General discussion about the latest news (not search related)

[G-Unit]

But not enough to damage their pride and honour, certainly not in the way Amaral and the media achieved.  You and people like you who "look askance" at the McCanns usually confine your activities to internet backwaters like this one, easily overlooked and ignorable by both the McCanns and the public generally.

Do you think people in the UK knew or cared what Amaral wrote? I don't.

[Alfie]

Do you think people in the UK knew or cared what Amaral wrote? I don't.

No, but I do think the people in Portugal (the country where Madeleine went missing) did.  Without the people of Portugal on side and with their honour in ruins there it made the McCanns' search for Madeleine even more challenging than it already was.  IN MY OPINION.

[Brietta]

No, but I do think the people in Portugal (the country where Madeleine went missing) did.  Without the people of Portugal on side and with their honour in ruins there it made the McCanns' search for Madeleine even more challenging than it already was.  IN MY OPINION.

I was appalled by some of the comments under this article about a child thought to be about five with whom communication was limited and difficult who was found wandering clad in pyjamas weighted down by a soiled nappy.
http://www.dn.pt/sociedade/interior/crianca-encontrada-sozinha-e-de-pijama-junto-a-supermercado-na-amadora-8475273.html?

The criticism was huge against the parents, and it was only after about twenty odd comments that someone as disgusted as I was by that time wrote about the possibility the child had been found as he was ~ ie in a nappy at appx five and with communication difficulties ~ not as a result of neglect but because he was vulnerable.

I see the comments now number 112 ... so how that one panned out I don't know ... but although a small example it shows how many are ready to jump in with both feet without knowledge of the facts.
I think in many ways that is what happened in Madeleine's case.

[G-Unit]

No, but I do think the people in Portugal (the country where Madeleine went missing) did.  Without the people of Portugal on side and with their honour in ruins there it made the McCanns' search for Madeleine even more challenging than it already was.  IN MY OPINION.

My opinion is that leaving their children unsupervised damaged their reputation in Portugal before Amaral wrote his book.

[Alfie]

My opinion is that leaving their children unsupervised damaged their reputation in Portugal before Amaral wrote his book.

If in Portugal the act of leaving your children alone for 30 minutes at a time while you dine a 50 metres away is considered equally as damaging to one's reputation as the act of hiding your child's body and digging it up 23 days later to drive around in a car or stuff in a coffin then all I can say is - them Portuguese is a strange lot!

[G-Unit]

If in Portugal the act of leaving your children alone for 30 minutes at a time while you dine a 50 metres away is considered equally as damaging to one's reputation as the act of hiding your child's body and digging it up 23 days later to drive around in a car or stuff in a coffin then all I can say is - them Portuguese is a strange lot!

You seem to see what they did as something minor to be shrugged off. Others don't see it like that. Some think the 'circus' wouldn't have happened if the parents had guarded their children.

[Carana]

My opinion is that leaving their children unsupervised damaged their reputation in Portugal before Amaral wrote his book.

Yes, I guess it did for some. However, I haven't noticed many people commenting on who was actually looking after Amaral's young daughter who was supposedly staying with him while he was in a bar (according to his wife).

Whatever people's views on the child-minding issue, it still doesn't explain what then happened to her. Whatever anyone thinks of the parents, she is still a missing child, fate unknown.

[Eleanor]

Yes, I guess it did for some. However, I haven't noticed many people commenting on who was actually looking after Amaral's young daughter who was supposedly staying with him while he was in a bar (according to his wife).

Whatever people's views on the child-minding issue, it still doesn't explain what then happened to her. Whatever anyone thinks of the parents, she is still a missing child, fate unknown.

Yes, I have often wondered about Amaral's daughter when he was drunk in that bar.

[G-Unit]

Yes, I guess it did for some. However, I haven't noticed many people commenting on who was actually looking after Amaral's young daughter who was supposedly staying with him while he was in a bar (according to his wife).

Whatever people's views on the child-minding issue, it still doesn't explain what then happened to her. Whatever anyone thinks of the parents, she is still a missing child, fate unknown.

I was discussing whether the McCanns reputation was damaged in Portugal before Amaral wrote his book. My opinion is that it was.

[Robittybob1]

Where should they have looked?  Once the areas had been checked by the GNR tracker dogs etc where were the McCanns suppose to look?  What would have made you happy Miss Taken Identity?

[misty]

I was discussing whether the McCanns reputation was damaged in Portugal before Amaral wrote his book. My opinion is that it was.

I agree with that opinion but you have to ask the question regarding who allowed the repeated breaches of judicial secrecy which resulted in lurid headlines in the Portuguese press.

[ferryman]

I was discussing whether the McCanns reputation was damaged in Portugal before Amaral wrote his book. My opinion is that it was.

To what extent was Amaral personally and directly (ir)responsible for leaks that damaged the McCanns' reputation before he wrote his book?

In my opinion, there is sufficient evidence in the files to lay the blame directly at the door of Amaral for the Gerry not Madeleine's father slur.

[stephen25000]

To what extent was Amaral personally and directly (ir)responsible for leaks that damaged the McCanns' reputation before he wrote his book?

In my opinion, there is sufficient evidence in the files to lay the blame directly at the door of Amaral for the Gerry not Madeleine's father slur.

Have you forgotten the damage the McCann's did to their own reputation by their actions ?

[Brietta]

Have you forgotten the damage the McCann's did to their own reputation by their actions ?

WOW!  Were they responsible for the 'swinging' stories et al which were making the headlines at the time? you don't say.

[G-Unit]

I agree with that opinion but you have to ask the question regarding who allowed the repeated breaches of judicial secrecy which resulted in lurid headlines in the Portuguese press.

Only if you think that's what damaged their reputation in Portugal. Even if it was, no-one knows who did it so no-one can be blamed for 'allowing it'.