This is getting out of hand!

[An Gaeilgoir]

from findmadeline.com it leads with the tag line:

'Madeleine's Fund : Leaving No Stone Unturned '

Now accepting paypal apparently they have 'earned' to date:

£713,927.81.

f**k me, that amount of money has me seriously considering leaving any future kid home alone in an unlocked house.

Now how exactly is all this money helping to find Maddie? if they could detail their expenses as to what this is being spent on i wouldn't be so supicious, at the moment it looks like it is being used to fly the McCanns around 1st class and stay in 5 star hotels.

[Uladh]

The vast majority of the pr they are buying is completely wasted imho.

i mean, what is the point of some of the advertising space they have purchased at sporting events in the uk? is someone over here really gonna suddenly realise, weeks later, that they have some vital information about the claimed abduction of a small girl in another country?

added to this, i have seen maddie's aunt on the tv a few times now and to say she is not the front you would want on this campaign is understating things dramatically. she was crass and abrupt and gave the impression that she was making a personal appearance for the benefit of the media.

[down22]

They seem to be doing very well after losing a child and lets be honest about it, it was their fault that the child was "abducted". You wouldnt leave your car sitting in a strange place with the keys in the ignition and expect it to be there when you went back to check it after dinner.
What next a book deal, than a film???

They seem to be doing well after losing a child? Who are/or what you comparing them to?

I can't even begin to imagine what that's like, so I'll not pass any judgement on them. And while I do have reservations about the media using this case, it's hardly been headline news this week. It's slowly slipping of the radar. And that means they're more than likely going home without their kid. That's heartbreaking.

[SammyG]

They seem to be doing very well after losing a child and lets be honest about it, it was their fault that the child was "abducted". You wouldnt leave your car sitting in a strange place with the keys in the ignition and expect it to be there when you went back to check it after dinner.
What next a book deal, than a film???

They seem to be doing well after losing a child? Who are/or what you comparing them to?

I can't even begin to imagine what that's like, so I'll not pass any judgement on them. And while I do have reservations about the media using this case, it's hardly been headline news this week. It's slowly slipping of the radar. And that means they're more than likely going home without their kid. That's heartbreaking.

You would expect it to be heartbreaking, but they don't seem to be even upset, when they're galivanting around Europe, leaving their other kids to fend for themselves. If this was some teenage mum from a housing estate she'd be getting destroyed, by the press, not encouraged.

[Star Spangler]

I see in today's paper the McCanns are saying that over 50% of the cards they've received since their daughter went missing have been from Ireland.  Considering our population that's quite a lot of support.

[ziggysego]

I know this may sound terrible, but why is there being such a big deal made about wee Maddie? There are lots of children go missing in the world, daily in some third-world countries, but you never heard about them.

Like Sammy, Pint and others have said. If it was a teenage single mum, from a council estate or block of flats, she would have been destroyed by the press and media.

[ziggysego]

Oh. Well I apologise then. Jumped the gun a bit.

[rosnarun]

Im really beginning to suspect some of the people on this forum in the kidnapping . they seem to want the macann's to accept it straight of with an air of 'ah sure its not like its our only child' I would love to put you in their position for one day and if it didnt drive you crazy the thought that some old pervert might be giving one to you beloved child then no wonder you can't empghtize with them.
sorry for being crude but so many people seem unable unwilling to see the real picture

[Long time dead]

It would add to the pain the fact the reason some old pervert was giving your beloved child one is because of your pure and utter neglect for your child.

[Bud Wiser]

Surely the fact that people are still aware of Maddies dissapearance means that they are doing something right.  If they had gone home three weeks ago rubbing their eyes everything would have been forgotton about.  The other consideration I would give is the fact that if Maddie is being held by some pervert or paedophile ring the money is being very well spent if, during investigations being carried out due for no other reason than the McCanns persistance, some of these bastards are uncovered, even if they had nothing to do with Maddie.  Apart from one government minister travelling to the North for one day the government here have no human trafficking policy in operation and are unable to formulate even the simplest prevention methods.

[maxpower]

to be fair i think we all agree the McCann's seriously erred, and that had this been a single, mum from a council estate she would have been lambasted. but that is not the McCann's fault, the mistake they made was leaving Maddie alone (for how long we don't know). they are paying for that mistake.  

For me everything they have done since has been spot on.  If a visit to Morocco or to see the Pope keeps Maddie's story in the paper then fair play to them.  If people are willing to donate money to aid the investigation then great.  their is alot more to be uncovered here, it not just about Maddie (though it will be to the family), and if they find the abductors or associates then 700k will have been well spent. The McCann's obviously love their children very much and are prepared to go to whatever lengths to get Maddie back

Fair play to the PR machine that has kept the story in the press, yes thousands of children are missing, the very point being you could bump into anyone of them today and not know it, yet a huge number of people all over Europe would be able to identify Maddie, that gives the family a little hope.  i certainly don't begrudge them a few column inches or air time for that, and i wouldn't begrudge anyone it.  They should be answerable to Social services when this is all done and dusted

I'm a father myself, and i seriously doubt i could cope with the situation the McCanns are going through,

[Swinging Fiona]

PR is all good but why did the Mc Canns go to Germany?

[pintsofguinness]

i think a lot of people are angered by the fact that in this day and age your occupation is a factor in how much attention your missing child gets. is it just me or do an awful lot of people treat their children as a hobby?

[mooncatiii]

i think a lot of people are angered by the fact that in this day and age your occupation is a factor in how much attention your missing child gets. is it just me or do an awful lot of people treat their children as a hobby?

i think this right, because these 2 people are doctors the fact they left their child alone in a foreign apartment while they went for dinner has never been brought in to question!  had this been a young mum or a middle class citizen they would be getn ruined in the media day in day out!  and this 700,000 r so tht they have raised,i would like to know what this is being used for?

[5 Sams]

http://news.sky.com/skynews/home

Looks ominous!!!