Sunday 27 November 2016

THAT EMBEDDED CONFESSION

UPDATE 29.11.16

I haven't even attempted putting this blog onto any of the 'anti' Facebook pages that actually allow me to be a member because I know it will be rejected. Most Facebook pages follow their own accepted party line, and alternate views are strictly forbidden. 

The majority of antis accepted without question, the final verdict of Peter Hyatt, and anyone who didn't was a spoilsport at best or a shameless scavenger (courtesy of the charmless Ben), at worst.  Not to mention a defender of the parents. 

All these people who run the Facebook pages and the Forums and tweet on the #McCann hashtag all day, it seems, are happy to accept absolutely anything at face value if it is critical of the McCanns.  Questioning it's validity or source is seen as an act of treachery. They have in fact gone full circle and become blind believers like those on the other side.  Once again, they have been left with the customary egg on their faces, still arguing on the trail about whether to follow the shoe or the gourd.    

Though I have many reading and commenting, I have only had one retweet of this blog, because I have now become the enemy!  As I have said many times, I am beyond the point of reasonable doubt where the abduction story is concerned, but I find the 'new' allegations from the armchair detectives abhorrent.  They are not introducing new evidence, they are trying to sex the case up because the facts just aren't juicy enough. 

Those who are members of the large Facebook pages and Forums should ask themselves why I'm barred, and why my blogs are rejected?  Are those the actions of people who are genuinely seeking the truth?  People like Ben, or as I like to think of him, 'Tony Bennett - the Early Years', who rages against me on twitter and gawd knows where else? 

Just to be clear, I'm no fan of Kate and Gerry's, and I doubt they like me very much either, but just as their being 'nice' put them above suspicion, their being horrible doesn't make them guilty of EVERYthing that is thrown at them.  Unfortunately,  it is because of those who are so quick to believe the very worst that there has never been any credible opposition to Team McCann.   

 ___________________________________



If I were Gerry and Kate McCann, I wouldn't be worrying too much about the 3 hours of statement analysis given by Peter Hyatt in Richard's Hall's continuation of the Madeleine McCann saga.

As interesting and lucrative as Mr. Hyatt's hobby might be, it is a not recognised as a legitimate science and he won't be called to a witness box anytime soon.  Turning the tables on Mr. Hyatt, in his opening statement to Richard Hall, he relates how his hobby became his business.  He started by reading a few books, then in his employment he was given 200 hours of training.  Ok, let's stop there.  What kind of training?  What, if any, university?  Then he states, he went onto more formal training.  Again, who with? what qualifications did he achieve?

Though vague, he is actually describing his employment history as social work, he is not part of law enforcement.  He yadayadas his way through his achievements and employment history, in the same way we all do when we have to account for missing years on our CVs.  However, regardless of not producing anything of substance, such as letters after his name, he still manages to put forward a reasoned argument to back up his own thesis. 

I have to admit I was mesmerised the clarity of Hyatt's explanations and his own 100% belief in his work, His enthusiasm for his subject is so strong, he is disturbingly convincing.  He leaves no room for doubt.  And this is where I have a problem. All the academics and scholars I have ever known always leave a little grey area for doubt, aware that others may come along with further knowledge and more advanced theories.  Those who have reached that point where they are right, dead right, have stopped learning. 

In fairness to Mr. Hyatt, he does say that statement analysis is an ongoing learning process, but regardless, with only the statement analysis skills he has acquired thus far, and without reading the police files, he claims to have solved the Madeleine mystery solely by analysing the words used by the parents. That is quite a grandiose claim, but one of many made throughout the marathon interview. 

I have to say I came away from the videos wondering how such an apparently educated and sane chap could be associated with Richard Hall, Tony Bennett and the Cesspit.  It didn't take too much 'research' (ha ha) however, to discover Mr. Hyatt's degree is actually in bible studies and like his protégé Hobbs, he is scarily anti Islam.   

The reality is, the statement analysis doesn't reveal anything new.  Many of us without expert knowledge, have seen through the lies of Gerry and Kate for many years.  Their lack of concern for Madeleine's fate hasn't passed us by either.  The conclusions reached by Peter Hyatt, are almost identical to the conclusions reached by Goncalo Amaral in his book and documentary The Truth of the Lie.  Madeleine had a fall, it was accidental, the parents hid the body. 

