Wandering Off Topic

[Venturi Swirl]

In my opinion Kate McCann's decision to include that comment in her book says far more about her than it does about the alleged incompetence of the GNR.

IMO her “Tweedledee” comment, to those who read the book without the preconceived massive  bias against her, is a non-issue, which expresses little more than the frustration that Kate felt at the time at the seemingly slow to act or understand GNR, which given the situation was perfectly understandable, even if some choose to read it as unreasonable.

[Mr Gray]

IMO her “Tweedledee” comment, to those who read the book without the preconceived massive  bias against her, is a non-issue, which expresses little more than the frustration that Kate felt at the time at the seemingly slow to act or understand GNR, which given the situation was perfectly understandable, even if some choose to read it as unreasonable.

Very well put

[Angelo222]

IMO her “Tweedledee” comment, to those who read the book without the preconceived massive  bias against her, is a non-issue, which expresses little more than the frustration that Kate felt at the time at the seemingly slow to act or understand GNR, which given the situation was perfectly understandable, even if some choose to read it as unreasonable.

I'm surprised she remembered anything about that night let alone minute details about two GNR officers whom she thought weren't doing enough to salvage the situation brought about by her own neglect.  This wasn't a one-off situation however, she then went on to refer to PJ detective Paiva as a f....ing tosser.

One has to wonder what she hoped to achieve by spouting these insults so publicly at the Portuguese police in such a premeditated manner?

[G-Unit]

But that's just your opinion...others think there is nothing wrong with it.....others think amaral book is a absolute disgrace

I'm not at all surprised that some people think there's nothing wrong with giving the police derogatory nicknames. They probably quite liked the media using terms like 'sardine munchers' to describe the Portuguese people too.

[Angelo222]

I'm not at all surprised that some people think there's nothing wrong with giving the police derogatory nicknames. They probably quite liked the media using terms like 'sardine munchers' to describe the Portuguese people too.

I believe that the crux of the problem in Portugal was xenophobic related.

[Mr Gray]

I believe that the crux of the problem in Portugal was xenophobic related.

I agree...the PJ's dislike for the English

[Angelo222]

I agree...the PJ's dislike for the English

     could you blame them?

[Mr Gray]

    could you blame them?

Yes...and it's xenophobic as you have said

[Venturi Swirl]

There is a very weird inverse racism at play in this case which I have observed from those of a British seceptic slant and it is “everything Portuguese = brilliant or at least excusable, everything British = suspect at worse, or incompetent or useless at best”. 

[Venturi Swirl]

I'm surprised she remembered anything about that night let alone minute details about two GNR officers whom she thought weren't doing enough to salvage the situation brought about by her own neglect.  This wasn't a one-off situation however, she then went on to refer to PJ detective Paiva as a f....ing tosser.

One has to wonder what she hoped to achieve by spouting these insults so publicly at the Portuguese police in such a premeditated manner?

She has every right to express herself, her feelings and frustrations in her book in any way she sees fit.  Perhaps if she’d known in advance what sensitive snowflakes some people are on behalf of the Portuguese police she might have thought twice about upsetting them.  Perhaps in the next edition we can petittion her to change Tweedledum & Tweedledee to “Crockett and Tubbs” and “f....ing tosser” to “lovely young man”. 

[Brietta]

IMO That’s because you already disliked the woman before you even read the book and read it looking for anything to reinforce your bias.  Her “Tweedledee” comment, to those who read the book without the preconceived massive  bias against her, is a non-issue, which expresses little more than the frustration that Kate felt at the time at the seemingly slow to act or understand GNR, which given the situation was perfectly understandable, even if some choose to read it as unreasonable.

Snip
It was not until about 11.10pm that two policemen arrived from the nearest town, Lagos, about five miles away.

To me they seemed bewildered and out of their depth, and I couldn't shake the images of Tweedledum and Tweedledee out of my head.

I realise how unfair this might sound, but with communication hampered by the language barrier and precious
time passing, their presence did not fill me with confidence at all.

We did not appreciate until later that these two officers were from the Guarda Nacional Republicana, or GNR, who are essentially military police, like the Gendarmes in France or Guardia Civil in Spain, run by the Interior Ministry. They deal with matters like highway patrol and crowd control, and are also responsible for law enforcement in more rural areas like the Algarve, but they do not handle criminal investigations.

