria he should be ok…
————-
Eh?
http://www.anorak.co.uk/strange-but-true/184242.html#comments
May 27th, 2008 at 10:52 am
1225 whoops
Hi. Glad you saw my post. Please do NOT spoil book 4 for me! I seem to remember Peter does all the manly things with Daddy while Jane stands prettily by or helps Mummy?!
My decision isn’t any kind of sulking but the fact that I simply think M & A would prefer not to have opinions (note the word “opinion”) aired which might imply that the Mcs may (note the word “may”) not be guilty of direct involvement in M’s disappearance. I mean other than leaving the children vulnerable at the time. M and A are free to run their site as they wish and I fully respect that, but asking for more “evidence” from me than from some others who can be ludicrous or outrageous in their opinions or extremely rude to other posters (as you noted yesterday) does make their wishes pretty clear!
There’s no question of “changing sides”. I can’t possibly know what happened to M but, as yet, I have not seen any compelling evidence of their involvement. I am also aware of the difficulties linked to the abduction theory, of course.
I speculate, as everyone on Anorak does, but M and A don’t like my particular speculation. And that’s fine by me! It’s their site.
Thank you for your post, though. Glad I caught you.
I have to go to work soon now. Sometimes work from home but today involves boring meetings this afternoon.
May 27th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Blimey o’ Reily! I better stay well away from Nigeria. Jesus what on earth is happening in the world
May 27th, 2008 at 10:55 am
13 Matt. Says:
” Am sure that there is the case history of, at least, one family in Austria which
rather takes the legs of that Theory. ”
Agreed, but only less than 2 per mille of the world’s poulation live in Austria. You may add Switzerland and Nepal, which suffer similar conditions (no coasts, lots of mountains). But then again, the Austrians are not in need of other peoples children.
May 27th, 2008 at 10:56 am
15…Maria
I think you are being rather unfair to M & A…they have the right to
insist on proper sourcing and referrals…and most poster’s comply
quite happily.
May 27th, 2008 at 10:58 am
17…Ferdinand
Well…when you see Madeleine sitting at a school desk…let us know.
May 27th, 2008 at 10:59 am
15 Maria:
I will be interested in your opinion about the upcoming events.
May 27th, 2008 at 11:00 am
16…lone pigeon
I think they call it Evolution ….or maybe Revolution.
May 27th, 2008 at 11:01 am
1227 coolandcalm
Thanks, but the point is that it’s impossible to have any kind of discussion or debate with different rules for different posters.
Not saying people with “anti” views are not sometimes dealt with similarly, where libel is concerned, but hundreds of posts (got ‘em all here!) are allowed through with the wildest speculation, opinions, and not a word of censure!!
If it isn’t enough to be courteous and make it clear when one is posting an opinion, then it’s not really worth participating.
The ankle-snappers (great term!) are tedious and annoying and I often do scroll them, but I’m referring to M and A here as they run the site.
Mods and Admin
Maria could you clarify for us whether you are pro or anti or on the fence or simply do not know.
You have posted a lot, but its as clear as mud what you are trying to say.
If you are presenting something as fact we need a source, this has been discussed with you before now
If you are merely speculating then say so.
But you can only in fairness present one opinion of your views, not 4.
Its no good saying you believe they are innocent, unless proved guilty, and then you will change your mind.
At the moment you are running with the hare and hunting with the hounds and if you continue you will get nipped not only by the ankle biters , but by us as well.
May 27th, 2008 at 11:03 am
18
Matt. Says:
May 27th, 2008 at 10:56 am
15…Maria
I think you are being rather unfair to M & A…they have the right to
insist on proper sourcing and referrals…and most poster’s comply
quite happily.
————————————————————–
They do have the right, of course, but they also choose when to do so.
Most posters never even think of sourcing their speculation!!
May 27th, 2008 at 11:13 am
MATT
Do you remember the poster ‘The third Way’ ? Could you try to find one of his more lucid posts ?
Why is Kennedy so generous with The Mac, are they holding him over a barrel ?
Please try to find, am on dial up here and i have to get back to work outside, will look in later. thanks !
May 27th, 2008 at 11:14 am
This place could do withnsome action, lock n load show time! pussies.
May 27th, 2008 at 11:14 am
23…Maria
You don’t have to “source” personal speculation.
You have to “source” what you may state as Fact…and is not personal opinion.
IMO.
May 27th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Ferdie
Upcoming events? Do you mean the proposed reconstruction?
