ANTONELLA LAZZERI - ARTICLES RE: McCANNS

ANTONELLA LAZZERI - ARTICLES RE: McCANNS





2007 May 05

NOTHING DESCRIBES ANGUISH FOR OUR MADDIE; HUNT FOR LOST MADDIE John Askill and Julie Moult in Praia da Luz, Portugal, and James Clench in London
1309 words(Lazzeri noted as part of "Sun team".)

SHUTTERS HAD BEEN JEMMIED.. MADDIE WAS GONE John Askill and Julie Moult in Praia da Luz, Portugal, and James Clench in London (Lazzeri noted as part of "Sun team".)

2007 September 24

KATE WEEPS AT MOVING MASS; THE BATTLE GOES ON FOR BRAVE MCCANNS
226 words

TWIN'S LIFT FOR MUM AND DAD; THE BATTLE GOES ON FOR BRAVE MCCANNS
237 words "rare moment of happiness"

SAS HEROES BOOST HUNT FOR MADDIE; THE BATTLE GOES ON FOR BRAVE MCCANNS (With Nick Parker)
427 words

2007 September 25

MADDIE LAW CHIEF: NO BODY, NO CASE (With Nick Parker)
370 words ...Kate and Gerry furious at 'let-off' slur

NANNY BACKS COPS OVER KATE SCREAM (With Nick Parker)
380 words "Kate McCann DID scream "they've taken her, they've taken her" ...witness claimed...

2007 September 26

I WATCHED WOMAN IN HEADSCARF DRAGGING MADDIE ALONG BY THE HAND; COPS PROBE PHOTO AND NEW MOROCCO WITNESS (With Nick Parker)
827 words RE: Madeleine McCann in Morocco

GERRY & KATE: IT COULD BE HER; COPS PROBE PHOTO AND NEW WITNESS IN MOROCCO (With Nick Parker)
886 words RE: Madeleine McCann in Morocco

2007 September 27

ANGUISH FOR KATE
76 words RE: Madeleine McCann in Morocco- Bouchra ..."tearful" Kate McCann

I'M SORRY GIRL IS MISSING, BUT THIS IS MY DAUGHTER ..NOT MADELEINE (With Brian Flynn/Simon Hughes)
470 words RE: Madeleine McCann in Morocco- Bouchra ...tearful Kate McCann... shattering the hopes of the lost tot's parents...

2007 September 28

POLICE PROBE LOST 2 HOURS; COPS' SHOCK CLAIM: MADDIE IS BURIED IN SPAIN (With Clodagh Hartley in Praia da Luz) Antonella Lazzeri in Rothley
729 words RE: Alleged claim that McCanns had buried Maddie during missing two hours from their trip to Huelva. "Kate and Gerry McCann were stunned" "outrageous theory" "Kate and Gerry have had enough." "Underneath all this rubbish are horrible accusations and rumours" "McCanns incensed" re: Morocco lead not followed up by police "bizarre theory that the McCanns hid their daughter's body in their hire car THREE MONTHS after she was reported missing." "latest in a string of controversial theories by the Portuguese - many of which have been discredited"

2007 September 29

PARENTS MARK 150 DAYS
118 words ...another agonising milestone...

2007 October 05

NOTHING'S AS BAD AS THAT NIGHT; KATE'S MADDIE ORDEAL
122 words ...torment (Kate McCann)

I WEEP FOR MADDIE..BUT WE STILL HAVE HOPE; ANGUISHED MUM OPENS HER HEART
936 words ...FRAGILE Kate McCann ... cries every day ...

2007 October 06

MADDIE HUNT: COP CASE IN MELTDOWN (With Clodagh Hartley) Antonella Lazzeri in Rothley
607 words Just 3 'tecs search for her ... Chief admits to daily crisis ...Mother was almost jailed ...

2007 October 08

MCCANNS: WE'LL BE SUSPECTS FOREVER (With Clodagh Hartley)
325 words ..."cloud of suspicion"...

2007 October 09

MCCANNS 'LIVING IN A TWILIGHT WORLD' (With Clodagh Hartley)
455 words ...Parents' anguish.. ...conflicting DNA theories... "living in a twilight world" ...as theories change DAILY.

2007 October 11

MCCANNS' DELIGHT AT PAEDO SWOOP (With Clodagh Hartley) Antonella Lazzeri in Rothley
598 words Family .. "encouraged" last night after 300 Portuguese cops smashed an 80-strong paedophile ring.

2007 October 12

I'M MADDIE'S FATHER..100% (With Clodagh Hartley) Antonella Lazzeri in Rothley
638 words RE: Alleged reports that Gerry was not Maddie's biological father. "reacted with fury" "horrified and distressed" "outrageous new allegation came from police sources" "outrageous claims that the McCann children were drugged ... furiously denied" McCanns plan to sue 24 Horas as soon as arguido status lifted ... (NOTE: Buried in the story is information regarding hair / DNA allegedly found in the McCann hire car.)

2007 October 20

MADDIE'S FINAL GIFT FOR GRAN (With Clodagh Hartley)
394 words RE: plate with Maddie's handprints. "poignant last gift from Madeleine McCann to her gran" ... "Susan also revealed her daughter Kate had been tormented by visions of Maddie at the family home"

2007 October 22

HOW COULD POLICE DROP ASH ON CLUES? (With Clodagh Hartley)
319 words ...Maddie parents' fury at evidence contamination... ANGRY Kate and Gerry McCann... "horrified" ...cops' CIGARETTE ASH could have contaminated evidence

2007 October 25

I FEEL IN MY HEART SHE IS OUT THERE; KATE WEEPS FOR MADDIE
89 words "DISTRAUGHT Kate McCann yesterday poured out her heartache and wept: "As Madeleine's mummy, I feel in my heart that she is out there." Wiping away tears, she added: "I don't know how anyone could harm anyone as beautiful as Madeleine." Kate, 39, showed her emotion as she and husband Gerry publicised a phone hotline to aid the Maddie hunt.

MADDIE NEEDS US; INTERVIEW; KATE MCCANN ; TEARS AS MUM GIVES DRAMATIC INTERVIEW (With Clodagh Hartley)
1171 words ...lonely... sobs Kate... SOBBING Kate McCann ..battled to contain her emotion ...

2007 October 26

MADDIE IN ARMS OF SNATCHER (With Clodagh Hartley)
305 words RE: McCann "abductor" drawing. "THIS is the man Madeleine McCann's parents believe abducted their tot - as he carries her slumped in his arms. Swarthy, aged around 35 with black hair curling round his collar, he hurries away from their holiday flat with Maddie..."

