Just noticed this on the BBC website this morning, and was a bit surprised that anyone would think this was a good idea, and not spectacularly tasteless.

this? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11754319

All proceeds from the book will go to the fund to look for Madeleine, which has been at risk of running out

Publishing this book has been a very difficult decision and is one that we have taken after much deliberation and with a very heavy heart.

“However, in the last few months, with the depletion of Madeleine’s Fund, it is a decision that has virtually been taken out of our hands.

“Every penny we raise through its sales will be spent on our search for Madeleine. Nothing is more important to us than finding our little girl.”

What would you do as a parent give up or sell up?
I know which I would do

I don’t see why its tastless? As junkyard says what choice to they have.

Dad “Oh dear we’ve run out of cash to hunt for our missing baby. “
Mum “Well darling we could write a book about our tale of woe and hopefully cash in on the feelings of the nation”
Dad “No I don’t think thats a good idea, I would rather that she carried on suffering at the hands of her captors than appear tasteless to a few snobby ****ts on STW”

Seems a strange thing to want to read a book about, but can’t blame the McCanns for writing/publishing it.

As above, if they’ve got no more cash then what else to do ?

They might as well cash in on the Diana Syndrome if some good might come of it.

theres a whole section (the same size as crime) in wh smiths entitled

TRAGIC LIFE STORIES

a certain type of person loves that stuff. very unsettling.

All depends on your view of the McCanns really. If you believe they were totally innocent in what happened then it’s a very logical and reasonbale step. If you believe they were responsible then obviously it isn’t. Trouble is the truth is probably somewhere in the murky area between the two, they did after all leave a young child alone whilst they went out which given the publicity they’ve generated (which is fine context of promoting the search) sticks a little in most peoples throats.

What would you do as a parent give up or sell up?

Sell up but maybe do it with a little more humility. Mind you if they had been more likeable people then the whole thing would have been forgotten ages ago, could be argued that the way they have portrayed themselves is justified in so much as it’s kept the story / search alive this long.

In the circumstances of the fund running out of money I can follow their actions, notice the website talks about rights to a book being bought by a publishing house, so the actual book might not appear for many years, if ever.

bit surprised that anyone would think this was a good idea, and not spectacularly tasteless.

Book tasteless? Nah.
If they’d decided to retell the experience as a comic musical then yeah, THAT would be tasteless.

…if they had been more likeable people then the whole thing would have been forgotten ages ago…

Ditto if she had not been a pretty little white girl.

Trouble is the truth is probably somewhere in the murky area between the two,

This is a load of rubbish. It’s a well known logical fallacy. Please do not use it, it’s terribly unfair and nasty in this context. They either did or didn’t abduct/kill her, how can it be somewhere between? They may be guilty of neglect but this is a different issue.

@ toys19 – guess you have no sense of irony about replying to my perceived snobbery with a good dollop of self-righteousness. I’m not really clear how what I wrote could be classed as ‘snobbery’, although I’d admit it runs the risk of being judgemental.

It was actually a serious question – after this amount of time, they’re unlikely to get a definitive answer on what happened to their daughter and in the meantime, they have two other children who are just as important as their missing daughter. Generating income to finance the ‘quest for Maddie’ will keep the whole circus trundling along, fuelled by an understandable unwillingness to accept the statistical realities that their daughter is, in all probability, dead and has been for some time.

In other situations, I’d be tempted to decide it was none of my business, but they’ve chosen to make it national news.

They might also think that if they don’t write their side of the story, it is the tabloid one that will be remembered ?

Meant to be cathartic writing a memoir too, so says Graeme Obree* at the end of his book. Perhaps this is a step towards moving on.

I feel sorry for them, they are a little bit damned if they do and damned if they don’t.

*Cyclist – World Famous in Scotland

Mind you if they had been more likeable people then the whole thing would have been forgotten ages ago

I’ve never met them, so have no idea if they are likeable or not. If the papers portraying them as unlikeable then maybe this is a reflection on what sells papers rather than them.

they did after all leave a young child alone whilst they went out which given the publicity they’ve generated (which is fine context of promoting the search) sticks a little in most peoples throats.

I suspect a very large number of parents have done likewise.