I am not dismissing statement analysis as mumbo jumbo, far from it, the study of language is my own particular passion, but it is a huge leap to assume guilt on words alone.  Much as I hate to burst a few more bubbles, those getting carried away with this supposedly damning evidence, really ought to have done a few cursory checks. 

PAYPAL BUTTON

I'm afraid that I was so traumatised by the vicious backlash with the paypal button that I never actually activated it!  Many thanks to those who have contacted me, your kindness has lifted my head back up above the parapet. The button is now working for those who understand the life of a struggling writer! Many thanks. 

Wednesday 23 November 2016

CSA SURVIVORS - LET IT GO

Carrying on from my previous blog and the taboo subject of paedophilia, some have got the impression that I have NEVER encountered people with an unhealthy interest in children.  I have of course, especially during the 5 formative years I spent in a Catholic Care Institution.   

Apart from the malcontents trapped in Holy Orders, the stark, authoritarian convent environment attracted lay staff who make up the kind of characters who would not be out of place in the plot of a standard child in peril horror film. Most were religious fanatics, authoritarians and sadists.  It was believed at that time  (1960s) that children in care (the undeserving poor)could be rehabilitated into model citizens through discipline and religious fervour. Behavioural modification and indoctrination in the Gulag style. 

The convent I was in, St. Anne's was run the Sisters of Mercy, an Order who bizarrely believed that girls were filthy, dirty whores who should be taught to accept a life of servitude.  Scrubbing floors constantly, would apparently, remove any trace of pride we were struggling to cling onto.  We were also cared for by a deranged ex Jesuit monk who believed in the ideology of Opus Dei.  Mortification of the body, he told us, was good for the soul.  Not only should we welcome our punishments, we should thank him for them.  And he would regale us with his own suffering, with tears in his eyes and gazing up to the heavens he would recall how he prostrated himself naked in front of the altar, while his fellow monks lashed him with cat-o-9s.  He also told us about the string he had in his pocket that was attached to his genitals, which may explain the tears in his eyes. 

Though it may have been sexual for those men and women getting their jollies from the sadism, happily any, err, relief they sought, was never in our presence.
With Peter Rand, the psychopathic loon who had charge of us, he targeted the boys.  Not just the boys in the convent, as a scout leader and pillar of the community, he became the catholic mentor to turn to for your troubled (male) teen.  I saw the art of grooming first hand, though I wasn't aware of it at the time.  Whilst we girls suffered for the sins of Eve, the selected boys went on outings (to Westminster), holidays (the Vatican) and wore smart, up to date clothes.  When his personnel file was revealed at my ill chosen legal battle with the Church, that not only was he sexually abusing the boys - he was caught with a 15 year old boy in his bed, there was also financial fraud especially with a Burtons credit card. 

Rand was pure evil.  He was exactly the kind of paedophile that the authorities are protecting.  They are legally liable for employing psychopaths like Rand, but the truth is, he is but the tip of the iceberg because he represents the dominant ideology of that time.  The government were happy to turn a blind eye to hundreds, if not thousands, of children being handed over to religious institutions, with little follow up as to their well being.  That we were being raised to 'go into service' or menial labour was preventative, they didn't want us growing up feckless, like our parents. 

I feel great sorrow for the helpless boys that Rand and his kind preyed upon, and I know the experience blighted many young lives.  But I would say to the survivors, 'let it go'.  Not because I want to protect people like Rand or the evil so called carers who abused their power, but for the sake of their own mental health.  And I speak as someone who allowed my own past to screw my head up for 40+years.  Five years of which were spent in an endless exchange of legal letters (guaranteed to bring any high moods back down to rock bottom) with the click of the letterbox.  It was pure hell, followed by 1 and a half days on a burning pyre (the witness box) and the haunting memories of the Defence telling me what shit parents I had. 

For those pressing for a full inquiry, what exactly do they hope to achieve?  Some might say, it's OK for me, I had my day in Court, finally, as an adult, I got the opportunity to expose, with passion, the evils that went on in that dark satanic place.  But, given the opportunity, I would go back and say to that 14 year old self who vowed revenge, 'what the fuck are you thinking!  There's a big, wide world out there, forget those weirdos, they no have no place in your life anymore'. 

