Rather Pointless

From the BBC

A 63-year-old woman who was accused of targeting internet abuse at the family of Madeleine McCann has been found dead in a hotel.

Brenda Leyland, from Burton Overy, Leicestershire, was accused of being one of the so-called "trolls" directing abusive messages at the McCanns.

Her body was found days after she was confronted outside her home by a Sky News reporter.

Madeleine McCann disappeared while on holiday In Portugal in 2007.

You can read and speculate all you like about what happened to Madeleine McCann. The bottom line is that nothing is going to happen until either she, or some evidence turns up or someone goes to the police that knows something.

No. None of us, actually.

From The Sun

TODAY Lady Thatcher will be laid to rest after a magnificent funeral of the sort few of us get to see in a lifetime.
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The Daily Express is on top form as well. Their front page is emblazoned with the headline

4,000 POLICE GUARD MAGGIE COFFIN

And next to it is a photo of MADDIE:

Fun Online Poll Results: Madeleine McCann & NHS spending

Thirty-four per cent of those who took part in last week's poll have seen a woman who was possibly involved in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, allegedly. I trust you have informed the police accordingly ...

This week's Fun Online Poll is mildly topical: "By how much has NHS spending increased in cash terms [i.e. not adjusted for inflation or GDP growth] since 1997?"

Vote here or use the widget in the sidebar.

Fun Online Polls: Debts and Madeleine McCann

After two weeks of voting, your responses to the question "What weighs more heavily on the next generation?" are as follows:

One trillion-plus of public sector debt - 37%
One trillion-plus of mortgage debt - 9%
One's as bad as the other - 14%
Nothing to worry about. They owe it to the older generation - 3%
They'll have a collective nervous breakdown, declare themselves bankrupt or move abroad - 37%

Sobers made a fair comment: "Public debt is worse because mortgage debt has an asset attached (the house). Unfortunately no citizen can ask for his share of govt assets to be sold to cover his share of govt debt. Thus upon being born you are totally liable for your share of govt debts, but have an asset to put against your parents' mortgage debt if you inherit it.".

However, the best observation was by I Hate The Government: "It used to be that we talked of having mortages over 100 years, instead now we will have debt for ever. The goverment owns the banks, thus now owns a substancial property portfolio, making it impossible for anyone to pay a fair price for a property. They let this happen, they cannot hold on to status quo forever."

Which sort of sums it up, the interests of home-owners (who only care about prices going up and/or getting out of negative equity), the banks and 'the government' in the narrower sense, are now more-or-less completely aligned, and we have a post-modern tax/subsidy system where the interests of the productive economy are completely ignored (i.e. taxed to death) in order to tackle one of the symptoms (to wit, falling house prices), but not the root causes, of the recession.
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Anyway, to round off Silly Week, let's see if we can help out The Daily Mail, The Daily Mirror and The Sun etc. with this week's Fun Online Poll: "Have you seen this woman?"

Vote here or use the widget in the sidebar.

Trial By Internet: The People Have Spoken

Thanks to everybody who cast a vote and thanks to HNL for linking. The jury returned the following verdict on Kate and Gerry McCann:

Entirely innocent - 1%
Victims of unfortunate circumstances - 7%
Negligent but not criminal - 16%
(subtotal 24%)
There's something a bit fishy about all this - 39%
(subtotal 39%)
They aren't telling the full truth - 20%
Guilty as Hell - 13%
(subtotal 33%)
Who are Kate and Gerry McCann? - 5%

Unhampered as I am by even the scantiest knowledge of Portuguese criminal law, AFAIAC, that's nowhere near enough for a conviction, possibly not even enough to justify an arrest and I guess we'll never find out what happened.

Similarly unburdened, HNL points out that "71% think that the whole truth has not come out... Sorry Kate and Gerry you just are going to have to do better.".

Hmm. Perhaps we should have agreed the rules first.
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This week's Fun Online Poll: Have you got Mexican Swine 'Flu?

Portuguese police name further 'aguido'

In a dramatic development, Portuguese police have named a further aguido and have applied for a warrant for her extradition to Portugal. Cuddle Cat was unavailable for comment last night, as she was having a nap.