At that stage, of course, we weren't familiar with the various tiers of the Portuguese police system. As far as we were concerned, they were simply "the police".   Kate McCann


In my opinion the "Tweedledum and Tweedledee affair" has been taken entirely out of context and twisted to make a big issue out of trivia.

If that is 'justification' for even a minuscule measure of the opprobrium directed at the McCanns and anyone with the slightest connection to them, it really does epitomise the dark art of making something out of nothing.  In my opinion.

[ShiningInLuz]

Snip
It was not until about 11.10pm that two policemen arrived from the nearest town, Lagos, about five miles away.

To me they seemed bewildered and out of their depth, and I couldn't shake the images of Tweedledum and Tweedledee out of my head.

I realise how unfair this might sound, but with communication hampered by the language barrier and precious
time passing, their presence did not fill me with confidence at all.

We did not appreciate until later that these two officers were from the Guarda Nacional Republicana, or GNR, who are essentially military police, like the Gendarmes in France or Guardia Civil in Spain, run by the Interior Ministry. They deal with matters like highway patrol and crowd control, and are also responsible for law enforcement in more rural areas like the Algarve, but they do not handle criminal investigations.

At that stage, of course, we weren't familiar with the various tiers of the Portuguese police system. As far as we were concerned, they were simply "the police".   Kate McCann


In my opinion the "Tweedledum and Tweedledee affair" has been taken entirely out of context and twisted to make a big issue out of trivia.

If that is 'justification' for even a minuscule measure of the opprobrium directed at the McCanns and anyone with the slightest connection to them, it really does epitomise the dark art of making something out of nothing.  In my opinion.

IMO, you have provided sufficient context to evaluate the Tweedledum and Tweedledee quote.

[Venturi Swirl]

Snip
It was not until about 11.10pm that two policemen arrived from the nearest town, Lagos, about five miles away.

To me they seemed bewildered and out of their depth, and I couldn't shake the images of Tweedledum and Tweedledee out of my head.

I realise how unfair this might sound, but with communication hampered by the language barrier and precious
time passing, their presence did not fill me with confidence at all.

We did not appreciate until later that these two officers were from the Guarda Nacional Republicana, or GNR, who are essentially military police, like the Gendarmes in France or Guardia Civil in Spain, run by the Interior Ministry. They deal with matters like highway patrol and crowd control, and are also responsible for law enforcement in more rural areas like the Algarve, but they do not handle criminal investigations.

At that stage, of course, we weren't familiar with the various tiers of the Portuguese police system. As far as we were concerned, they were simply "the police".   Kate McCann


In my opinion the "Tweedledum and Tweedledee affair" has been taken entirely out of context and twisted to make a big issue out of trivia.

If that is 'justification' for even a minuscule measure of the opprobrium directed at the McCanns and anyone with the slightest connection to them, it really does epitomise the dark art of making something out of nothing.  In my opinion.

You’re right, Kate even acknowledges that her comment may sound unfair. 

[Venturi Swirl]

You are nit-picking IMO.

"While the concepts of race and ethnicity are considered to be separate in contemporary social science, the two terms have a long history of equivalence in both popular usage and older social science literature. "Ethnicity" is often used in a sense close to one traditionally attributed to "race": the division of human groups based on qualities assumed to be essential or innate to the group (e.g. shared ancestry or shared behavior). Therefore, racism and racial discrimination are often used to describe discrimination on an ethnic or cultural basis, independent of whether these differences are described as racial. "

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism

[kizzy]

She has every right to express herself, her feelings and frustrations in her book in any way she sees fit.  Perhaps if she’d known in advance what sensitive snowflakes some people are on behalf of the Portuguese police she might have thought twice about upsetting them.  Perhaps in the next edition we can petittion her to change Tweedledum & Tweedledee to “Crockett and Tubbs” and “f....ing tosser” to “lovely young man”.

She has every right to express herself, her feelings and frustrations in her book in any way she sees fit.


Yes ....the same applies  for posters on here - who should not be called mccann bashers.

Just because they don't believe maddie was abducted.