MADDIE IN ARMS OF SNATCHER PYJAMA 'PROVE IT IS HER' (With Clodagh Hartley)
464 words RE: McCann "abductor" drawing. "A TINY figure wearing pyjamas lies still and quiet in a man's arms - in an image thought to show the abduction of Madeleine McCann."

2007 October 27

'POKER FACE' KATE TO SUE (With Clodagh Hartley)
384 words RE: Fury over 'interview act' slur ..."angry Kate and Gerry McCann" sue over claims this week's emotional TV interview was "staged like theatre".

2007 October 30

FURY OF TAPAS 7; MCCANN FRIENDS HIT BACK
296 words RE: Allegations re: "Pact of Silence" - "Pals: There is NO pact"

2007 October 31

I SAW LURKER (With Clodagh Hartley)
490 words RE: Nanny claiming man in bushes outside Maddie flat

2007 November 01

GERMAN MAG'S SICK JOKES ABOUT MADDIE (With Clodagh Hartley)
313 words ...McCanns' horror...

2007 November 02

I'LL GIVE MADDIE SOME DOLLS WHEN I FIND HER (With Clodagh Hartley) Antonella Lazzeri In Rothley
388 words Private tec's vow ...has already bought dolls to give the snatched four-year old when he rescues her.

2007 November 03

MCCANNS ARE BACK IN FRAME; MADDIE SIX MONTHS ON..PARENTS' PLEA (With Clodagh Hartley) Antonella Lazzeri in Rothley
763 words ...Agony over new DNA claim... faced the heartache...shattered by FRESH claims they were involved...

MY BABY; MADDIE MISSING 6 MONTHS
79 words ...Kate plea after new DNA blow ..."heartbroken Kate McCann" ..."moving new appeal"...

2007 November 05

I JUST WANT HER BACK..KATE SOBS FOR MADDIE IN CHURCH
386 words ...Tormented Kate McCann collapsed in floods of tears...Kate began crying ...

2007 November 16

MADDIE COPS DIDN'T EVEN CHECK HER BED (With Veronica Lorraine)
421 words "Bunglers failed to do a DNA test"


2007 November 17

TAPAS JANE TELLS ALL
87 words "astonishing detail what happened the night Madeleine McCann disappeared" "emotional TV interview" RE: Jane Tanner

MY GUILT
1055 words "Jane breaks silence" "I saw Maddie abductor strike but did nothing" "Amazing new details" "wracked by guilt"

2007 November 19

WITNESS SAW HER HAND OVER CHILD (With Veronica Lorraine in Praia Da Luz)
511 words RE: Murat's girlfriend accused

2007 November 21

IS THIS WHERE MADDIE WAS HANDED TO PAEDOS? (With Veronica Lorraine in Silves, Portugal)
422 words RE: Trucker's sighting" "fear Madeleine McCann's abductors handed her over to a paedophile gang"

2007 November 23

'MADDIE IS DEAD' (With Veronica Lorraine in Praia Da Luz)
292 words RE: Attorney General Fernando Jose Pinto Monteiro statement that kidnapper would have murdered Maddie because of the enormous publicity (See full text )

ABDUCTOR WILL HAVE MURDERED MADELEINE (With Veronica Lorraine in Praia Da Luz) 401 words "Grim verdict from Portugal's top law chief"

2007 November 27

'WHEN MADDIE SHOUTED HE HAD TO SHUT HER UP'; DETECTIVES: FIEND TARGETED MCCANNS "COPS' PERV THEORY (With Veronica Lorraine in Praia Da Luz) Antonella Lazzeri in Rothley
1145 words A pervert sneaked into Madeleine McCann's holiday apartment - and killed the terrified tot to shut her up when she screamed, police now believe."

2007 November 28

MADDIE: * NONE OF HER DNA IN HIRE CAR * MURAT LAWYER'S VILE SLUR
81 words "Forensic experts found NO trace of Madeleine McCann's DNA in her parents' hire car."

NO BLOOD, NO BODILY FLUID AND NO HAIR; MADDIE BODY 'NEVER IN CAR'; EXCLUSIVE
589 words "Forensic experts found NO blood, NO hair and NO body fluids from Madeleine McCann in her parents' hire car, it emerged last night. Scientists hired by Kate and Gerry McCann say there is no evidence whatsoever"

2007 November 29

CRUNCH DAY ON MADDIE
59 words "parents face D-Day"

D-DAY FOR GERRY AND KATE FORENSIC REPORT TODAY (With Neil Syson/Veronica Lorraine)
505 words "parents face D-Day" "forensic scientists and police chiefs meet to discuss crucial evidence"

2007 November 30

MCCANNS 'CLEARED' IN A WEEK
140 words Kate and Gerry's DNA hope DNA "evidence" against Kate and Gerry collapsed yesterday - and they could be cleared of involvement in Maddie's disappearance within a week.

2007 December 06

MADDIE COPS ROW OVER RUINED DNA
297 words "Brit experts dismiss 'blood' evidence DNA evidence found in the apartment"

2007 December 11

TAPAS 9 IN SECRET MEETING (With Veronica Lorraine)
337 words "Maddie pals together again for first time" * "It seems 'suspicious' say Portuguese cops"

2007 December 17

FAMILY XMAS VIGIL AT CHURCH
213 words RE: McCanns attending the midnight mass on Christmas Eve.

2007 December 19

XMAS GIFT ON MADDIE'S BED...HUGE PINK TEDDY BEAR WITH WHITE HEART / GRAN'S TOY HEARTBREAK
552 words "Distraught Eileen McCann"


2007 December 22

BE BRAVE MADDIE; MCCANNS' CHRISTMAS AGONY
90 words RE: video plea-Christmas message to daughter Madeleine "Be brave sweetheart."

MADDIE, IT'S MUM AND DAD HERE..OUR ONLY WISH FOR XMAS IS FOR YOU TO BE HERE; MCCANNS' HEARTBREAKING TV PLEA
763 words "anguished Kate McCann" "summons the courage" "heart-rending TV appeal"

2008 January 08

ANGUISH OF MCCANNS AT 'WILD' NEW DNA CLAIMS; BLOOD SPECKS BEHIND SOFA AND IN CAR 'ARE MADDIE'S' (With Veronica Lorraine/Gary O'Shea in Praia da Luz)
510 words RE: Portuguese newspaper Correio Da Manha report re: blood specks in their hire car and behind a sofa "tormented parents" "reacted in fury"

2008 January 09

MADDIE: THE MOVIE; McCANNS' FUND BOOST Antonella Lazzeri in Praia Da Luz
323 words RE: Film chiefs in talks with McCanns- set to turn Madeleine's story into a film. The couple believe the movie could raise money for the dwindling Find Madeleine fund...