May 27th, 2008 at 11:18 am
24…bountyhunter
I remember The Third Way…but I can’t exactly remember the content.
Am next to useless at retrieving old posts…so can’t help you there.
Re Mr Kennedy…I think that he is merely a middleman…despite his wealth.
May 27th, 2008 at 11:24 am
The posting that follows isn’t Matt’s own, just there as a discussion between himself and Bounty Hunter about ‘The third Way‘
(but not too many discussions of other posters needing an example, perhaps just a link next time?
24…Bountyhunter
Ah….found one….
53…Third Way Says:
November 14th, 2007 at 9:32 am
The Third Way - the only possible way is back after a period of intense undercover investigation.
The Third Way comes back with a question to the anorak tribe:
Does anyone know why Amaral was sacked from the investigation - especially since the new super-cop is now admitting that after a careful review of the last six months of investigation, the only thing that was confirmed were the suspicions that they had already?
1. McCanns involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance has been there since June. Many within the investigation team thought that before making the McCanns official suspects, they should keep them sweet with informal interviews as a means to let them make mistakes while a solid set of evidence was compiled against them. They did not want them on the spotlight and even thought that through these informal updates with them, they’d be able to actually get more information.
2. Amaral initially agreed with this strategy, however at one point (more or less around the time of the appointment of Mr De Meneses as magistrate in charge of the case and his initial meetings with the detectives), Gonçalo Amaral realised (in his mind) that there was no political will by the Ministerio Publico (eg Crown Prosecution) to move the case forward. What was initially a strategy designed to get solid evidence against the McCanns, was soon unveiled as a strategy designed to strenghten the abduction theory (avoiding political and diplomatic alarmism).
3. At that same time, Amaral was already getting indications from his colleagues within the PJ that he should accept the political sensitivities of the case and should stick to the agreed strategy otherwise he’d be removed from the investigation. It was now very clear that the intention would be to blame the PJ for failing to investigate properly a case which is simply of an abducted little girl.
Amaral could not win. He was in a good position for a promotion into one of the top posts in the PJ - but now it was very obvious that he’d not get that. If he was to stick to the strategy of admitting to an abduction, his failing to properly conduct the investigation would prevent him from getting that promotion. If he was to break ranks with the agreed strategy, he’d be removed from the investigation and again he’d fail that promotion.
4. Not being able to win, he decided to mitigate the loss. Almost unilateraly, Amaral (and 2 of his close aides) decided to break ranks with the strategy mentioned in 1, and called Kate and Gerry for a formal interview. Unlike what was reported across most portuguese and british media, Amaral’s objective with that formal interview was never to seek a confession. His sole purpose was to declare both Kate and Gerry formal suspects (for refusing to answer questions).
5. This action (perceived as hostile by the Crown Prosecution) left Mr De Meneses with a serious problem in his hands. There was no way back now - Gerry and Kate McCann were formally suspects of involvement in Madeleine McCanns disappearance. His colleagues in Lisbon (eg the spokesperson who kept saying that the McCanns were victims) was also taken by surprise - and soon after this episode he resigned from that function (claiming it was now a matter for the prosecution to comment on the case and no longer for the PJ).
At this stage Amaral is removed from the investigation, but guarantees that by now there’s no way the prosecution can close the case - or dismiss the case as an abduction - without releasing the files of evidence compiled (to date) that suggest the McCanns have been involved in MAdeleine’s disappearance.
Maybe this case will never be resolved because political interests have unfortunately hindered the objective competences of the magistrature. However, anyone with a genuine appetite to know what happened to Madeleine McCann should be grateful to Inspector Gonçalo Amaral.
Allegedly, this is what happened, but the Third Way may be wrong. We all believe what we want to believe - yet the Third Way is the only Way.
May 27th, 2008 at 11:28 am
#
26
Matt. Says:
May 27th, 2008 at 11:14 am
23…Maria
You don’t have to “source” personal speculation.
You have to “source” what you may state as Fact…and is not personal opinion.
IMO.
———————————-
Yes, but it’s a fine line, Matt. You know that!
In any case, I’ve been, IMO, especially careful of late to state that I was posting only personal opinions.
I could give hundreds of examples of what I mean but I wouldn’t waste the time of anyone here now. It’s extremely interesting reading through posts though, and seeing what was and wasn’t acceptable! That’s an opinion, of course! Some might find it very boring!