I feel moved for the first time in my lif to respond to a newspaper article. the fact that the public can change it's attitude so quickly and be so abusive is horrfying- it says more about the subversive media manipulaion of stories than anything else. Of course I really do not want to believe (and don't ) that her parents had anything to do with her disappearanece: yes, they did a silly thing in leaving the children: but most likely all their friends did too and they would have felt the social pressure to do the same. We have left our grandchildren in hotels with the baby-listening service but do not do so since I returned to the room and found a young man outside our roms: when challenged he said he was 'looking for the stairs': the hotel did not seem the least bit concerned. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. I expect the McCann's re-live every moment of that evening. My heart goes out to them all and they are always in prayers.

Madeleine J.Cameron, Warsash, Southampton,

India Knight's article 'We are all guilty' takes a far more compassionate, orginal look at the McCann case as compared to this article. I can't agree with any of your empty, soulless sentiments. There are thousands of people I know who have dedicated their lives and time to the plight of abducted children, not just Madeleine. This type of cynical, cold writing does nothing to add to the very real torment that abducted children have to endure. Not to mention, the grief and anguish of the McCanns who have possible lost a child to the worst circumstances any of us could imagine.

Josie, Sydney, Australia

Excellent article. Infinitely more perceptive than India Knight's on the same subject which was simply a dogmatic defence of the McCanns. I thought your last paragraph said it all. Like the death of Diana, this case has aroused complex and contradictory emotions inside all of us. I still pray that the McCanns are innocent but I wouldn't put any money on it.

Simon R. Gladdish, Swansea, Wales

It has been alleged that police framed the McCanns.
This is impossible it it is true police have blood, fluid and hair evidence reliably linked to Madeleine because she is missing and has not been found so where did the police get material from her to frame the McCanns?

CL Goh, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

They do need media attention becouse that could help to find Madeline, a specially if she is in some small town abroad. There is still a slight chance that someone might recognize Madeline on the street. Let's be honest - endless advertaisings are way more annoying - but you angry at McCanns cause you just don't want to be remaind of someone's pain - how selfish!

victoria, london, UK

some people could need the McCanns guilty, ( not me, I can understand the grief ) , to make jokes about the car, or about " Mrs McCann’s seemingly infinite supply of summer tops". Others like mieke need this to blame a whole country like Portugal , and, why not? better two, Spain also, is very near.....

sal, my city, spain

Nobody yet knows what has happened to Madeleine. What we read in the press are more or less speculations.

I feel sorry for Madeleine and I feel sorry for her parents.
From all the photos of Madeleine, she seemed a smiling, happy child, a child loved by her parents.

I am am sure Madeleine's parents miss her a lot.

I hope they did not harm her. If they did, I think they did so by accident. It must be very traumatic for them. First the loss, then the feeling of guilt.

Then there are the twins. What will happen to them if their parents are sent to jail?

This story is a nightmare for everyone involved.

I feel a lot of sympathy for the McCanns.

I think nobody should judge them untill we really know what has happened.

ABK, Bardufoss, Norway

Good article - shows the dark parrallel to every aspect of this case and the ease in which the public opinion can be changed by the media. Also the first I've seen with the bottle to mention Kate McCann's beauty and its significance in this whole circus.
People, myself included, are very quick to condemn the McCanns for an unspeakable act of negligence/selfishness, but no one wants to look at the fact that had Madeleine and Kate looked like Frogmella and Waynetta, this story might not have run so long.

Kenny Thompson, Lochwinnoch, Scotland

In my opinion watching their interviews and watching them on the News their body language did not appear to agree with what they were saying when they denied they knew nothing of Madeleine's disappearance. Furthermore watching some of their later interviews the McCanns appeared to be coached on how to give an interview which even made me more suspicious. Finally all of the alleged sightings, allegations against others that never amounted to anything and theories that never held up makes me question their innocence.

Personally I am one who believes Kate McCann had a role but wonders if Gerry's role was more after the fact. Only time will tell if Kate and Gerry had a role. However I am will to be that at least Kate did.

I do not believe we want them to be guilty but want the truth to finally come out and the lies to end. The media should not have accepted the McCann's account and not given them the initial publicity while neglecting other missing children.