Though I hate to say it, the whole 'legal system' is designed so that the Survivors will fail, or die of old age, whichever comes sooner. Admission of liability could open floodgates.  The recent re-showing of Cathy Come Home, showed how easy it was for the authorities to seize children and the State knows best mentality that existed at that time.  There are hundreds if not thousands of deserving cases out there, but if they settle just one, then thousands more will come forward.

Out of these genuine claims, there has grown a culture of witch hunting, that I find distasteful and unnecessarily cruel.  Dragging dirty old men out of their homes and putting them up for public ridicule is almost barbaric.  What, if any, lessons are to be learned?  The truth is, most of us, if we are honest, we have been groped, or spoken to inappropriately by (mostly) drunken, adult men.  Even as children! As a young girl about town, the winks and the wolfwhistles were the highlights of my day.  One of the first loves of my life began with the words 'ever seen a builder's tool?'. 

I also have (hilarious) memories of a caravan holiday in Great Yarmouth with a group of female pals, average age 16.  We were all smitten by the ageing crooner who performed at the clubhouse each evening, and by the end of the holiday it transpired he had slept with at least 3 of us.  Were we upset? Not a bit of it, we had a side splittin evening comparing notes and laughing at his set routines.   

But I digress.  I spent most of my adult life despising Peter Rand and the nuns, I longed for the day when I could confront him especially, as an adult and an equal.  I wanted to scream at him for the cruelty he unleashed, I wanted to call him every dirty, filthy name I could think of, I wanted to tell him how his hatred of females had made me feel.  I never got that opportunity.  At the time of the trial he was dying, cancer of the anus ironically, but he had enough breath to swear on a statement denying everything. 

The reality was, revenge wasn't sweet.  The only person I had been destroying all those years was myself.  My, much wiser, family and friends had long ago made the decision to move on.  There is a good reason for letting sleeping dogs lie, every time I think about the miserable things that happened in my past, I feel like shit.  And I have to ask, why would I do that to myself?

I would urge those survivors who are still demanding inquiries and prosecutions, what it is they expect?  From personal experience I can say there is no satisfaction whatsoever in revenge.  Whilst I am glad that Rand went to meet his maker knowing that I knew, is enough.  The moment had long since passed.  He wasn't an active threat to the community or anyone, I honestly don't know what punishment would have been fitting. 

All those resources that are being wasted on historic crimes would be better transferred to agencies that are tackling the risks faced by children now, in the present day. The refugee children in Calais, those kids here who are threatened with homelessness and hunger, their parents at breaking point by harsh sanctions.  There isn't any way to right wrongs from the past, other than to use them as lessons for the future.  The truth was, all those kids seized and taken into care, were in far more danger of encountering paedophiles, sadists and sociopaths than they ever would have in the 'outside' world. 

 The greatest thing the survivors could do is walk away, accept that they have given those vile, odious ghosts from their past, enough of their time, and look towards a more positive future.  Most of those claiming to be on their side really aren't.  They are professionals who are purportedly experts, in what, I can't imagine, but in any event, they are programmed to promote the victim's cause, or the Defendants, depending on who is employing them.  It is in no-one's interest to bring this long running saga to an end.  Not the victims who feel success in a court will somehow heal them, and especially not all the support agencies that have been created to support them.  Throw in all the legal fees and that's quite an industry, but sadly, not one that puts the good mental health and wellbeing of the survivors at the forefront.    

Monday 21 November 2016

THOSE PAEDOPHILE ACCUSATIONS

In response to John from previous blog:

Apologies John, I meant to add with regard to Yvonne Martin and the Gaspers. Whilst it is always possible there is a paedophile element to this case, I think it very unlikely.  There is no way these families living under police  scrutiny have kept that kind of secret for almost 10 years.  As discussed in the comments in the previous blog, these people will always live under a huge cloud of suspicion, not only from the general public, but even from their own friends and family. Whatever monstrous behaviour those focussing on the paedophile aspects suspect, simply isn't viable. Not when you apply reason and logic, which seems to be the part they haven't got to in their 'research'.  

As a survivor of a Catholic institution where abuse of every variety was available on tap, I feel pretty darned qualified to recognise abuse and to understand it. I have spent a lifetime trying to make sense of the evil that sets off abuse against the vulnerable.  How do you define abuse? Sexual always takes top spot, because it grabs headlines and provokes the most outrage.  However, those battered on a daily basis, degraded, humiliated and forced to submit to the will of authoritarians might beg to differ. Especially those toddlers who end up in the morgue and those teenagers who snap. 
 