THEY PRAY THAT MOVIE WILL HELP FIND MADDIE; MCCANNS' FILM BID (With Gary O'Shea in Praia Da Luz)
433 words McCanns' hope film might help fund their search for Madeleine - even though it could spark accusations of bad taste.

2008 January 24

MADDIE WEIRDO HAD ACCOMPLICE; 2ND PROWLER SPOTTED
226 words "oddball suspected of seizing Maddie McCann" "second prowler seen at the McCanns' resort using the same bogus cover story as the scruffy man shown in a drawing" ...

2008 March 15

MCCANNS' AGONY AS BONES FOUND (With Tom Worden)
620 words "fresh torment" re: reservoir search/bones found

2008 March 24

MADDIE SUSPECT IN CLEAR
149 words RE: Robert Murat's belief he will be cleared within weeks

2008 April 08

'FAMILY' BEG FROM MCCANNS; EXCLUSIVE
338 words RE: people claiming to be relatives of Shannon Matthews begged for cash from the McCanns.

2008 April 09

RETURN TO HELL
351 words RE: Request for McCanns to return for kidnap reconstruction "cops in Portugal want to haul Madeleine McCann's parents back to stage a harrowing reconstruction"

2008 April 10

SMILING KATE'S MADDIE MISSION
139 words "smiling Kate McCann" RE: Brussels/child alert system

2008 April 11

'MUMMY, WHY DIDN'T YOU COME WHEN WE WERE CRYING LAST NIGHT'; MCCANNS' POLICE STATEMENT
138 words "bewildered Madeleine" (See full text)

WE AGREED TO KEEP A CLOSER EYE ON THE KIDS..HOURS LATER MADDIE HAD DISAPPEARED; MCCANNS' FURY AT POLICE LEAK
1009 words (See full text)

2008 April 12

LEAKS AND SMEARS...NOW PLANE LIES; NEW MADDIE OUTRAGE
718 words "THE CLAIM:'McCanns and pals wanted private jet and five-star hotel' THE REPLY:'No demands were made. It's complete and utter rubbish'

2008 April 14

MCCANNS WANT AN FBI PROBE
162 words ...McCanns calling for full probe involving FBI into Portuguese cops' handling of case"

2008 April 15

MCCANN COPS HIT BACK AT 'SMEARS' (With Veronica Lorraine)
186 words RE: cops in Portugal response to McCanns claim that statements were leaked to smear them...saying family's accusations were "unsubstantiated".

2008 April 24

KATE: WE CHECKED OUR KIDS
196 words McCanns parents...devised their own baby-listening service because the complex they were staying in had none....

2008 April 24

KATE: WE CHECKED OWN KIDS
127 words McCanns parents...devised their own baby-listening service because the complex they were staying in had none....

2008 April 26

'LIES' OF MADDIE PARENTS
161 words "disgraced cop" "has written a money spinning book" Amaral "booted off the case" etc.

2008 April 30

I SEE MADELEINE'S BEST FRIEND AND WONDER WHAT MY DAUGHTER WOULD BE LIKE; PART 3
1833 words "Maddie A Year In The Darkness"

KATE'S TEARS OVER HATE MAIL THREATS
434 words "vile abuse" "tearful Kate and Gerry McCann" "shocking hate mail"

2008 May 02

DUNGEON RESCUE GIVES ME HOPE MADDIE IS ALIVE; INTERVIEW; GERRY AND KATE MCCANN ; ONE YEAR ON: MCCANNS TALK TO SUN
900 words "astonishing rescue of Austrian dungeon girl Elisabeth Fritzl" "fresh hope that her daughter is still alive"

2008 May 05

MCCANNS IN BOOST FROM LEGAL CHIEF; MADDIE: ONE YEAR ON
386 words "hints couple will be cleared"

2008 May 14

MADDIE 'IN BRAZIL' (With Veronica Lorraine)
255 words RE:Interpol probe- Madeleine McCann in Brazil.

2008 May 30

'SUSPECT' FEARS OF TAPAS 7
152 words "refused to return to Portugal because they feared being made suspects" RE: refusal to take part in requested reconstruction

2008 July 02

NOW CLEAR MCCANNS; AS COPS GIVE UP MADDIE HUNT, WE SAY
59 words "The Sun today calls on Portuguese police to clear Kate and Gerry McCann of involvement in their daughter Madeleine's disappearance - as it was revealed the case is to be closed, leaving them still ..."

LIFE UNDER SUSPICION IS INHUMANE; McCANN PLEA TO COPS
543 words "nightmare possibility that they could remain suspects FOREVER. That would be both "immoral and inhumane" for tormented Kate and Gerry McCann, their spokesman said."

2008 July 07

TEARS AS KATE CALLS MADDIE WITNESS; EXCLUSIVE
167 words RE: Kate's "tearful call" to Paul Gordon, a holidaymaker who reported a man acting suspiciously before her daughter disappeared.

2008 July 08

JUDGE BEGS MADDIE FIEND: WHERE IS SHE?
395 words RE: Mrs Justice Hogg urging abductor to show "compassion and mercy" - and surrender to cops.

2008 July 11

MCCANNS' LOST CHILD ALERT WIN
219 words "Kate and Gerry McCann have won their battle to have a Europe-wide alarm system set up to find missing children."

2008 July 12

WISH YOU WERE HERE; McCANNS' HOL ANGUISH WITHOUT MADDIE
222 words RE: McCann 3 week holiday in Canada. "heartache"

2008 August 07

I SAW 'MADDIE' TOO; HER EYES TOLD ME IT WAS HER SAYS HANNIE SECOND SIGHTING OF TOT IN AMSTERDAM Lucy Hagan in Amsterdam/Veronica Lorraine in Praia da Luz (Additional reporting: Antonella Lazzeri)
859 words RE: Pensioner Hannie Weichmann sighting "second possible sighting of Madeleine McCann in Amsterdam" (See full text)

2008 October 23

MADDIE'S LEECH COP
214 words RE: Goncalo Amaral ..."parents' fury" "shamed 'tec cashes in AGAIN...with film" "shamed cop"

2008 November 11

MCCANN AGONY AT BLANK IN COP FILES (With Veronica Lorraine)
177 words "new blow" to McCanns - police case files had fewer clues than they hoped

2008 December 04

XMAS TV APPEAL IN HUNT FOR MADDIE
178 words RE: worldwide television appeal launched at Christmas

2008 December 05

MCCANNS PLEDGED POUNDS 25K TO HUNT; EXCLUSIVE; PURE EVIL: BID TO FLEECE MADDIE FUND; COPS WARNED THEM OFF (With Alastair Taylor)
625 words "Madeleine's heart-broken parents pledged Pounds 25,000 to help find missing Shannon - but cops warned them not to touch her family with a bargepole"

2008 December 22

GIFTS FOR MADDIE
63 words RE: "Christmas presents for their missing angel"

McCANNS' FESTIVE GIFTS FOR MADDIE; PARENTS RELEASE VIDEO
316 words "parents...wrestled with their anguish to buy her gifts — on their second Christmas without her." "heart-wrenching decision " etc.

