Dunno if this subject can be classed as "New"... but then again, the whole issue of the vanishing child in Portugal has been quiet recently, so...
Dunno if this is a subject for a political site, except that the issues could well have a political knock-on effect.

Madeleine McCann - a pretty little girl - disappeared over 6 months ago. Terrible. What has happened to her?
Well, on the news this lunch time, a "friend" of the McCanns came forward and said that she thinks she saw someone carrying Madeleine away from the apartment on the night she apparently went missing. She said she has said nothing before because of Portugese law.
Right, background precis over... I feel sure that you will all know the general gist of this on-going saga. It's now comments time.
1. Am I on my own in thinking that this whole issue has a very fishy smell to it?

- The Portugese police would appear to have made a pig's ear out of the original investigation, or is this what we are meant to believe?
- The press and media coverage may be enormously misleading about the whole thing - or there may be a great deal they are not allowed to tell us.
- A lot of people have got very hooked up on Kate McCann's apparent calm presentation - why? Why are they hooked up on it and why is she seemingly so calm?

As far as I can see, we have: a) 3 very young children left in an apartment alone whilst their parents went out to dinner with friends.
b) The parents apparently refused to take advantage of the on-site baby-sitting/listening service.
c) The parents say that they were near enough to pop back and check ... so why didn't they? And if they did, was it frequent? How did they manage to eat if it were frequent? And more importantly, how did an "abductor" manage to get in and remove Madeleine if it were frequent?
d) The concept of popping back to check is illogical. Bear in mind we are looking at 2 doctors here as the parents... not short of an ounce or 2 of intelligence one would think - yet, in the time the children were unattended they were at risk from electrical sockets, falling out of the window, choking on vomit, falling against furniture, and, of course, abduction. None of which seem to have been considered by Mummy and Daddy as they left them.

- What was the trace of blood in the apartment? What was the issue of bodily fluids from Madeleine in a car that had been hired so long after she had gone missing? How come we were told this when the Portugese law puts such an emphasis on silence? Or is this media mischief yet again?

So as I said, am I on my own in thinking this smells?
OR
2. Am I over cautious and at the same time lacking in sympathetic empathy?

- I would be reluctant to use a baby-sitting service where the children don't know their carers. So I wouldn't have left them!
- I imagine that "innocent" parents who lose a child in this way would be subsumed with guilt and misery, so if this is the real McCanns then my heart should/would go out to them.
- If I lost a child in such a way I would like to think that I would move heaven and earth to try and find her. The 'but' here is that if I had very young twins too I would be terrified of letting them out of my sight and doubt I would leave them in Portugese creches and with other people while I paraded in front of the press.
- There are plenty of people who would not "go to pieces" in public, but it must be very very hard to keep all emotions so completely under control.

I do hope that Madeleine is safe and well and can be returned home before too much longer ... but...! Does anyone else feel like me? And what does all this say about this country's attitude to Child Protection?

Most parents make mistakes but are lucky that nothing happens. The McCanns are trained doctors so are used to keeping control of their emotions. Anyway no one knows how they would react to their worse nightmare. They were probably lulled in to a false sense of security, we are not told how dangerous Portugal is, it's amongst the five most dangerous countries for children in the world. The police officer in charge of the investigation is on a charge of beating up another woman who would not admit she had killed her missing child!! Plus the fact that the locals could see their tourist trade being damaged.We do not know what happened so why do so many feel they have to add to the misery of these people? I think your reaction to the mystery probably says far more about you than it does the McCanns