Brad, Leeds,

You should read up about the dingo/baby case in Australia years ago,the parents were accused of killing the child but after 4 years it was found they were telling the truth.
The media should not be the judge and jury in these cases,but seem to think they can be.

Nigel Wheatcroft, Wimbledon, UK

I for one don't need the McCanns to be guilty. If they did kill their daughter, and if they did some how manage to conceal a body for over three weeks, how on earth did they manage to then move and dispose of said body with the worlds' media following their every move?
First thing every day I check to see if this little girl has been found.I hope that very soon it will happen.

Roger T, Nottingham, UK

i think Portuguese police are doing their job the best they can, as everybody else.
If the body of Madeleine is found, Portuguese police will not be considered guilty, right?
I think that in this global world, this is not a problem of countries, I mean, which one is better, otherwise it is a problem of individuals, no matter if they are British, or Portuguese, because this could have happened to a Portuguese couple, Spanish, etc

Sonia Polo, Oviedo, Asturias, Spain

The reason why I felt uncomfortable about the 'Find Maddie' campaign and did not donate to the fund was that I was not at all convinced that a donation would help find this poor little girl.Perhaps being pessismistic by nature,I was afraid many weeks ago that Madeleine was already dead and did not feel that appeals by David Beckham or adverts at the cinema could change this.In fact I imagine that ,if she were in the hands of a paedophile,he/she would hardly be likely to take her anywhere where she might be recognised by a member of the public.All that the campaign achieved was to waste police time in wild goose chases in Morocco and Belgium.
6 weeks ago here in Switzerland a little girl called Ylenia disappeared on her way home.Her body has been found by a member of the public today in an area which the police had previously searched.I'm sure very few outside the country have heard of her .Personally,I feel that whatever the McCanns are to be pitied.

rachel, thun, switzerland

The McCanns left their children 75 long strides away from where they were eating.........

A young girl was lifted out of a bath last year in cardiff while her mother was downstairs cooking....

People with large houses will often have a child at quite a distance from the noisy kitchen.......

All these accusations and the blame is I think our protestations against our society which is sick and allows paedophiles to wander the streets even when they have been caught and found guilty.

No child is safe anywhere at any time.........

Trish Niblock, Edinburgh, Midlothian

I too have wondered - if her DNA was found in the car and they only rented it 25 days after she disappeared, how on earth can they be suspects because of that? Who rented the car in between that time and why have we heard nothing about them??
Hiding decomposing body (especially the smell!) whilst under so much media scrutiny would be impossible...

Ilana, Toronto,

An elegant, grown-up analysis that captures the prevailing mood perfectly.

David, London,

Three things cannot be long hidden: The Sun, the Moon and the Truth. Everyone will have their day to reconcile with the Truth? Examine your Judgments & Behavior and determine where they have diverged from? Madeleine is and always will be in the Grace of God.

Romulus, Earth,

My view is that Kate and Gerry Mcann are innocent until proven Guilty. They have done what any parent would have done which is to try to find their daughter. The forensic evidence as presented by the Portugese police is in my view, is open to interpretation. It could be the DNA of Kate and Gerry Mcann in the Car. They probably unwittingly hired the same vehicle that the abductor drove Madeline from the scene 25 Days later. No one has found a body which means Madeline is still alive. Their many leads for the Police still to follow up. As with the Mark Dutroux case in Belgium the authorities did not follow all leads quickly and unwittingly protected Dutroux.

Richard Lawson, Brighton, UK

It seems to me that the police in Portugal have no firm proof that the McCanns "did it", they know that the investigation was badly handled, and now thay need it wrapped up and out of their hair. So lets pin it on the parents... well, why wasn't cuddlecat taken for testing in May?, why so long til samples in the appartment were analysed?, they may have more questions for Kate, but we can question their misconduct of the case from the start.
And what of the time limit?, impossible for them to have disposed of her body and calmly go back to eat. There is endless supposition and many column inches to come.
The main thing is overlooked... Madeline.. the search should still be on ..do not forget her.

Julie, Liverpool, England

McCanns wants the be in the paper everyday. The have become media celebrities, and i'm sure the love every minute of it. They just can't get enough.