MADDIE'S XMAS GIFTS ARE LYING UNDER THE TREE; POIGNANT NEW VIDEO APPEAL
425 words "parents...wrestled with their anguish to buy her gifts — on their second Christmas without her." "heart-wrenching decision as they released a fresh video appeal to find her.


2009 January 14

CRACK BRIT TEAM IN NEW MADDIE HUNT; EX-COPS AND SPIES HIRED *EXCLUSIVE* (With Mike Sullivan)
393 words RE: "elite team of ex-cops and secret agents"

MADDIE SQUAD; MCCANNS HIRE CRACK BRIT TEAM FOR NEW HUNT *EXCLUSIVE* (With Mike Sullivan)
527 words RE: "elite team of ex-cops and secret agents"

CRACK BRIT TEAM IN NEW MADDIE HUNT; EX-COPS AND SPIES HIRED *EXCLUSIVE* (With Mike Sullivan)
568 words RE: "elite team of ex-cops and secret agents"

2009 January 15

MADDIE HUNT TRIP GIVES GERRY HOPE
318 words RE: Gerry McCann's "positive" talks in Portugal ... "to improve strained relations with the authorities."

2009 April 22

NEW SUSPECT IN MADDIE SEARCH; AS SECOND ANNIVERSARY OF HER DISAPPEARANCE LOOMS... *EXCLUSIVE*
280 words RE: "mystery new suspect" "second anniversary of her disappearance"

NEW SUSPECT; MADDIE HUNT LEAD AS 2ND ANNIVERSARY LOOMS
489 words "new suspect is being hunted over Madeleine McCann's abduction"

2009 April 23

WE SAW MADDIE
163 words RE: Brian and Glenice White - British couple claim to have seen Madeleine playing in a square in Malta

2009 April 25

KATE'S TV TEARS; SHE BREAKS DOWN ON OPRAH OVER MADDIE PICTURES
254 words "Kate McCann wept"

2009 May 01

MADDIE 'SEIZED AS SHE LOOKED FOR PARENTS'
246 words "Madeleine...was probably abducted as she went looking for her parents, an expert claimed yesterday. Criminologist Mark Williams-Thomas said it was unlikely that an abductor entered Maddie's holiday flat in Praia da Luz, Portugal."

2009 May 02

MADDIE AGED 6
79 words "A shy smile, sweet dimples and those unmistakable eyes, this is how missing Madeleine McCann would look NOW — on the brink of turning six." "Kate, 41, wept"

JUST LIKE MUM; KATE WEPT WHEN SHE SAW HAUNTING IMAGE OF DAUGHTER MADDIE: HOW SHE'D LOOK AGED 6
858 words "Kate McCann sobbed"

2009 May 04

MADDIE LOST HER IDENTITY: EXPERTS *EXCLUSIVE*
65 words "Madeleine McCann might not even remember her name" "heartbreaking possibility"

IF MADDIE IS ALIVE SHE MAY NOT ANSWER TO THAT NAME OR REMEMBER WHO SHE WAS; 2ND ANNIVERSARY OF TOT'S DISAPPEARANCE *EXCLUSIVE*
954 words "Madeleine McCann might not even remember her name" "heartbreaking possibility"

2009 May 07

MAN WHO STOLE MADDIE; FACE OF 'KIDNAPPER' SCARFACE IS PRIME SUSPECT
59 words "weirdo with a face pock-marked by acne scars" "prime suspect"

MADDIE: HUNT FOR SCARFACE; SKETCH OF 'KIDNAPPER' NEW SUSPECT SPOTTED OUTSIDE HOLIDAY FLATS
77 words "weirdo with a face pock-marked by acne scars" "emerged as the prime suspect"

UGLY AND FRIGHTENING; 3 WITNESSES SAW WEIRDO STALKING HOL FLAT BEFORE KIDNAPPING MADDIE: FIND MYSTERY MAN OF PRAIA DA LUZ
1403 words RE: Three witnesses McCanns claim ignored by Portuguese police who saw "scary weirdo who may have masterminded the abduction of Madeleine McCann"..."ugly suspect" "big nose and thin pock-marked face" "gawping weirdo" ("Clarence Mitchell said: "This man needs to be traced urgently. "The witnesses did talk to the Portuguese police but it appears that nothing was done to find him. He is a vital part of the jigsaw. "Kate and Gerry believe the testimony is critically important but has not had the attention it deserves.") "tearful Kate" "Kate sobs" "tears and regrets of sad Jane" "regretful Jane Tanner is seen weeping in the documentary"

2009 May 08

GIRL, 12: I SAW UGLY MAN STALK MADDIE *EXCLUSIVE*
213 words RE: 12 yr. old British schoolgirl's claim that she noticed "scarily ugly" man twice watching the terrace where Maddie used to play


2009 May 09

MARKET GIPSY IS MADDIE SUSPECT; BRIT 'TECS FIND HIM *EXCLUSIVE* (With Simon Hughes)
330 words RE: market trader "of gipsy appearance" "key suspect" "Portuguese man was traced by private detectives and placed under surveillance"

2009 May 12

SCARFACE WITNESS: POLICE IGNORED ME; MADDIE SUSPECT BLUNDER
287 words RE: "witness" who sparked the hunt for a scarfaced suspect ... never been questioned by police ... twice saw "Mr Ugly" loitering near the McCann apartment ...

SCARFACE WITNESS: POLICE IGNORED ME; WOMAN REVEALS NEW MADDIE HUNT BLUNDERS
431 words RE: "witness" who sparked the hunt for a scarfaced suspect ... never been questioned by police ... twice saw "Mr Ugly" loitering near the McCann apartment ...

2009 May 22

MADDIE: PAEDO SUSPECT; BRIT CHILD RAPIST FACES QUIZ DETECTIVES *EXCLUSIVE* (With Simon Hughes)
98 words RE: HEWLETT / GERMANY

MADDIE: PAEDO SUSPECT: BRIT CHILD RAPIST FACES QUIZ (With Simon Hughes)
107 words RE: HEWLETT / GERMANY

IS THIS THE PAEDO BRIT; MADDIE SUSPECT MATCHES SKETCH *EXCLUSIVE* (With Simon Hughes)
496 words RE: sketch of suspect...chilling similarity to a British paedophile living in Portugal at the time she vanished.

