Mrs Grub: Do I Care?

Forgive me for once again addressing questions that have been put to me in emails, but as in this case, the questions have been valid and perhaps deserving of an answer in a public forum so that both my supporters and detractors know what I am about.

Do I care that Kate McCann is reportedly close to a break down? Do I feel guilt that people such as myself may have contributed to her state of mind?

Anyone who knows me would be surprised by my answer. At the risk of sounding chauvinistic, I too, would never have thought I would have said this about a woman.

The answer to both questions is - no I don't.

Why is it that everyone is supposed to care about Gerry McCann's family except the man himself? Whichever way you look at it, the couple - and that incudes the so-called mother - repeatedly neglected three of God's most vulnerable creatures for their own selfish reasons.

But Gerry seems to care as little about his wife's welfare as he did about Madeleine's. He should be with Kate - not spending most of his waking hours fielding business calls or attending meetings. He should be by her side every minute of every day. It is his responsibility to protect her - not set her up as a target.

It was their decision to make this campaign so grotesquely high profile. A campaign that is an insult to all parents of missing children. They could have quietly remained in Portugal, letting the authorities do their job.

Oh no, not the McCanns - they had to be the stars of the whole shebang - criticising, directing and answering easy questions. They could have handled this with quiet dignity instead of treating it as some sort of video game where the aim is to create schemes to see how many points you can accumulate.

More than fifty days into the campaign, McCann is organising yet more events - regardless of his wife's health. What does it take for this man to realise that such campaigns, this far down the track, add little to the search. How the hell is a yellow ribbon tied around a tree, or pretty red balloons, going to bring back the daughter he and his wife lost?

McCann is now looking at the "Long Term" a phrase I have never before seen used by a parent in relation to a missing child. Others don't think of the long term - they hope and pray that tomorrow their child will walk through the door, safe and unharmed. But not good old Gerry and Kate.

If they wanted to consider the long term - they should have considered the long term future of their children - and took measures to ensure they actually had one. While McCann considers the long term for the campaign, how much thought has he given to what the long term may have in store for Madeleine?

What does McCann have in mind? Is the plan to make Madeleine the poster child for all missing children? Never mind all the missing children in Africa, never mind all the children stolen from the streets of Eastern Europe and sold to be used for stealing, sex and begging.

Don't use a ten year old child kidnapped by the Lord's Resistance Army and forced to execute her sister. Let the daughter of two white, western middle class professionals become the poster child. Let's make celebrities of the parents who abandoned the little mite to her fete. Let's not hear her tears. Instead, let's give a big hand to Gerry and Kate - Parental Superstars.

And this is partly what all this is about isn't it? Rich Man, Poor Man. The level of media sympathy determined by class, profession and race.

As far as I am concerned the McCanns can rot in hell.

But knowing the way they operate, no doubt they will buy their way into Heaven - helped by the BBC and the rest of the British media.

Oh yes. As for the person who responded to one of my posts, virtually ordering me to show compassion in the mistaken belief that like the British media, I am some sort of forelock touching Establishment lackie, who should show respect based on a person's school and job, rather than their ability as a human being - I do show compassion.

For a little girl, who whatever here fete - is lonely - and unable to have dinner with friends.