Paedophiles do exist, but not in the way we are led to believe.  Sex parties in the suburbs involving parents passing their kids around are unheard of.  And the dangerous predators are not those socially inept hermits that hide away in bedsits, they are the ones who seek out opportunities where they have access to children. It is not the introverted misfits who pose the most danger, it is the sneaky, manipulative predators who worm their way into the mother's affections. Instead of worrying about Muslim jihadists talking dirty from an internet café in Bagdad, young mums should worry about the fella they picked up in the nightclub who still hasn't gone home.  

Upwardly mobile professionals like the Tapas, want the best for their children, as we all do, and they know better than most how not to raise their kids to be homicidal psychopaths.  Abused children do not thrive.  In fact, most do the opposite.  They become introverted, sullen and anti social.  They don't get shown off to friends and family.  Not only is the idea that these people were abusing their own kids abhorrent, it doesn't make any sense.  Even narcissists and megalomaniacs instinctively protect their own.  The tapas group may not be likeable, but they are parents like any other. Arguably, everything they have done has been to protect their children.    

To be fair the McCanns brought the 'P' word up first - as an explanation for Madeleine's disappearance, but there is a large group among the anti's who have latched onto the statements of Yvonne Martin and the Gaspers in order to spice the story up.  It can't just be an accident, it has to be something more, and they've had 10 years to think about it.  They have made so much of so little, they have even dragged in Cliff Richard and Clement Freud. When applying 2degrees of separation logic to their research, owning property in the Algarve implicates you, as does being Irish. 

Some have spent hours poring over the McCanns holiday snaps, seeking out little signs and secret paedo messages, every Madeleine micro expression scrutinized for evidence to back up their fantastical made up stories.  They are selling the 'P' element just as much as those trying to convince us our kids are in constant danger.  They see sexual innuendo everywhere, from a little girl dressing up to men bathing small children. Hands on childcare is what 'new' men do, they give their partners a break, get over it. 

 It seems as though those who suspect there was some of paedophile convention going on in PDL in May 2007, have made a proverbial mountain out of an unconvincing molehill.  In 10 years there has been absolutely nothing to support the Yvonne Martin and Gasper statements.  The painstaking analysis and conclusions of deranged online 'researchers' with magnifying glasses, vivid imaginations and way too much time, counts for zilch, and is actually quite funny, and also a bit creepy.

I find it incredible that anyone would think a group of attractive, very sociable, middle class professionals would have any interest whatsoever in having sex with children. Why on earth would they?  They are all confident, assertive adults vying for the alpha roles among a group of equals.  Their days were filled with running and competitive sports, and their evenings were dedicated to adult time.  Given Gerry's addiction to the tennis courts (that continued after Madeleine disappeared), its quite clear where his interests on that holiday lay, and it wasn't with the kids.  Kate drew the short straw on the 'new' man front. 

It is ridiculous to suggest that doctors spent their nights abusing toddlers then put those same toddlers into the care of professional nannies (who are presumably trained to look out for that sort of thing) the next morning.  Especially a little chatterbox like Madeleine.  Hot blooded adults are interested in other hot blooded adults, ones who will watch and applaud as they 'peacock'. As Kate said 'they were so into each other'.  And no, not in a swinging sense, like any parents of small children they were desperate for the buzz of adult company. 

The idea that our suburbs are filled with gangs of paedophiles who rape and abuse kids is nonsense.  I have led an up and down life and moved a lot, yet I have never encountered, in any environment, a single person who was that way inclined, let alone a group - has anyone?  It brings to mind the hysteria in the 1980's when the creepy, now deceased, Ray Wyre convinced the establishment that the UK was overrun with groups of Satan worshipping parents sexually abusing their kids. 
 
The 'Tapas' were a group of snobby professionals out to impress each other. They were also offloading their kids at every opportunity.  And I'm not even condemning them for that.  I remember as a single mum in my thirties, sitting indoors crying because I didn't have a babysitter and I couldn't go partying with my mates from work.  Being desperate for adult company is not a crime. 

The idea that PDL is some kind of haven for child predators is a myth created by a couple in a very awkward situation and by those who saw an opportunity to boost the missing child industry.  For those politicians eager to introduce ID cards, DNA databanks and stricter surveillance of the internet, the danger to children 'everywhere' was a godsend.  Even cherubic middle class toddlers could be stolen from their safe and secure bed and the public were demanding new laws and greater protection.  Sweet. The headlines might just as well have said 'Bogeyman DOES exist, read all about it'.