ON RUN IN GERMANY, THE CHILD SEX BEAST IN MADDIE PROBE; RAPIST WHO LIVED NEAR McCANNS' HOLIDAY TOWN (With Simon Hughes)
1112 words "sensationally named as a key suspect" RE: HEWLETT McCann "detectives" suspicions raised by Alan and Cindy Thompson. (Full Text)

2009 May 23

WAS IT HIM? MCCANN TECS QUIZ GIRL OVER BRIT PAEDO *EXCLUSIVE* (With Mike Sullivan)
218 words RE: 12 yr. old British girl - shown photo of Hewlett and asked if he was man she saw

WAS IT HIM YOU SAW? MCCANNS' TECS QUIZ GIRL WITNESS OVER BRIT PAEDO *EXCLUSIVE* (With Mike Sullivan)
493 words RE: 12 yr. old British girl - shown photo of Hewlett and asked if he was man she saw

2009 June 06

I SAW MADDIE TWICE, ADMITS PAEDO SUSPECT; SENSATIONAL CONFESSION TO COPS
602 words re: "child sex fiend" "Raymond Hewlett has sensationally admitted he TWICE saw Madeleine McCann before she vanished"

2009 June 25

MADDIE SUSPECT LINK TO ABDUCTED BOY, 7: TEST TO QUIZ PAEDOPHILE FACING MURDER TRIAL
391 words RE: Jeremy Vargas case

2009 June 27

FORENSIC CHECKS ON MADDIE PERV'S VAN (With Simon Hughes)
230 words RE: HEWLETT'S VAN "Private detectives believe forensic checks could provide crucial evidence about the toddler's disappearance."

2009 June 29

COPS LET MADDIE SUSPECT OFF HOOK *EXCLUSIVE* (With Simon Hughes)
163 words RE: Unnamed suspect being investigated by unnamed McCann investigators (See full text)

2009 July 13

MADDIE PARENTS SUE COP FOR £1M
182 words RE: McCann claiming £1 million damages from Amaral "Anguished Kate and Gerry" "Amaral "totally destroyed" them"

2009 August 06

FIND MADDIE AUSSIE; HUNT FOR WOMAN WITH 'VITAL CLUES' *EXCLUSIVE*
302 words RE: Australian "Posh" lookalike

2009 August 07

HAVE YOU BROUGHT MY NEW DAUGHTER?
57 words RE: Australian "Posh" lookalike

HAVE YOU GOT THE CHILD?
100 words RE: Australian "Posh" lookalike

72 HRS AFTER MADDIE KIDNAP SHE WAITED FOR GIRL TO BE HANDED OVER; HUNT FOR POSH LOOKALIKE
696 words
RE: Australian "Posh" lookalike

2009 August 08

TIPS ON 'POSH'
52 words RE: Australian "Posh" lookalike

MADDIE: HUNT FOR AUSSIE MOTORBOAT; CRAFT WAS AT MARINA WITH 'POSH' SUSPECT KIDNAP HAD ALREADY BEEN LINKED TO OZ *EXCLUSIVE* (With Alex West in Barcelona)
466 words RE: Australian "Posh" lookalike

2009 August 10

MCCANN 'HOPE' AT NEW LEAD 127 words RE: Australian "Posh" lookalike

2009 August 15

MADDIE VILLAGERS GET 'BLAME McCANNS' MAIL
223 words Re: leaflets sent to McCann's neighbors

MADDIE VILLAGERS GET 'McCANNS DID IT' LETTER
239 words Re: leaflets sent to McCann's neighbors

2009 September 10

UNFORGIVABLE; MADDIE DAD'S FURY AT PORTUGAL COP'S BANNED BOOK
260 words "unforgivable" "sacked Portuguese cop" "unfounded allegations" "smears that he and wife Kate were involved" etc.

2009 September 24

TEARFUL KATE IS BACK IN HER HELL
437 words RE: return to Portugal "brave Kate McCann" "fought back tears" "suing a cop over cruel claims he made about them in a book."

TEARFUL KATE IS BACK IN HER HELL
611 words RE: return to Portugal "brave Kate McCann" "fought back tears" "suing a cop over cruel claims he made about them in a book."

2009 October 07

MCCANNS SET TO RETURN TO PRAIA
152 words RE: return to Praia da Luz "brave Kate and Gerry McCann"

KATE AND GERRY SET TO RETURN TO PRAIA; EMOTIONAL VISIT TO MADDIE RESORT
314 words RE: return to Praia da Luz "brave Kate McCann" will return to for a first visit

2009 October 10

SEARCH FOR MADDIE-LIKE GIRL PICTURED IN SWEDEN
236 words RE: detectives "desperately hunting a girl photographed in Sweden"

MCCANNS:FIND GIRL IN SWEDISH PHOTO *EXCLUSIVE*
308 words RE: detectives "desperately hunting a girl photographed in Sweden"

MCCANNS: FIND GIRL IN SWEDISH PHOTO *EXCLUSIVE*
596 words RE: Sweden "sighting" - computer matching

2009 October 21

MADDIE T-SHIRTS FOR FANS
147 words RE: EVERTON football club -6,000 T-shirts with picture of Madeleine handing out to fans

2009 October 30

IMAGINE SHE WAS YOUR KID; MADDIE PARENTS' NET PLEA
290 words RE: "poignant internet appeal"

2009 November 03

AFRICAN MADDIE; COPS' PICTURES OF HOW SHE MIGHT LOOK ABROAD *EXCLUSIVE* (With Mike Sullivan)
453 words RE: "startling new images" "Madeleine ..appearance could have dramatically changed if kidnappers are holding her in North Africa, as detectives believe."

2009 November 04

WHERE'S MADDIE? TWINS' ANGUISH FOR SISTER
332 words RE: MCCANN TWINS: Sean and Amelie "demand to know why she was taken — and want to FIGHT her abductor, her parents disclosed yesterday."

WE WILL FIGHT MAN WHO TOOK OUR SISTER MADDIE; McCANNS TELL HOW TWINS TALK OF LOST PLAYMATE
467 words RE: MCCANN TWINS: Sean and Amelie "demand to know why she was taken — and want to FIGHT her abductor, her parents disclosed yesterday."

2009 November 26

'MADDIE RAT TRIED TO SUE FUND FOR £150K'; HALLIGEN'S FEES DEMAND *EXCLUSIVE* (With Tom Wells)
498 words RE: "fraudster" Kevin Halligen "tried to SUE the FindMadeleine fund for £150,000" "Conniving Halligen was sacked by the charity — which had already paid him £300,000" (NOTE: THE MCCANN FUND IS *NOT* A CHARITY!)

