Madeleine News and Déjà vu: Daily Express

Yesterday I suffered from a serious episode of "Déjà vu".

Either that, or the front page story of the Express Newspaper, "Madeleine Search Wrecked Our Life", wasn't news. I could have sworn I'd read about a letter written by Mr. Amaral's wife to Kate McCann some months ago. So I Googled to convince myself I wasn't going nuts. I was right! It didn't take me long to find that this was reported in September 2008, a year ago.

Mr. Amaral, of course was the Portuguese police officer who was removed from the case after effectively accusing the British police and authorities of hindering the Portuguese investigation.

I re-read the letter, by Mrs. Sofia Amaral which can easily be found on the internet [I've also pasted the text below] and again questioned my sanity. Did Mrs. Amaral actually write two different letters to Kate McCann? I wonder, because the Express journalist, James Murray, seems to be referring to a comletely different letter to the one I've read.

Here's a copy of the full text of the letter from Sofia Leal Amaral to Kate McCann (Healy), from Sep 2008:

 Open letter to Mrs Kate Healy

Dear Madam,

You will forgive my boldness, but after I read your comment [in an interview to Expresso newspaper] concerning Gonçalo Amaral, my husband and the father of my daughters, I cannot avoid sending you these words of gratefulness. For many years, I have been trying to make myself heard in this sentiment that unites us both: "…as a professional and as a person his behaviour has been a disgrace."

Look at it closely:

a) Professionally

- As a Coordinator of Criminal Investigation for the Polícia Judiciária, my husband has always refused to sit around from 9 to 5 in the comfortable chair in his office, as his hierarchical status implies. Instead, he spent the day (and very often, the night) with the investigators on the terrain, coordinating searches, surveillances, apprehensions and other diligences 'in loco'. A disgrace!

But if it was only the fact that he was subject to the weather, it wouldn't be serious, as our climate is not too bad, as you know. The problem is that this dedication to the cause has earned him a non promotion in his career. Indeed, I will explain this to you, even because this case happened when the searches for your daughter were under way. My husband applied to the category of Superior Coordinator, and in between drug apprehensions, sequestrations and homicides, he somehow managed to produce a thesis about drug trafficking by sea, which he defended in Lisbon, in front of a Jury that congratulated him. Full of hope, Gonçalo Amaral returns to the Algarve and awaits the result. To his surprise, he was passed over by other colleagues (real coordinators, truth be told), because he had not been able to score points in the "professional formation" parameter. That's right, Mrs Kate, my husband spent his life working, involved in complex investigations, he was the man who apprehended the highest volumes of drugs in Portugal, but given the fact that he had no time to go to Lisbon to parade himself up and down the corridors of the PJ's Institute, he was not promoted. A disgrace, madam, a disgrace!

Dickens-Style Poverty or Just Bad Parents?

This morning I read an article on the Sky News Website, Kids Still Living In Dickens-Style Poverty.

I'm just not getting it. Not from a money angle, anyway.

When it comes to money, I'm just about the poorest of the poor. My sole income at the moment is from state benefits.

But really, what direct connection is there between parents' income and children's toilet training?
I really can't understand why being poor means that kids can only eat with a spoon.
Nor how it affects whether or not they know who the "father-figure" is at home from one month to the next.

That's got nothing to do with money. That's just the result of bad parenting.


I am pleased, however, to see that  Leslie Ward of the Association of Teacher and Lecturers can see beyond the money aspects:

"The best way to raise achievement in schools is to get rid of poverty - not just financial but aspirational and emotional,"

She has hit the nail on the head. The problems children are most likely to face are, as she says, aspirational and emotional poverty. It's a culture. The root of all evil is not money. It's bad parenting.

Jordan & Andre Officially Divorced

So, there we have it. What a disaster. All those vows, all those forevers lasted just 3 years. Makes a mockery of marriage, really, doesn't it?

What's even worse is how Katie Price, according to the press, is talking about marrying her latest beau before Christmas.

Is she completely insane? Has she learned nothing? Is she going to make ever-lasting vows again? Within months of her divorce? Utter stupidity. Unless it's all part of a cunning plan, of course. A money-making, publicity stunt.

Jordan, the glamour model, was perhaps not attracting the type of attention she craved whilst being a married Mum-of-3. Maybe she felt she'd taken the "Katie Price and Peter Andre" product as far as it would go. Time for a new strategy, Katie?

My advice to Katie Price: Yeah, have fun. But remember, above all, you are a Mother. Learn from your mistakes and do not be so air-headed as to get married again so soon. Look what happened last time. Don't you think it would be better to actually get to know your boyfriend for a few years before deciding you want to spend "the rest of your life" with him? Or is it a case of  "oh well, divorces are quick and easy these days, so what the heck, let's try it?"

There are other ways to attract attention and publicity, you know. It doesn't have to be just about your relationships and your boobs. You're obviously already well-known. Why not try something which would have a positive affect on society? Use the brain that's in your head somewhere. I know it's in there.

Sir Terry Wogan Quitting BBC R2 Breakfast Show

Bad News: This morning, Sir Terry Wogan [Left] announced that he will be leaving the BBC Radio 2 breakfast show at the end of this year. That's not good news for listeners.

Even worse news, though, is that Chris Evans will be taking over. So I will no longer be listening to to R2 in the mornings. 'll be parting company with Radio 2, along with Wogan.

What the hell are the BBC thinking of? Who's bright idea was it to replace Wogan with Evans? Chalk and cheese. (Where did that expression come from,anyway? Why chalk? Why cheese?)