Those making the most lurid accusations against the McCanns and the Tapas group are not thinking about the well being of all the children involved.  The abduction story, the suspicion, the Court cases etc, etc, make it impossible for those kids to avoid the vast amount of information available on the web.  But detailed discussion of the sordid fantasies of deranged conspiraloons is unnecessarily cruel and deeply disturbing.  All those claiming to be thinking of Madeleine should stop and consider how their words affect her brother and sister. 

As to those who think believe PDL holds some sort of annual convention for those with a penchant for devious sex, I suggest they put the glass down and walk away slowly. 

Monday 14 November 2016

GUEST BLOG - TAPAS AND MURAT

With many thanks to JJ, who always manages to sort the wheat from the chaff!
 
Which Politicians are blocking the truth?
 
Fiona Payne and Rachel Oldfield both gave written Police statements and confronted Robert Murat directly in a Police interview that they saw Murat outside 5a that night.
 
The PJ investigated this extensively and found no evidence to support him being outside 5a that night.
 
RD Hall states in his films that they had both retracted this testimony by the end of December 2007.  Tony Bennett emphasises this retraction by the end of 2007 ad nauseam.
 
How do they then explain the rogatory statements of  FP and RO  in April 2008 (note the date).  Both stating:
 
“RM came up to me shook me by the hand and said I am Robert Murat.  I noticed he had a squint and he gave us his phone number.  I am 100% sure it was Robert Murat”.
 
No ambiguity.
No genuine mistake
No chance of mistaken identity
No error.
 
But a deliberate and malicious attempt of the crime in Portugal, of calumny and in the UK, of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
 
Serious criminal offences punishable by jail terms in both countries.
 
Payne and Oldfield deliberately and maliciously implicated a man in a serious crime.  Why did they do it?  “He came up to me, shook me by the hand and introduced himself as Robert Murat. He had a squint,  he gave us his phone number.
 
Could they be any clearer?
 
There is always a concerted effort to divert attention from these actions.
 
If RD Hall/Bennett or anybody else can produce evidence, FP and RO have retracted their identity of Murat, will they produce it or apologise for misleading people.
 
Bringing the topic up with TB leads to a ban and RDH ignores all contact.
 
Ask yourself, why would “honest researchers” adopt this attitude.  Is there an agenda, or are they just plain stupid.
 
CMOMM ,Bennett and Hall have spent hundreds of hours delving into all aspects of the Smith family but key players like FP and RO are not only ignored but shielded by stating they retracted their statements by the end of December 2007 and banning any discussion of their involvement.
 
It is most unlikely Payne and Oldfield thought this strategy out for themselves which leads to the question who did, when and why.  Have the Police in the UK asked them, if not why not?
 
Their actions do not directly concern the Mccanns and surely they too must wonder at their friends actions, and if not why not?
 
Who assured Payne and Oldfield they would not be investigated for a serious crime?
 Is it a conspiracy, this is for the Police to investigate but they have had since 2008, surely an interview under caution would be worthwhile.
The Mccanns may or may not be able to shed light on Madeleine’s fate but Payne and Oldfield certainly can.  Why does nobody care/dare to ask them?
 
Four elements of this case are rarely if ever discussed.
 
Who authorised the Leics police to involve themselves in illegal
activity in PDL on Saturday 5th May 2007?
 
The role of James Landale and the BBC on the night of May3rd/4th
 
Lori Campbell deliberately lying about Murat and why Ian Woods of Sky, backed her up in the deception.
 
The blatant involvement of FP and RO in falsely accusing Murat.
 
There maybe in this case some honest diligent UK Policemen but can anybody find an honest UK Politician of any party?
 
The farce will go on. 
 
 
 
MY REPLY
 
To be honest I am not sure what the situation is with the tapas members who lied when saying Robert Murat was outside 5A on the night.  I thought they were called into the police station and had to reiterate their allegations in front of RM - face to face that is, but I'm afraid I can't remember what the outcome was.
 