2009 December 02

'MADDIE LIE' COP TO FACE MCCANNS IN COURT FIGHT *EXCLUSIVE*
270 words RE: McCanns plan to fly to Portugal -£1million libel suit against Amaral

2009 December 11

MADDIE SHOWDOWN; PARENTS IN COURT TO SUE AXED COP CHIEF
241 words RE: "dramatic court showdown" with Amaral

2009 December 12

MCCANNS ARE BACK IN PRAIA
93 words RE: "emotional Kate and Gerry McCann" return to Praia da Luz

IT'S PLACE KATE FEELS SHE'LL BE CLOSET TO HER MADELEINE; McCANNS' EMOTIONAL RETURN TO PRAIA
256 words RE: McCann return to Praia da Luz "devastated mum" "heartbreaking trip" "spur of the moment" (Question: Was Lazzeri traveling with them?

IT'S PLACE KATE BELIEVES SHE'LL FEEL CLOSEST TO HER MADELEINE Antonella Lazzeri in Praia da Luz
545 words RE: McCann return to Praia da Luz "devastated mum" "heartbreaking trip" "spur of the moment" (Question: Was Lazzeri traveling with them? Reporting from PdL...)

2009 December 14

McCANNS TO TAKE THE TWINS BACK TO PRAIA; TRIP PLEA AS KATE AT CHURCH Antonella Lazzeri in Praia da Luz
249 words RE: McCanns plan to take twins back to Praia da Luz — "Sean and Amelie, now four, have told their devastated parents they want to return to the ..."

MCCANNS TO TAKE THE TWINS BACK TO PRAIA; TOTS: LET US REVISIT SCENE Antonella Lazzeri in Praia da Luz
263 words RE: Cancellation of plans to go to PdL. "Sean and Amelie, now four, have told their devastated parents they want to return to the resort where Maddie vanished in May 2007."

McCANNS TO TAKE THE TWINS BACK TO PRAIA; TRIP PLEA AS KATE RETURNS TO CHURCH Antonella Lazzeri in Praia da Luz
379 words RE: McCanns plan to take twins back to Praia da Luz — "Sean and Amelie, now four, have told their devastated parents they want to return to the ..."

2009 December 18

MADDIE PARENTS RELEASE NEW PIC
146 words RE: Photos posted on Findmadeleine.com website "smiling Maddie is wearing a red Disney princess dress with her hair in a ponytail"

2010 January 04

MADDIE COPS WILL KEEP FILES 'A SECRET'
135 words RE: "thousands of pieces of evidence" never be made public

2010 January 12

MCCANNS WILL FACE DETECTIVE 'LIE' CLAIM
159 words "...Kate and Gerry McCann today face being wrongly accused in court of hiding the body of missing daughter Maddie...

2010 January 13

MADDIE IS DEAD AND YOU HID HER
136 words ...outrageous claim... RE: court testimony by Portuguese cops that Maddie was dead and McCanns hid her body

KATE DREAMT MADDIE'S BODY WAS ON A HILLSIDE; COPS ACCUSE McCANNS IN COURT
786 words RE: Kate's dream about Maddie's body on hillside


2010 January 14

VILE COP: F*** THE McCANNS; NEW ATTACK ON PARENTS (With Tom Wells) Antonella Lazzeri in Lisbon
471 words RE: "four-letter tirade against the missing child's parents"...Brazen Goncalo Amaral spat, "F*** the McCanns"... (NOTE: AMARAL DOES NOT SPEAK ENGLISH AND DID NOT SAY F*** THE MCCANNS. HE WAS OVERHEARD BY PORTUGUESE SPEAKERS SAYING "TALK TO THE MCCANNS" IN REPLY TO THE REPORTER'S QUESTION.)

2010 January 16

MADDIE SECRECY RULE WAS 'BROKEN'
159 words RE: McCann allegations Amaral breached secrecy laws...

2010 January 27

MCCANNS FACE 2ND BOOK SLUR *EXCLUSIVE* (With Neil Syson)
199 words "Madeleine McCann's parents face more heartbreak" "second vile book claims they lied about her disappearance."

KATE: OUR 1,000 DAYS WITHOUT LOST MADDIE *EXCLUSIVE* (With Neil Syson)
230 words RE: thousand days since maddie vanished /fundraising dinner ...

NEW MADDIE SLUR; MCCANNS FACE 2ND VILE BOOK..1,000 DAYS AFTER SHE VANISHED *EXCLUSIVE* (With Neil Syson)
260 words "Madeleine McCann's parents face more heartbreak" "second vile book claims they lied about her disappearance."

2010 February 01

BIRTHDAY GIFT 'FROM MADDIE' FOR TWINS
141 words RE: twins birthday

2010 February 11

CRACKER' BLAMED McCANNS
177 words RE: Lee Rainbow testimony - Lisbon court

'CRACKER' BLAMED MCCANNS; MADDIE 'KILLED' 274 words RE: Lee Rainbow testimony - Lisbon court

QUIZ THE MCCANNS; WHAT BRIT 'CRACKER' TOLD COPS HUNTING MADDIE
275 words RE: Lee Rainbow testimony - Lisbon court (NOTE: In my opinion, these 3 versions of the same news report are uncharacteristically lacking in slant.)

2010 February 19

MCCANNS DELIGHT AT BOOK BAN
157 words McCanns "delighted" as a ban on a book about missing daughter Maddie was upheld.

McCANNS CHEER AS COP LOSES 'MADDIE LIE' CASE; COURT UPHOLDS BOOK BAN
219 words McCanns "delighted" as a ban on a book about missing daughter Maddie was upheld.

2010 February 20

THEY DO BEST TO BLOCK HUNT FOR MADDIE... IT'S INHUMANE; McCANNS BLAST PORTUGAL COPS
548 words ..."tearful Kate McCann" "branded Portuguese police "inhumane" ...continuing to block the search ... "voice cracked with emotion" ... "poured out her anger and frustration" ...

2010 March 03

UNCHECKED ..UNSOLVED; MADDIE FILES: SECRET 'SIGHTINGS' OF LOST GIRL PORTUGAL COPS IGNORED CLUES
1360 words RE: 2,000-page file ...shocking Portuguese failings in the hunt for Madeleine McCann...