It perhaps wasn’t “perfect parenting” but the idea that they somehow deserved it for leaving their daughter alone, sticks in my throat far more!

@ toys19 – guess you have no sense of irony about replying to my perceived snobbery with a good dollop of self-righteousness. I’m not really clear how what I wrote could be classed as ‘snobbery’, although I’d admit it runs the risk of being judgemental.

Just because I called you a snob doesn’t mean I’m not one. Secondly you seem to think self-righteousness is a flaw? I think you run the risk of being a ****t, in fact everything you have posted so far confirms this. I would hazard a guess that you don’t have kids, because I would never give up looking. They might find her and her rescue may well depend on the parents continued insistence to keep this afloat.

I was tempted to dismiss this as a troll but I think it’s more serious than that. I cannot believe anyone would condemn someone for wanting to find their missing child, no matter how you go about it, likeable or not. They will only deserve condemnation if it transpires they did abduct/kill her, but given that no evidence was found and there are no witnesses I don’t see this as likely. I for one prefer to uphold the British justice system of innocent until proven guilty.

Meant to be cathartic writing a memoir too, so says Graeme Obree* at the end of his book. Perhaps this is a step towards moving on.

fair point that – I guess I overlooked it in responding to the rationale given on the BBC website, which might not be entirely representative of their thinking.

I deliberately didn’t go near the ‘did they/didn’t they’ side of the story – it’s very hard to assess that give the degree to which media outlets can spin stories, and I still remember the way Colin Stagg was demonised in the media, and the Daily Mail in particular, prior to being completely exonerated when his case came to an actual court of law.

If I were in their position and somebody kindly informed me that I have two other children who are equally important (with the inference that I should give up on the missing child) I might be inclined to tell them to FO.

I think these people have been let down by the police force in Portugal. How the hell are they supposed to do anything other than carry on with their search? I know I would.

its probably a better idea and less tasteless than leaving their kids unattended in a hotel room in the first place

Sorry but I have little sympathy for the McCanns, whilst it is a terrible thing to have happened to anyone, had they been better parents in the first instance there would be no need for a fund or a book

GrahamS – There’s a big difference between ‘They deserved it’ and ‘they were culpable in their negligence’.

Plus the fact they and their friends lied to the rozzers at the outset to appear a little more caring, and less like the worst parents in the world. The first few hours of the search may have gone slightly differently, and who knows what may have happened?

I can’t see how they would spin this out in print to keep the readers sympathy. I’ll give it a miss on balance.

Ditto if she had not been a pretty little white girl.

MTG – You sound like that mad bitch who faked the kidnap of her own daughter as a moneymaking wheeze on the back of the McCanns fundraising efforts. She kept banging on how they were poorly treated because they were scumbags. And look how that turned out.

Every single thing about this whole case is just plain nasty.

The fact that small kids go missing is awful enough but then there are some people out there that have publicly accused the McCanns of doing the deed. Absolutely disgraceful if you ask me.

We also have the creepy willingness of the media to perpetuate the story, fanning the flames of the McCanns hopes and fears when it is pretty obvious to all that this little Girl ain’t coming back. If the freak who took her in the first place had any doubts about keeping her they would have been very quickly resolved when he realised he would become the subject of an international trial by media and subsequent vilification across the western world.

Then there is the prospect of the tens of thousands of other kids who have gone missing since Maddy did and where is their fund? I think this is a prime example of how utterly soulless our mass media can be and I am pretty sure the only people involved in this whole matter who sleep like babies are the journos who have done so well out of the whole affair.

All depends on your view of the McCanns really. If you believe they were totally innocent in what happened

until proven guilty.

I think these people have been let down by the police force in Portugal.

In what way?

you seem to think self-righteousness is a flaw?

LOL – thank you, I have my quote of the week.

At the end of the day they left their children unattended in a hotel room while they got pissed in a bar. If they hadn’t been middle class and white they’d be facing neglect charges. horrible people, such a shame that a totally innocent girl has been abducted and probably killed because of their neglect.

At the end of the day they left their children unattended in a hotel room while they got pissed in a bar. If they hadn’t been middle class and white they’d be facing neglect charges. horrible people, such a shame that a totally innocent girl has been abducted and probably killed because of their neglect.