Sandra, Germany,

How many of these correspondents pray for Gerry and Kate McCann daily, as my wife and I do? They have kept a stiff upper lip in the face of the utmost adversity and now are being castigated for not breaking down. What a callous nation we have become. May God bless them both and return Madeleine safe and well to them soon

Noel, Glasgow, Scotland

For my part, I just wonder about a little girl called, Maddie: what if she has not "almost certainly died one way or another"? What if she really is in a desparate situation, longing to be found and saved - taken home to Mummy and Daddy? All this speculation...what good will it do her? She needs to be found!

Patrick Coffey, Cork, Ireland

Good article indeed, it says what most people feel right now. The all World wants/needs Madeleine back, including myself, my husband and my 2 children. Let's pray for her and for the parents, if they are innocent of any wrong doing concerning their little girl, doctors or no doctors, they are first of all parents ! As for the comment of mieke from the Netherlands, lets not forget that Ireland has tremendously benefited from the EU in the past too, as other junior members will, in the future. This is what Europe is all about.

Alice, Brussels, Belgium

I think it's fair to say that the secrecy with which this case has been dealt with has aided in the build up of frustration. The lack of facts coming from the police has led to most of us basing opinion on opinion, and said frustration has vented. Also the scale with which everyone tried to 'Find Madeline' could surely not fail, but despite her picture being on display globally and so many people able to put a name to a face, she is still missing.

Jo, Wirral,

Please God that Madeleine is still alive,that is what we all should be hoping for. All resources should be put into looking for her, and other poor children that are missing. The police have to explore all avenues of course, but it is not for us to condemn the parents, it is up to the police to prove their guilt or leave them be. Certainly the twins should not be seperated from their family,unless there becomes a need to, and this I seriously doubt.

Eileen, LINCS, UK

McCann Fatique set in with me early on, as I watched the studied portraits of Mrs McCann sitting alone on a beach or staring at a large poster of her missing child's face. After seeing a photo of the family all dressed in pink and/or green, I wondered if they were color coordinating their outfits to produce good photos. And then I was ashamed of my thoughts. Your words describe the phenomenon - "slick professionalism feels incongruous with the rawness of loss". It is this that has fueled the backlash against the McCanns most of all. The media is also culpable in accepting such unprecendented slick professionalism in a case of private family trauma. Is there such a thing as the media regulating how it, too, is being manipulated? Shouldn't the media assess the impact of whipping the public into a frenzy that can turn to resentment and hate by toning down its hysterical coverage? Thank you for an excellent piece.

Susan, Lagos, Portugal

This is just lifestyle chatter. We don't 'need' the McCanns to be guilty. We want to know the truth, and Madeleine is owed that much. In particular we need them and their friends to provide a credible account of what happened between 6:30 and 10:00 pm that day. They said they would answer all questions put to them by the police, and so far they haven't.

John B, Middlesbrough, UK

I totally agree with 'mieke, n/a, netherlands.' and have been thinking exactly the same way for some time. In future I shall be worried about visiting Portugal, not for fear of child abductors, but for fear of how I might be treated by the police should I find myself innocently involved in some 'situation'.

ange, London, UK

The McCanns sought to use the mob to help find their lost child. In their grief it seemed the best idea. But the mob needs a victim, a scapegoat. When a convenient paedophile could not be found, it turned on the police, but that too was unsatisfactory. The mob needs a victim and it needs one quickly, to satisfy its urges, as the rage and violence inherent reaches its peak. It finds an outsider, whether Portuguese, a sex offender or, eventually, the people who seem to be their leaders - the McCanns. Regardless of who is guilty, what they did and did not do (for the facts are so sparse), this is precisely what is happening here. Someone must be blamed and publicly destroyed to satisfy the bloodlust stoked in the mob. The point in jlaw and justice is that it should stand above that, and disperse the mob. Let's leave them alone until the slow, painstaking truth is unveiled, and forgive the McCanns their sorrow-driven public profile.