I do remember that Robert Murat brought, or was going to bring, a criminal prosecution against Jane Tanner for her allegations, in any event Jane Tanner has lied about exactly what went on in the police surveillance van, ever since.  In Goncalo's book, she told the British detective  (Small, I believe) that RM was the man she saw carrying a child.  This evidence doesn't appear in the police files and she has since denied it, but RM was picked up the next day and named the first Arguido.   Other members of the Tapas group then came forward claiming that after seeing RM on the TV, they too remembered he was outside 5A on the night.  To be honest, I always thought the allegations against RM were stupid - if RM had 'just' kidnapped a child why would he hanging around outside the apartment - surely he would have been otherwise occupied?
 
I wholeheartedly agree with you about the 'researchers'.  For whatever reason, these completely incompetent idiots (psychos) have completely ignored the lives and times of the most obvious suspects outside the McCanns, that is, the ones who had the means and opportunity (if not the motive) to assist in making a child disappear, the ones disappearing from the dinner table for long intervals with valid 'child was sick' etc excuses for their absence.   
 
CMoMM and indeed Richard Hall seem to be oblivious to the most clear and obvious 'suspects' - the party of 9 who are up to the necks in it.  The entire last supper is like a badly written Whitehall farce that gives all the players a speaking part, but not necessarily in the right order, or the right place.  It is botched together.  Lines were chucked in in the hope and prayer that the audience would buy them - there wasn't any time for re-writes. 
 
Whilst Bennett and Hall are salivating at the thought of nailing Robert Murat and every outsider who had feck all to do with Madeleine's disappearance, they are ignoring the sideshow that was created to give the abduction story it's wings.  Doh!  It still doesn't appear to have registered with them that the police, both in Portugual and the UK are stuck on the collective alibi of the entire Tapas group.  Those few scribbled lines on the back of Madeleine's colouring book have held out for almost 10 years, and notably, they still haven't done a reconstruction.  Whilst Jane Tanner was pointing the police and the public in the direction of a stranger abductor, it distracted from the fact that her own partner Russell, was missing from the table during the crucial period, and she too, was flitting back and forth.  She was saying don't look at us, look at someone else, and the police, public and members of CMoMM and Richard Hall have obliged ever since. 
 
In the whole scheme of things, the Tapas group have got off relatively unscathed, despite the fact that it is their collective story that has enabled this debacle to continue for so long.  That they obviously conspired to accuse an innocent man takes evil to a whole new level, are they completely without conscience?  How do you gauge the seriousness of perverting the course of justice for a decade?  How much police time has been wasted? How much public money has spent?  What of the knock on effects, the genuine charities deprived of much needed funds, all the real, live, children deprived of much needed resources?  What of the lives destroyed, those men blasted onto the front pages of the tabloid, accused (with no evidence) of being Maddie's abductor, rapist, killer?  What of the former Portuguese detective, forced out of his job and vilified by a sneering, baying, nationalist, British media? 
 
Many thanks for bringing this subject up JJ, like yourself, I agree the Tapas group deserve, at the very least, an honourable mention. 
 
 
 
 

Friday 4 November 2016

SO WHAT HAPPENS NOW?



At some point the official investigation into Madeleine's disappearance will have to close. That may be way off in the future when the media and the public have completely lost interest in the case, or on a good day for burying bad news. That's not to say it will vanish completely - it is a simmering pot that still has the potential to demand a public inquiry at any time.  The reality is however, the Madeleine case is likely to be one of many injustices of past governments that will never be investigated.  In the whole scheme of things, this particular spider's web of corruption doesn't compare to Orgreave, Hillsborough or the mythical weapons of mass destruction that took us into war. 

In 2007, the incumbent Labour government were warming us up to the idea of ID cards, a central DNA data bank and the microchipping of newborns.  They were also looking for ways in which to access our private and confidential details legally and with our full approval.  Anyone protesting obviously having something to hide. 

The internet has grown into an out of control monster, the flow of information is shifting the power of the elite into the hands of the masses.  News cannot be contained, distorted or manipulated by media moguls conspiring with politicians, everyone now has direct access to the source.  The bare faced lies of tabloid front pages are instantly rebutted and ridiculed on social media.  Politicians are no longer distant and aloof like the Queen, they are squabbling on twitter using the vernacular of a bar room brawl.  And worse, the dishonesty we once suspected has been confirmed by the Iraq war and cases like Madeleine's

The establishment are losing control, they are no longer able to put the lid on anything.  While they may have brilliant computer geeks looking for ways in which to snoop on the public and contain information, they are probably outnumbered, and always outclassed by genius altruistic hackers, who are leaps and bounds ahead of them.  But it is not so much the technology that is holding them back, it's the ethics.  The Government need a legitimate, vote winning, reason to introduce policing on the internet.  And the quickest route to introducing draconian new laws, is to present us with a clear and present danger.   