WTF??? Are you completely insane?? Their daughter would not have been abducted if some pervert had not chosen to abduct her.

It all rather depends on what’s in the book, doesn’t it? I could see how it could be tasteless cashing in or an intelligent book about loss and guilt.

WTF??? Are you completely insane?? Their daughter would not have been abducted if some pervert had not chosen to abduct her.

but she definitely wouldn’t of been abducted if they’d been in the hotel room with them would she?

The person(s) who did the deed obviously want stringing up, but the McCanns are just as culpable IMO

@higgo – I think they were let down by the police when the lead investigator publicly declares he thinks they did it! No evidence for this, otherwise they would have been convicted. In a tabloid society, I’m sure they lost a lot of support when that happened.

I think they were incredibly self-centered to leave the kids alone but I have a feeling they have enough guilt in their lives.

At the end of the day they left their children unattended in a hotel room while they got pissed in a bar. If they hadn’t been middle class and white they’d be facing neglect charges. horrible people, such a shame that a totally innocent girl has been abducted and probably killed because of their neglect.

I don’t think this is “at the end of the day”, at the end of the day a child is missing, fine have your witch hunt, but it’s not as important as the fact that a child is missing…

Just as another factor in all this, consider the games that Ian Huntly has played with Keith Bennett’s family for about 40 years now. I saw a brief interview with Mrs Bennett on tv a couple of years ago and it was a terrible thing to watch someone completely broken by their long drawn out torture.

In that light, how long do the McCann’s pursue this before they, and their remaining children, are broken beyond any healing?

toys19 I totally agree. thats why this is so sad. a girl is missing and it could of very easily been prevented.

but the McCanns are just as culpable IMO

Then you sir are clearly a little hard of thinking. What about the little girl who was snatched from the bath in her parents house around the same time? Were they guilty for not locking the windows to their house or not staying with their child for every conceivable moment of the day?

They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I am sure every hotel on the continent has at least one unsupervised child within its walls somewhere.

I hope that bad luck never finds you in the same way as it has found the McCanns.

I don’t think the McCanns did it, but I do think their parenting leaves a

lot

to be desired, and they have displayed huge arrogance over the whole affair (not based on tabloid reports, but based on interviews I have seen).

ditch_jockey – Member

Just as another factor in all this, consider the games that Ian Huntly has played with Keith Bennett’s family for about 40 years now. I saw a brief interview with Mrs Bennett on tv a couple of years ago and it was a terrible thing to watch someone completely broken by their long drawn out torture.

In that light, how long do the McCann’s pursue this before they, and their remaining children, are broken beyond any healing?

More crap missives..

a) Ian Huntley Brady. Fixed that for ya.
b) It isnt a factor in any of this, a child is missing, I would be broken as it is, I’d keep looking no matter what or how long, you are still a ****t.

GrahamS – There’s a big difference between ‘They deserved it’ and ‘they were culpable in their negligence’.

Sounds pretty similar to me, and a lot of the other posters definitely seem to tip towards the “they deserved it” mentality.

I take it you were all brought up by parents who watched you every second and were never more than 120 meters away from you at any time? Well done. Not every parent is so perfect, but I don’t really think that means they deserve to have their children taken or should be any less deserving of sympathy and compassion.

Not every parent is so perfect, but I don’t really think that means they deserve to have their children taken or should be any less deserving of sympathy and compassion.

+1

theres a whole section (the same size as crime) in wh smiths entitled

TRAGIC LIFE STORIES

I always find that section a bit creepy – it’s the way all of the books seem to have a generic cover – a white background with a black and white photo (normally of a child) on the front, and the title in a handwritten-style font in a bold colour.

Torminalis , are you stupid? Of course sometimes there’s nothing you can do to avoid a tragedy, and if that happens its no doubt heartbreaking. AS I’m sure the McCanns were heartbroken. BUT, THEY LEFT THEIR CHILDREN TOTALLY UNATTENDED IN AN UNLOCKED APARTMENT FFS.

I am sure every hotel on the continent has at least one unsupervised child within its walls somewhere

That doesn’t make it right though does it.

I hope that bad luck never finds you in the same way as it has found the McCanns

Bad Luck, and Bad Parenting.