David, Austin, Texas

Even when we become "bored" we still have no right to judge. The basic question has to be "how would you react?". Not being an expert in having my child kidnapped I would almost certainly make mistakes in how I project myself in public, no doubt ably supported by the media whom have no interest in finding the missing child but purely in playing on everyones emotions and selling newspapers. As in many cases private thoughts (and op eds) are best kept private. Unless there are news papers to be sold.

Tim, Hong Kong,

What we really need is to find Madeleine.

Caitilin Murphy, Brussels,

The Mcanns high profile is a creation of the media.
It sold papers.
"i'm not being glib here' sounds a little like that old-standby 'i'm not racist but....."
Having exhausted one angle the media has now turned on them to pursue another. This article, though fluent, and ostensibly packaged as analysis of the nation's mood and the Mcann phenomenon, is no better than any other tabloid tittle tattle. It sells papers and is part of a culture of 'world gossip' rather than news. To compare them with The Beckhams is a particularly low-shot on the part of the author - whether they be guilty or not..... Maybe Myra Hindley and Ian Brady were the posh and Becks of their day?
"metastastise' is a great word isn't it?.. it's used early on to mark this article out as being somehow different - more elevated - than the general back-ground hum of speculation.
It's not though is it really?
..Still.. it pays for the petrol to take the kids to school doesn't it Janice?

Teidi Sands, London, UK

I think it is only because of internet immediacy that these negative venters post their venom at all. Otherwise they would have to write a letter to the editor to communicate their venom, which they would never do. They want instant release without thought or compassion, not the reflective calm that comes with putting pen to paper..

Emma H., Ottawa, CAN

Some of the comment and vilification aimed at the McCanns, hinting, but without outright accusation,that they killed their own daughter is beyond belief. It is one thing to have doubts but quite another to resort to instant judgement and vile comment.
Yes they left their children unattended, yes there may be some uncomfortable facts surrounding this case and yes I can understand that some people have their doubts given the sensationalist reporting of the dna evidence. But lets be clear here, there is no factual evidence that the McCanns had any involvement in the dissapearence of their daughter. I pray that Madeleine is found alive, but very sadly, that perhaps may not be the case. The tradgedy is that when the McCanns innocence is proven, they will still forever blame themselves for what happened and live everyday with the worst pain in their hearts. And those people who villified them will just shrug their shoulders and still believe themselves to be among the best of human beings.

norman thomson, london, england

there has been a lot of criticism of the portugese police right from the get go, especially from the british media. we read reports about how the portugese police even stopped to have lunch instead of searching for madeleine non-stop. how many children have gone missing and never found in the uk and usa where they have the highly respected scotland yard and fbi? perhaps if the portugese police had been better, then perhaps they would have found more incriminating evidence against the parents much earlier on and we all would have been saved this horrible story..., no matter the eventual outcome.

john, london, england

Hear hear Pablo from Spain! please don't forget that madeleine has not been found, dead or alive!!

louise, guildford, UK

I agree 100% with Mieke

Richard, London,

Don't be so silly, so self-obesessed. Who cares what you think, what other people think, whether it's ruined your summer. I don't "need" the McCanns to be guilty and neither do you. Why so pathetically self-indulgent? I personally don't think they are guilty at all, and you probably don't either. So until anything is proved, why don't you just put yourselves in their shoes and think about how that might feel. Then shut up. Remember Sally Clark, how she was said to have killed her children because she wanted to get back to her lawyer lifestyle? Remember the letter she wrote saying her son was a pain for not sleeping? Enough to suggest she was a murderer? Years later, we felt bad about that didn't we, saw how ridiculous it was. She's dead now and you probably thought that was terribly sad. So please, stop writing garbage because you can, have a think, have a heart, imagine it is you. Because you will feel bad later, but you'll probably never admit it.

Russell, London,

What a horrible article and don't assume that everybody DOES feel the same way that you do. There are thousands of people out there who don't need or feel the McCanns are guilty. Who don't find Mrs McCann fanciable or need to comment on her wardrobe. But rather see a mother broken by the hell of losing her daughter in such tragic circumstance. This type of article reminds me of when Lindy Chamberlain was attending court in Australia and the toad women reporters were writing snidely about her dowdy clothes. I would be very ashamed if I was you of putting my name to such a piece of writing. You must know plenty of jaded people to have given you the incentive for this piece. Thankfully, I know only people who DO care very much about this case and other abducted children. You have obviously never experienced suffering on a very deep level to write in such a superficial manner. I feel sorry for you that you have such emptiness in your soul and article.