2010 March 04

WAS THIS RAG DOLL GIVEN TO MADDIE BY HER CAPTORS; RIDDLE OF NEW SIGHTING Antonella Lazzeri in Portimao, Portugal
793 words RE: Jean Godwin "sighting" and McCann "investigators" claims re: Silves, Portugal. The article NAMES holiday home cleaner Yvone Albino and teacher Jorge Vitorino Cabral Martins and his girlfriend Maria Alice dos Santos Silveira (who deny ANY involvement and were already investigated by PJ)

2010 March 05

LOST: MADDIE DOUBLE WHO CRIED 'HELP ME'; NO PROBE OVER HOTEL GIRL
383 words Antonella Lazzeri in Portimao, Portugal RE: Austrian girl sighted by tourists at Hotel Landzeit. "NOTHING was done"


2010 March 06

MADDIE: PRESSURE ON COPS FOR HUNT; FRESH CALL TO REOPEN CASE Antonella Lazzeri in Portimao, Portugal
221 words "COPS in Britain and Portugal are under increasing pressure to reopen the Maddie McCann case after The Sun revealed how sightings of her had been ignored." (NOTE: written as "sightings of her" NOT "alleged sightings" - there have been NO credible sightings of Maddie)

McCANNS: TIME FOR NEW HUNT Antonella Lazzeri in Portimao
264 words RE: Sun's revelations that "sightings of her had been ignored"


2010 March 11

KATE: I VISIT MADDIE'S BEDROOM TWICE A DAY
215 words

2010 April 05

MCCANNS DELIGHT AT COPS' 'MADDIE ALERT'; COUPLE HAIL NEW NETWORK TO FIND MISSING KIDS
340 words

2010 May 01

MADDIE AGONY WAS SO BAD I WISHED WE WERE ALL DEAD; KATE ON HOW SHE LOST WILL TO LIVE
299 words

2010 May 03

RIBBON AND PRAYER FOR OUR SIS MADDIE; TWINS' SAD TRIBUTE 3 YEARS ON
231 words RE: Anniversary of "disappearance"/twins Sean and Amelie

2010 May 04

TWINS STILL SAVING TREATS FOR MADDIE
(THREE versions - 150 words, 242 words, 260 words ) RE: twins Sean and Amelie

2010 May 11

KATE'S A MUM LIKE ME WHO LOST A CHILD..MINE'S SAFE IN HEAVEN NOW BUT MADDIE'S MISSING. THE PAIN MUST BE UNBEARABLE -MURDERED JIMMY MIZEN'S MUM MARGARET YESTERDAY; GRIEF OF MIZENS AND MCCANNS (With Anthony France)
421 words RE: mother of murdered teenager Jimmy Mizen

2010 May 12

PARTY FOR MADDIE ON HER 7TH BIRTHDAY
145 words RE: Madeleine McCann's seventh birthday

2010 May 25

I SAW MADDIE IN PYJAMAS THE DAY AFTER SHE DISAPPEARED *EXCLUSIVE*
507 words RE: white van sighting

2010 June 11

KILLER PAEDO IS MADDIE SUSPECT; *EXCLUSIVE* BEAST GUILTY OF MUM'S SLAUGHTER HE'S LINKED TO MISSING CHILDREN (With Irina Nelson)
401 words RE: Charles O'Neill

LIFE FOR MURDER PAEDO WANTED BY MADDIE TECS *EXCLUSIVE*
355 words RE: Charles O'Neill

2010 June 14

'JAILED KILLER HOLDS KEY TO MADDIE HUNT'; PLEA BY LOST LAD'S MUM
252 words RE: Charles O'Neill

'JAILED KILLER HOLDS KEY TO MADDIE HUNT' *EXCLUSIVE* Antonella Lazzeri in Gran Canaria
257 words RE: Charles O'Neill

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Didnt realise this lazzeri fellow is a mccanns expert!

Wonder whether they'll give me a trophy for that?

aiyoyo wrote:Didnt realise this lazzeri fellow is a mccanns expert!

Well Lazzeri certainly isn't an expert in motherhood that's for sure. One could never really understand why Lazzeri seems to put Kate McCann on a pedestal in her articles and insists, rightly or wrongly, to portray Kate as the iconic image of a mother. One sincerely hopes that Kate McCann can survive this peer pressure and live up to the expectations of motherhood that Lazerri and others have placed on her.

The more perfect the mother, the harder she snaps

September 25, 2010

There is something about motherhood that undoes a woman, sooner or later, in one way or another. It's the Great Unraveller. Whenever you see someone who looks like a four-star parent, a composed, trim, confident woman picking up her daughter at the preschool on her way home from her demanding, high-paying but gratifying job, remember: you are seeing a mirage. Go home with her, shadow her, get into bed with her, spend a chilly hour in the park with the perfect mother and her child at dusk, and you'll see. Eventually she'll crack. She'll say, "Anthony, I told you not to do that! Now look what you've done! Are you satisfied?" in a tone of voice she loathes in other parents.

Or one evening, after too much Chardonnay, when her husband loiters too long on email after failing to unload the dishwasher, even after they had discussed this, there will be tears, shouts, and maybe something thrown.

The more perfect the mother, the harder they snap.

Independent women launch-ed in fine careers someties fall madly in love with their small children, quit their jobs, stay at home, and cannot imagine going back to their old lives ... until one day they wake up and find themselves alone, morosely sifting sand on the desert island of modern motherhood -- the atoll where women must be both church and state, extended clan and perfect play date, to their children. It is all up to them, because the real church and the real state like to pay lip service to the importance of child-raising, but when it comes to making life easier for mothers -- tax breaks for single mothers, preschool programs, affordable daycare, decent public schools -- the church and state have better things to do.

In the past 40 years, a few things have improved. We have all-terrain baby vehicles. Fathers are more hands on, while mothers blog and write more publicly about their rich, exasperating lives. Kids growing up are taking longer to leave home. But nothing fundamental about motherhood seems to have changed. Each mother breastfeeding her child is alone, with the glass of water just out of reach.

And many mothers who shed salaries and worldly positions feel queerly, oddly isolated in their new and better lives at home, raising their children -- surely the most important job in the world. Except that often it doesn't feel like that in the middle of it.

"Parenting" is a recent invention. In just two generations, we've gone from playpens (practical little cages for restless children, now viewed as abusive) to play dates (a four-way social encounter requiring scheduling, transportation, and alcohol). For the last decade, the dominant child-rearing wisdom has been that only total bonding, the near-fusion of mother and infant, can lay down the foundation of a healthy, successful adult. Somehow we have gone from ignoring the enormous sacrifices women made for their children in the past to valorizing a new and subtly sacrificial model of motherhood that, ironically, might not be helping our kids in the long run.

We work too hard at mothering. And we don't know when to stop. When my son Casey was 24 and looking for a GP in Montreal (no mean feat), I rustled up a few names from friends and emailed them to him. Along with the contacts for a couple sound galleries I had heard about that I thought he might want to check out ... plus the name and number of a naturopath too. ...

