Sunday, May 27, 2007

Brown and Madeleine

Like The Truman Show, the question about the Madeleine McCann abduction story is: how will it end? If neither Madeleine no her abductor are found, the agony of her parents will continue unabated and the media will be forced to consider when to start paying them less attention. This sounds brutal. But it is the logical consequence of the incontinent way this story has been handled. The latest development is the news that Gordon Brown has intervened to put pressure on the Portuguese police to release more information. We seem to think we know more about how to conduct these inquiries than gesticulating Johnny Foreigner, a laughable delusion. Of course, in their position, I would probably do what the McCanns are doing - seize every opportunity to keep people's minds on their predicament in the hope that it might do some good. But a ghoulish festival of 'caring' has been unleashed, which, if nothing happens, will suddenly abandon Madeleine and move on to the next occasion for self-indulgent 'concern'.

4 comments:

  1. Maybe i'm being cynical, but if Brown wasn't going to be the next PM i doubt he would have phoned them.
    He says he wants to abandon spin yet he seems to be doing it even before he's in No 10.

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  2. The Retired Ramblings of Tony Hatfield is posting trechantly about this Madeline non-reporting and more. Good on him. I expect blog bombs and the wrath of the people's universe to descend on him any moment, though last time I checked his comments were other like-minded types.

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  3. trenchantly, sorry. I think my daughter spilt something down the "n" while playing Sims, as it keeps sticking. The DVD player bit of her laptop does not work so I nobly let her borrow mine for this purpose.

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  4. Trechantly is good also. And, River, you are, of course, quite right. Brown is as much a gesture politician as Blair. As now, it seems, is the Pope.

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