Josie, Sydney, Australia

How utterly ridiculous, only the media and the Portugese police would like the McCanns to be guilty. Your headline belies the fact that you also seem to think it impossible that they could be guilty, when is this idiotic charade going to end? I agree with Mieke, the European Court for Human Rights should be involved, and this family should be supported by their country (including the media), not be used as a freak show.

AC, Cannington, uk

I do not need the McCanns to be guilty. I give them the benefit of every doubt and all my sympathy. I DO need my own children, nearly of child-bearing age, to know that it is never ok to leave small children alone and out of ear-shot as the McCanns say they did. I need there not to be pieces in the papers eqautaing this common-sense and widely-shared view with "wrapping children in cotton wool" and with "not letting children learn to manage risks." Three year olds and 18 month olds do not need to learn to manage the risks, which are many, of being left unattended.

j, adelaide, australia south australia

What a nightmare these parents must go through. The media rather seem to be in need of news, creating hypes and senation, reporting on speculations, rumours, blindly quoting unnamed sources that say just about anything. This article Included repeating it all, in spite of a tendancy to seeming understanding. Sure, the police should investigate every track, but should not be shooting blank in the media. It is innocence when not proven guilty. We have no "say" in this case, this is someone's life. Don't read about it when it bores you.

Loes , Montesquiou, France

"Exhausted by Mc Canns"? After all, who is writting about them? Who is publishing the new facts which change the opinion of us, silly little people? The truth is that you journalists live on writting such articles and it is cynical to blame "the crowd".

Anna Landowska, Warsaw, Poland

Very well structured and better writed piece, where I didn't found the words " justice, system, Court, law, money, Portugal, Spain..." and found once the word police. However, with all due respect to Mieke, these are the words i read in your say. With all due respect, it's not a medieval way of thinking? I mean, your way. What are you really talking about? Not of Janice's words, of Janice's way of looking, for sure. Best regards.

Manuel Tomás, Lisbon, Portugal

Some people need the McCanns to be guilty ( not me , I can understand the grief of parents who lost a child ) for dirty jokes about the car or "Mrs McCann’s seemingly infinite supply of summer tops".
Some people ,McCanns guilty or innocent , Maddie alive or not , is the same , need this page to blame, like mieke, a whole country like Portugal , better two , why not ? Spain is very near.

salva, my home, spain

What seems to have been at worst entirely overlooked or at best glossed over is that the McCanns left their children alone in their holiday apartment. If they had not then they would not be in the situation they now find themselves in, This was not a mistake on their part but a conscious act to leave their children which had presumably they had done before. It makes you wonder what other errors of judgement these doctores have made in their professional lives. If a non-professional parent living on a council estate had done likewise, then their other children would now be in care, courtesy of Social Services.

Sheila, New York

Sheila Allain, New York, USA

Perceptive article.
Interesting the jokes have started to appear in public.

Good point that would allow pent up emotions somewhere to go if Mcann's found guilty. At which point current levels of hysteria would be upped into complete frothing inferno.

Shrewdest point is that we are now, at least temporarily, allowed to mouth off - "and as that for that ffing cuddle-cat" etc

Haliborange, london, uk

I have no idea whether or not the McCann's were involved, sometimes it seems likely, sometimes impossible... nobody knows except them. Those who pour vitriol on them, or call for their children to be taken into care, take a terrible gamble as, if they are not guilty, then the critics will have to live with the fact that they tortured an already tortured family. Even IF they are guity one day the same mob will turn on someone who proves not to be. I don't need the McCanns to be found guilty, I need them to find Madelaine.

Keith, Bucks,

J from Adelaide is spot on. The lesson from all of this for parents has to be not to leave young children alone and unsupervised, all the more when you're abroad. This is by no means an insult to the McCann's, but the fact is that most parents wouldn't have done what they did....

Bobby, Birmingham, England

This piece is excellent. Encapsulates the whole thing. Definitive stuff. Well done.