I haven't always been a fan of Terry Wogan. When I was younger, I didn't appreciate his humour. But during the last few years - perhaps since hitting my thirties, I've grown very fond of his morning radio show. He makes me chuckle - not many people can do that to me in the morning! I've realised that appreciation of  Wogan requires a certain level of maturity.

However, I don't believe I'll ever "grow into" Chris Evans [Right] . He has to be one of the most over-rated, untalented, irritating presenters I've ever listened to. Not just on the radio, but on the television too. He is immensely immature, thinks far too much of himself and I really don't get what's supposed to be entertaining about him.

This is a very sad day for BBC R2.

Megrahi, Oil, Libya, Gaddafi, Politics and Hey Presto: BP.

The news has been awash with stories about Megrahi, alleged UK Government interference in his release on "compassionate grounds", Libya, Oil and Gaddafi. Gordon Brown and Jack Straw have come under immense pressure to disclose details of oil-related-deals which may or may not have been made.

And hey presto! BP suddenly announce a huge oil discovery. What an amazing coincidence that would seem to be. I wonder exactly when this giant oil discovery was actually made? Impeccable timing, eh?

Photo: AP/Transocean

Broken Families; Broken Britain. Part 3: Treading Water

To be honest,I can't be bothered to fill in the gaps between graduating and now. Suffice to say that my daughter got to school age. I was utterly broke - no, in debt, by the time I left university (who, but the very fortunate, isn't?) and I was finding it nigh on impossible to get a job which was term-time only, school hours only and with a company that would be reasonable and understanding about my single-parenthood-related lack of punctuality and unavoidable days off.

I went for a handful of interviews. Shop jobs, reception work, that type of thing.  I had a hard time trying to convince the interviewers that I wanted to work in e.g. a shop (I didn't). Why I particularly wanted to work for that company (I didn't). How, after doing a degree and a Master's, I would keep myself from being bored in this new job (I wouldn't be able to). Oh, I know that of course you have to give all the "right" answers and look genuinely keen and interested. But however convincing I thought I'd been, I didn't get any of the jobs.

I live in a small town. There are no opportunities here for me to use my degree. And for reasons I haven't got time to go into right now, I can't move out of the area. I really hadn't realised how hard it would be to find a job with hours I could actually work. And please, do not even utter that T word to me.  Some people are meant to be teachers. I am not one of them. There are 2 things I really struggle with more than the average person. 1. Customer service. 2. Kids.   
Yes, I know, how can I say that I struggle with kids when I'm a parent myself? The difference between my kid and other people's kids is that I love mine. There are a lot of great children around. I am very fond of some of them. But some kids are just plain horrible. More to the point (and probably the main reason), the parents are awful. And it makes me so angry when kids turn out bad because of rotten parenting. It makes me angry but equally, it saddens and frustrates me. I won't go on, but just accept that teaching and I would not mix well.

So, right now, I'm treading water. I'm going nowhere. Just struggling to stay afloat. It's not easy. It's not the way I intended my life to be. I'm skint. I'm totally socially isolated. I don't have a social life of any description. But my daughter is a happy, well-behaved, polite, kind and caring girl. She's clever, funny and (of course) beautiful.

I might not be employed. I know I'm costing the tax-payer money - I'm sorry to all you people who do go to work and do pay your taxes. I know that I'm now a financial burden on society. But just remember one thing. I am working so hard on bringing my daughter up to have consideration for others, to be a responsible, law-respecting, kind person. (And believe me, she's very smart with it). Surely that counts for something? Doesn't that equate to some sort of investment?

Broken Families; Broken Britain. Part 2: Swimming Against The Tide

For a year, I continued working and looking after my baby on my own. It was tough as hell. I was getting up continuously throughout the night. I got virtually no sleep - a fragmented couple of hours if I was lucky. I was forever having to call in to work, apologising that I couldn't make my shift because my daughter was e.g. teething/had a temperature/upset tummy and I couldn't take her to the creche. The company I worked for were very good, I have to say. They often allowed me to make up the time, by working through my breaks and starting earlier or finishing later. On the odd occasion that I could get a babysitter at the weekend, I went in to work to catch up on missed hours or days. 

My one-bedroomed flat was very cramped. I hadn't realised just how much space a baby could take up, with all the necessary paraphenalia. On my salary, I had no chance of being able to afford anywhere bigger. I was getting into debt already. I was also very stressed and very, very tired.


When rumours starting to filter through the company grapevine that a relocation was on the cards, I wasn't too concerned. I didn't mind my job, but it wasn't what I wanted to do with my life. It was a stop-gap; something I just "fell into". It wasn't the career I'd always dreamed of and imagined I would have. So I decided that it was "now or never" and, against the wishes and advice of everyone who cared to voice their opinion, I resigned from my job and went to university, full time. I thought this was the way forward. I thought that if I got a degree, I'd get a better paid and more interesting job.
 
To fund myself and pay for childcare, I sold my property and moved into a rented place.
University was a real eye opener. Yes, academically I gained valuable knowledge and skills. (Well, the value of those skills has in fact become rather questionable).  But I was also educated in the politics of academia. University life. The nuts and bolts of higher education. I didn't like what I encountered.  But I worked hard. I studied whenever my daughter was sleeping and hardly ever slept myself. My studies were ultimately successful and I graduated with a 1st class Hons degree. Fantastic. Soon, I thought, I would be able to get a decent job, another mortgage, a place with 2 bedrooms. Life would be better for my daughter. I would be able to provide for her as well as love her.

Oh, how wrong I was.