Fitba Hell

Hi Rendall,

Interesting post. Brave comments on this. I wouldn’t be surprised if you get some flak for it nor me for what I am about to say. I think your main point here is about sport and politics. Let me first state that I think the argument that sport and politics should never mix is poor and weak. Politics involves moral issues ad I don’t think any walk of life, including sport, is exempt from these.

But I’d like to talk about the Madeleine case in general. Looking at it from the outside, not being in the UK I mean, it seems like the public have been whipped up into a total frenzy by the media. I think many people in Britain are under the impression that the whole world is wrapped up in this case.

Here in Spain, the case gets an occasional mention now and then. My ears prick up when anything comes on about it because I know how big the story is in the UK. But I would not be surprised at all if most Spaniards have never heard about it. And why should they have? Children go missing every year in all countries and are never seen again. Not to mention the numerous other tragedies, some of which you touched upon: terrible wars, poverty, etc. On the whole, people must be aware that there are homeless children in many parts of the world dying, being horrendously exploited and abused each day.

This is a personal tragedy for Madeleine’s family, I can’t begin to imagine what they must feel like, but why has the whole of the country taken it upon their shoulders? It reminds me in some ways of the death of Diana with the difference that we all knew who Diana was and some things about her.

Many children have gone missing in the UK before, and dare I say it been murdered, without receiving a fraction of this publicity. I think the fact that it happened abroad has been significant. I don’t know how well or badly the Portuguese police handled it but you would think that British bobbies have always been able to find missing children within the hour. It has given people an opportunity to come over all superior and to be morally indignant - things the British seem to specialise in.

The high profile campaigning at the UEFA Cup Final must have totally mystified the Spanish fans. Okay, Seville isn’t too far from Portugal but Barcelona is something like 600-700 miles away and there doesn’t seem to be a shred of concrete evidence to show she was taken to Spain in the first place. It’s a bit like a girl going missing in Cornwall and putting on a massive publicity campaign at a game in Inverness to try and find her. I can understand that Madeleine’s family will try anything and who can blame them?

But I do think it’s totally disgusting that certain tabloids have used this terrible event to cash in on free advertising for themselves. If they genuinely did not wish to profit out of it then they could help out anonymously and not have the name of their paper splashed all over those reward posters. That is an absolute disgrace in my opinion.

Fit like, Rendall?

In case you missed it, I thought you might be interested in reading this - a very good article in my view. Hope the country is gradually getting back to normal.

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/06/harry_potter_bookmarks_wont_he.html

Makes me think of adding to something I said before: I can’t begin to imagine what they must feel like... so I don't pretend to.