Johnny, Edinburgh,

the onlt thing the Mccanns are guilty for is leaving poor madeleine, and they know that, for gods sack lets get back to finding the poor girl and get this family back to some kind of noramality.
The papers have to sell news, but at what cost i say.

Jennifer Hulme, Swinton, lancashire

it is asinine to think they killed their child.They did not have to go on vacation to Portugal to kill their daughter. If it was an accident they did not have to cover up. The police should stop looking for an easy way out.

henry, limbe , Cameroon

What a superb piece of writing.

Of course the McCanns aren't guilty, and we are all an audience at the circus. Told who to boo and when.

Anything but face the fact that any one of us could have face the demons of a child snatcher.

So very sad a story for all concerned.

phil, lowestoft, uk

The parallels with the case of Azaria Chamberlain (who was taken by a dingo at Ayers Rock in August 1980) are frightening. Compassion turned to persecution by the media, a prosecution based on manipulated forensic evidence and the wrongful imprisonment of her grieving mother Lindy. A family wrecked because people wanted her to be guilty.

Please do not let this happen again.

Anthony, London,

Good article. Portugal NEEDS the McCanns to be guilty. Think about it, high profile couple living every parents nightmare in a Portuguese holiday resort - and staying there! What has this done for the holiday trade in the area?

I'd love to see figures for holiday bookings. And I'll bet they're massively down. I'll also bet that's why the McCanns have been bullied out of Portugal by the establishment.

Rob Reynolds, Halifax, UK

My oh my! If only we could bottle all this raw emotion and use it productively. The facts are and remain that something happened to Madeline McCann one day whilst holidaying in Portugal. The rest we dont know. It is a police matter to assess what happened. As for scare mongering - ok I'm going to be honest with you - I know I would never have left those children - given their ages unattended on holiday but I have left them in the car when I paid for the pertrol. I have left them outside a shop when I nipped in for something. So I'm guilty too. Only I also know that I exposed them to far more risk crossing the road or ferrying them around in my car but I saw that as acceptable risk. We have to temper this need to find someone to blame. It dulls our senses and more importantly were I Madeline's parents and knew I was not guilty of doing her harm then I would be very worried that the focus of the investigation was turning the wrong way.

Caroline, Manchester. UK,

I don´t think so, I think the best for everybody would be finding Madeleine alive. I think everybody would be very happy, and even there would be a global party

Robert Lang, London, uk

I have to say that I agree whole heartedly with this article. It has summed up totally how I,family and friends have felt and are now feeling about this tragic event. We seem to swing from thoughts they they might be involved to thoughts that they couldn't possibly have done it!! All these thoughts are being fed to us by the media alone! they have wipped us up into this frenzied mob, which I'm afraid with the best of intentions has not been been helped by the parents and there courtship with the media.As a parent I understand totally their need to use any avenue to find Madeleine but I really feel they must stop using the media and concentrate more on a behind the scene strategy then maybe it would stop all this trial by media and concentrate on true hard facts not on pure speculation!

Sally Bewsey, Kent,

The only thing that Gerry and Kate McCann appear to be guilty of is doing whatever was within their power to find their daughter.

Jane , Northampton, England

Very well written article, but I must say, I have completely ignored this case without much effort. It's pointless, useless and just not interesting. The media certain has done almost as much damage as the captures. Yet the blame must be put on those who live to see these unfortunate stories unfold with Hollywood style presentation. It's no different when your driving in traffic and every other person has to slow down to stare at another persons misfortune.

Matt Everett, Ridgely,

A child abuse scandal was uncovered a year or so ago in Portugal. It happened in an orphanage. High-profile child abusers had preyed on the orphanage. Were all the abuse members of the sex ring arrested ?

Dick, Northern Spain, Spain

Why would portuguese police need to charge someone with killing Madeleine least of all Two people with more public simpaty than Lacie or Bambi?!? Do you really think the critics directed to them if they didn't find out what happened would be worse then they are at the moment?? After all there are children who vanished without a trace all over the world, including England, and no ones blames or points the finger at their police forces!!

Joana, Karlsruhe, Germany

Most of all, it needs closure, in what ever shape or form, but not at the expense of caring and brave parents.

