McTag,
By "clear off" I meant a combination of "go, shut up, and don't come back"
fresco wrote:McTag,
By "clear off" I meant a combination of "go, shut up, and don't come back"
There's certainly an element of that now.
In "The Scotsman" newspaper today, it is reported that tourist numbers in the town are down, families are staying away, and the "wrong sort" of tourists are being attracted.
Most of the locals will want the media circus to go away.
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1441322007
But it's hard to blame the McCanns for this. They are still the victims.
They are certainly victims of the abduction. They may also be victims of their own understandable attempts to court publicity.
Yeah. Kind of like Diana.
You can't turn away from the media when you think you've had enough, and if they can't get a positive angle, they'll try for a negative one.
Sensationalism sells.
An article I saw earlier stated that the father refused to answer 40 police questions. Perhaps without a lawyer present that is smart, but it also leaves a negative impression.
edgarblythe wrote:An article I saw earlier stated that the father refused to answer 40 police questions. Perhaps without a lawyer present that is smart, but it also leaves a negative impression.
I wonder where these stories come from. He went in to his latest interviews accompanied by his lawyer.
Also, under Portuguese law, now he is officially a suspect, he is not able to dicuss the case, and neither are the police, with anyone.
This may have been mentioned here before (sorry, haven't read every single post) but I discovered just now, on an (Oz) ABC radio interview, that once named an official suspect in Portugal, the "suspect" is then obliged to refrain from any further public comment about the case under investigation. Gagged.
The income from tourism is very important for Portugal. It accounts for over 6% of GDP. It employs nearly 18% of the work force. The people who own the resorts are very rich and very powerful and intend staying that way. Praia da Luz is specifically sold as an up market family oriented destination. But people wont go there if they have fears for their children's safety. Bookings are significantly down since the McCann affair.
What's motivating the Portuguese authorities is not so much to find the child or even solve the case but to protect their tourism revenues. When the McCanns first reported the child abducted the police only treated it as a missing person. (But the McCanns were sure someone had been in the bedroom...there was evidence, but they were not allowed to talk about it.)
When forced by the publicity of the case to treat it as possible abduction, the police named as an official suspect another Brit holiday maker. Now thats failed they are trying to pin blame on the McCann's themselves, i.e. anything[/i] to draw attention away from the obvious fact that this child was abducted in one of Portugal's best and most "family friendly" resorts. What they're doing to the McCanns is quite despicable. They tried to bully Kate McCann into some sort of "confession" by threatening to take her away from her other children. Thats failed too. Their last dirty trick is to smear their reputation by naming them as "suspects" (of what crime no one knows) and threatening worse unless they left Portugal.
Now they're back in UK without Madeleine but still gagged because of their "official suspect" status. The only thing officially suspect is the dreadful way in which the Portuguese are prepared to do anything including blackening the name of grieving parents to protect their tourist income.
Steve 41oo wrote:The income from tourism is very important for Portugal. It accounts for over 6% of GDP. It employs nearly 18% of the work force. The people who own the resorts are very rich and very powerful and intend staying that way. Praia da Luz is specifically sold as an up market family oriented destination. But people wont go there if they have fears for their children's safety. Bookings are significantly down since the McCann affair.
Steve, I got the impression, via a couple of (Oz) ABC radio news items & a lengthy interview today, that there had already been a fairly significant drop in families choosing Praia da Luz as their holiday destination.
People are tending to choose sides, rather than allowing the legal process play out. It's an emotional issue. I guess that's natural.
I don't know about that, edgar. If the Portuguese police had solid grounds to detain the parents, surely they would have done so? Declaring them as "suspects", which means they can't defend themselves or discuss the case publicly, seems rather hard.
msolga wrote:Steve 41oo wrote:The income from tourism is very important for Portugal. It accounts for over 6% of GDP. It employs nearly 18% of the work force. The people who own the resorts are very rich and very powerful and intend staying that way. Praia da Luz is specifically sold as an up market family oriented destination. But people wont go there if they have fears for their children's safety. Bookings are significantly down since the McCann affair.
Steve, I got the impression, via a couple of (Oz) ABC radio news items & a lengthy interview today, that there had already been a fairly significant drop in families choosing Praia da Luz as their holiday destination.
Well are you surprised? But people might think differently about PDL and Portugal if the McCanns can be implicated in the disappearance of their own daughter, rather than a predator abductor on the loose. Even if they can never get any evidence, leaving them hanging long enough as "official suspects" will draw some of the heat. People will start to conclude that there is no smoke without fire. Its a despicable cruel and wicked thing to do, but money talks.
Rather hard, but, we are talking the disappearance of a little girl. Can't allow sympathy to overrule all else. If there was no evidence against the parents there would be no suspicion. There can be evidence, without there being enough of it to bring charges. They possibly tried to develop their case without naming them, but finally made the move, hoping to dislodge new facts. Why would the authorities want to upset everyone without any cause?
edgarblythe wrote:Rather hard, but, we are talking the disappearance of a little girl. Can't allow sympathy to overrule all else. If there was no evidence against the parents there would be no suspicion. There can be evidence, without there being enough of it to bring charges. They possibly tried to develop their case without naming them, but finally made the move, hoping to dislodge new facts. Why would the authorities want to upset everyone without any cause?
you make the (reasonable but erroneous) assumption that the police are interested in the truth.
I guess I treat the media speculation in these sorts of cases with a healthy dose of scepticism following the Azaria Chamberlain fiasco in Australia, some years ago. There was so much prejudice, so much innuendo in the Oz community - everyone seemed to have a theory on how the baby died & Lindy Chamberlain's part in it, from witchcraft, strange religious practices, to "baby sacrifices", whatever .... and they were all proved completely wrong. Some of the things being said about the McCanns, particularly the mother, are similar to what was being said about Lindy Chamberlain at the time: Why is she so calm? Why is she not appearing more distressed at the loss of her baby? How come she (Lindy Chamberlain) was wearing a different dress to court each day & taking care with her appearance? Surely she was not behaving in the correct way for someone in her situation? All of this lead a lot of folk to assume that she must be guilty. It took ages & months in jail before she was eventually cleared of the wrongful charge. This is the sort of treatment that can ruin peoples' lives. Surely the McCanns have a right to be considered innocent until/if some water-tight evidence to the contrary is presented through the legal process? At the moment it appears that the Portuguese police do not to have a proper case against them, but are still able to declare them "suspects".
Steve 41oo wrote:you make the (reasonable but erroneous) assumption that the police are interested in the truth.
Okay. So let'ss wait what will happen when they hand their case file on the disappearance to the public prosecutor's office.
msolga wrote: At the moment it appears that the Portuguese police do not to have a proper case against them, but are still able to declare them "suspects".
As a few media (but most outside the UK) mentioned, the term "suspect" in Portuguese law (as well as other countries outside the "Westminster law system") just means ..... more rights for the the interviewed (and the police).
Naming them as formal suspects and getting them out of Portugal suits the police fine. They can sit back, give up looking for Madeleine, point the finger at the McCanns who cannot speak out, and work with the local tourist board in telling the world what a wonderful place is Praia da Luz.
Steve 41oo wrote:Naming them as formal suspects and getting them out of Portugal suits the police fine. They can sit back, give up looking for Madeleine, point the finger at the McCanns who cannot speak out, and work with the local tourist board in telling the world what a wonderful place is Praia da Luz.
Well, that's one opinion.