The disappearance of Madeleine was almost tailor made to launch a new hidden enemy for the public to fear.  And the new enemy were paedophiles, lurking on every corner and hidden behind every tree, when not grooming kids on the internet.  Who knew?  The problem every government has, is finding reasons to pry on the general public.  Terrorism gives them a certain amount of access, but it is not as all encompassing as 'think of the children', When there is a threat to our children, even rational people become emotive and start surrendering their freedoms. 

Madeleine became the poster child for a movement to spread fear among the population.  If the well cared for, middle class child of responsible parents could be stolen in the night, it could happen to anyone!  Every parents' worst possible nightmare suddenly became a reality.  Very few commentators pointed out that the chances of our children being abducted were significantly less than our chances of winning the lottery but we were persuaded EVERY child was at risk. And even less pointed out that the chances of toddlers left alone in a holiday apartment having an accident, were through the roof. 

Such is life, missing children have become big business, police need more resources, charities need more cash.  The appealing, cherubic face of Madeleine and the media savvy of her articulate parents captured the public's interest (and cash) like no other.  I expect people will argue for years to come as to who was using who in the back scratching arrangements between the McCanns, the Labour Government and the media.  All were benefiting, the McCanns were spreading the abduction story, the Government were getting the go ahead to clamp down on the internet and newspapers with Madeleine stories were flying off the shelf

Arguably, the newspapers have already been punished, or at least they are being punished now as the public seek out more honest sources and opinions.  The sheer volume of live news available now, has, to put it bluntly, made lying tabloids redundant.     

However, almost 10 years have passed since Madeleine disappeared and New Labour's dream of getting us all labelled, microchipped and stored in a central data base is but a distant memory.  The new cyber enemy are the trolls, the abusers and those who use the internet to tell their local MP they are shit.  People throughout the UK (MPs especially) are fainting in shock at getting an ear full of what the electorate really think of them. One, at least, has built a panic room. 

Most of the last decade's fears have probably already happened, and without much of a whimper it must be said.  That is, hiding from the authorities or trying to protect our privacy now would be like spitting in the wind.  We are all leaving a cyber trail every time we log on and worrying about it is a fast track route to paranoia. The problem with freedom of speech and information is that it also applies to ourselves.   

But back to the case of Madeleine.  It is possible that those responsible for Madeleine's disappearance will never face trial.  Not because of some convoluted conspiracy theory that involves, freemasons, clones, paedophile rings or swingers, but the very simple (vexing) lack of that one vital piece of evidence that would bring about a prosecution.  Ie, the same reason hundreds, if not thousands, of cases the world over go 'unsolved'.  

I don't however, think the parents will ever get off scot free.  They have spent nearly 10 years in the civil courts and on the breakfast sofas fighting to 'restore' their reputations and the popularity they once had.  Yet it has all been to no avail, if anything it has turned the public against them and the millions have all gone.  Their greatest desire, an official Scotland Yard declaration of their innocence, remains out of their reach and without it, their plans to continue the search are worthless.  They have got past one police force not looking for a live child, but even spinmeister Clarence would struggle to get past two.

Some might say it is enough that those involved must live forever more with the constant thumping of that tell tale heart.  And the fear that their chain is only as strong as it's weakest link.  They are all shackled to each other whether they like it or not, that's the way pacts work.  Gerry and Kate are shackled to the goody two shoes monsters they created with his blog and her book.  Doomed to looking miserable and walking hand in hand forever more they can never have so much as a cross word, let alone get drunk and throw crockery at each other. 


When you put the case of Madeleine McCann into perspective, and many of us haven't for a very long time, there are bigger and more immediate threats to our society that affect thousands of lives.  I am sure many will continue to follow the Madeleine case out of interest, myself included, and some will continue to fight for justice by exposing the lies on twitter.  I have no doubt however, that there are genuine detectives, just like Goncalo Amaral and Steve Thomas in the Jonbenet case, who will never give up, no matter how long it takes.