Descartes, London, UK

Good article and some pathetic comments. It is amazing the power that the greedy tabloid mentality has over self-righteousness, biased minds and simplistic reasoning. And tragic the consequences.

Cecilia, Porto, Portugal

Good point. I believe many people cannot face the fact that bad things happen to good people. Many people prefer to believe that if something bad happens to you, you probably did something to deserve it. If they can convince themselves of that, they don't have to be afraid that something bad will happen to them. So it's easier for them to believe that the McCanns killed their own child, no matter how farfetched the police theory of how they hid the crime. Easier, and less frightening.

Mary, Oklahoma City, USA

we just need the true.
the most important is Madeleine.

susan, london,

Where is your compassion and humanity? For all the "inconvenience" this has caused you is it above the life of a lost child?

Alice, Brighton,

The comments expressed in this article echo those voiced by myself and many friends and work colleagues over the past week. With slack jawed amazement we have witnessed media coverage and hence public opinion swing from veneration of the McCann’s to suspicion, envy, and ugly spite. It didn't take long for the angry mob to raise their ugly heads and race to the stoning pit.

berry, chester,

May be you have a point, but not anyone needs deperately a guilty

Probably Portuguese Police need to have someone to be guilty

An some english media need The McCanns not to be guilty after what they publish with the initial suspections leaked over the MaCans.

What we all would need is Madeleine to be find alive..........

Pablo, The Northen Town, Spain

Then king David was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And thus he said as he walked, "O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!"
2 Samuel 18.33

ViscaBarca, Costa Mess, CA, Northern Cali

Nice piece of writing, if done in a high school class of essay writing 101 but as a father, grandfather and a retired pediatrician, my heart reaches out to the McCanns. They are victims and could care less about the publicity.

S. F. GUIANG, MD, Berkeley, California, USA

Media needs the McCanns to be guilty; but I and the rest of the population don't. They have nothing to be guilty about and don't need the abuse media is dumping on them. This investigation should focus on the Madeleine again.

Paul Graham, Greenwich,

The McCanns did it for a free holiday and a chance to meet the pope. Regards

Brian, Oxford,

I do not need the McCanns to be guilty. I give them the benefit of every doubt and all my sympathy. I DO need my own children, nearly of child-bearing age, to know that it is never ok to leave small children alone and out of ear-shot as the McCanns say they did. I need there not to be pieces in the papers equating this common-sense and widely-shared view with "wrapping children in cotton wool" and with "not letting children learn to manage risks." Three year olds and 18 month olds do not need to learn to manage the risks, which are many, of being left unattended.

j, adelaide, australia south australia

As a mother of a beautiful 24 year old daughter I simply cannot agree with you. I live in South Africa where we deal with enough pain, without having to question the sanctityof parenthood. I really, really, really need to know that the McCanns are innocent. If they are guilty we then we need to question so much more about parnenthood and I am not sure that parents can cope with it all. As you so clearly state already parents are changing their normal behaviour so where does 'guilty' leave us??? Do we need to pasws on another uneccessary legacy to our children?

Dawn Allen, Port Alfred, South Africa

quote : "Face it: we need the McCanns to be guilty"

With all due respect (to the Times Online), please note that I don't. Innocent untill proven guilty. Which, by the looks of it ever since May, Portuguese authorities will never manage to do. No matter their current EU-presidency, it appears their police and justice system never managed to leave medieval times behind them. They know it, you know it, we know it. Which made me think the other day it's probably high time the McCann family addresses the European Court for Human Rights, wouldn't you agree?
Next step: let's split up the European Union. If I only briefly start to remember what fortunes (money) were poured into particularly Spain and Portugal in years gone by in order to help them join "modern times", looking at the McCann ordeal now makes one speechless..., and utterly disgusted.

mieke, n/a, netherlands

What an absolutely brilliant piece of writing. Hits the nail on the head in a totally objective manner. I personally can't bring myself to believe that Madeleine's parents have anything to do with this but really hope we can find out soon, one way or the other.

Jonathan, Northampton, Northamptonshire

Is it just me or has everyone forgotten the important issue here? Where is this little girl?

Rchard Scotney, Henley,