"Thanks for the doctor referrals, I will check them out," he emailed back. "The galleries don't sound like my sort of thing. And when you give me too many resources at one time, it kind of stresses me out."

Our theories about the best way to raise kids have gone from the pre-Spock days, when the worst thing parents could do was to "spoil" a child with too much attention, through the postwar, post-Freudian focus on the importance of early childhood development and of loving, attentive parents to our current wave of "attachment parenting" and "intensive mothering," as it is known in the burgeoning field of maternal scholarship. Child-rearing, once something that new parents muddled through, has acquired a quasi-professional set of skills, accessories, and knowledge to become a culture unto itself. It used to be "Shut the door and let the baby cry"; now it's "Pick him up and never put him down," literally or figuratively.

I was a textbook intensive mother. I couldn't bear to "Ferberize" my son, which would mean ... shutting the door and letting him cry himself to sleep. That was cruel!

I was a human Jungle Gym for years and breastfed him for 22 months. Even in his twenties, I still hurt when he hurts; we share too many ancient neural circuits now for a completely clean separation.

My mind may be elsewhere as he navigates his world in another city, but my nervous system is still attuned to his. Yes, I have a life, work, and an interesting husband, whom I love, but the unfolding of my son's fate, on good days and bad, can occupy my thoughts more than I care to admit. This is probably not a good thing.

Intensive mothering arises innocently, of course, from intense love. But it seems based on the premise that children are inherently fragile vessels that require constant topping up with encouragement and self-esteem. As a result we've become the anti-Simon Cowells on the parental American Idol jury, always softening the blow of "no."

In the process, I think we've lost the middle ground between the too-distracted parent of the past and the overly invested, hovering modern one. One of the consequences of this has been a generation of twentysomethings perplexed by a world outside the family that plays by different rules. When they come through the door for a job interview, no one says, "You're on time! Well done!!!"

Judith Warner, a former columnist for The New York Times, published an appealingly indignant book in 2005 called Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety. She was addressing American, Walmart-sized anxieties, not the boutique levels of fear in Canada, but her book offers an aerial view of our child-rearing culture and clarifies just how quickly and radically parenting ideals have changed over the past half century. In the 1990s, middle-class mothers who could afford it began to interrupt or forgo their careers in order to stay home and raise their kids full time. Corporate moms torn between work guilt and home guilt, bumping up against the glass ceiling on the job and unwilling to work 60 hours to make law partner, began to opt out.

Since then, the job of mothering has acquired new dimensions and ambitions as a growing population of mothers choose to pour all their energies into it. (More fathers are tackling the stay-at-home role too. But less than five per cent of families are "run" by men.) Women began to make motherhood an all-consuming vocation in a way it never has been in the past, when homemakers had too many chores, and too many children, to focus exclusively on parenting.

But mothers are no longer managing the world of childhood from their distracted adult perch, phone in one hand, cigarette in the other; they're down on the floor and eye to eye with their kids, taking on the role of playmates, coaches, surrogate siblings, and all-round domestic CEOs. Mom looms large on the horizon now -- even more than she did in the pre-feminist past, when children were rug rats, not tender, complex little beings and mothers had tablecloths to iron. No one wants to roll back down the hill into that world. (Too many tablecloths.) But the reigning "child-centred" theory of parenthood may prove to be less about the well-being of the child than we imagine.

Let us not forget, the full moon of motherhood has only been visible in the sky for the past 10 years or so.

The intimate details of motherhood, now so bloggable, were once considered beneath discussion. In the 1950s and '60s, women were expected to pass through their child-rearing years as gracefully, stoically, and inconspicuously as possible; a new mother extolling the virtues of her Swedish breast pump at a cocktail party would soon find herself alone by the cheese tray.

When I had my son, in 1983, Mother Lit didn't exist. The myths surrounding motherhood were formidable and yet not well-articulated. So the reality of motherhood, the intensity of the feelings combined with the 24-hour demands -- this great reconstitution of the soul -- came as a shock to the women of my generation. They had tasted some independence and didn't anticipate the surrendering that motherhood requires. The giving in and over that is part of the voluptuous joy of motherhood ran counter to the new feminist ideals of independence and self-assertion, ideals that suggested women must be harder, more like men, and less available to others.

Ironically, feminism in the 1960s neglected the spheres that most women lived in -- the home and the family -- to focus on careers, equal pay, and gaining entry to the working world of men. It took a few decades of guilt, conflict, and exhaustion for the women who were trying (and unavoidably failing) to balance work and family to discover that while the right to work is crucial, and for most families an economic necessity, careers, as turns out, aren't everything. Non-workaholic men sometimes figure this out too. Money makes the world go round but it doesn't assuage the heart.

All that has changed. The subject of motherhood is now on university curricula, alongside Hegel and postcolonialism. The first Museum of Motherhood will soon open in Seneca Falls, New York. Demeter Press, part of the pioneering Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement organization in Toronto, has published books on every possible social and cultural aspect of a topic that was once restricted to manuals on toilet training.

The great oppressor for the new mother -- social isolation -- has been vanquished by the Internet. No matter how far away the nearest neighbour is, she only needs to sit down at the laptop to connect with other mothers in the same boat.

In fact, the intimate nature of new motherhood, awash in all those bodily fluids and raw emotions, offers ideal material for our bare-and-share-all online conversations. Blogs and tweets are also well suited to the stolen-moment, ADHD reality of life with a new baby.

But mother blogs can also amplify doubts in the same way that symptom websites can feed hypochondria. The Internet has helped create the newly conspicuous culture of motherhood but it's also established a kind of apartheid policy. Perhaps the blogs flourish because motherhood is still a somewhat exotic island, not yet integrated into the larger social, economic, and political picture. The fact that online mothers share this "specialty interest," like people involved in animal rights or hang-gliding clubs, only betrays its still-questionable status.

Others would argue the opposite, that motherhood has become the bully on the block, with parents exercising a sort of moral superiority over the childless. And what about the omnipresence of pregnancy and motherhood in the tabs, with all those arrows pointing to a possible celebrity "bump"? The actress who "puts her family first" and "loves being a mother more than anything else" has become the number one tabloid trope. Isn't that pop culture reflecting motherhood's shiny new status? Maybe. Or it could be just another way for us to obsess about women's bodies and weight issues.

To me, a "bump" on the tiny frame of Gwen Stefani is not really about a potential child; it's an acceptable form of fat. In the tabs, pregnancy is a Get Out of Jail Free card in the never-ending weight-loss stakes and a way for readers to track the pounds-on, pounds-off drama of "getting back in shape" after birth.

A shot of a pregnant star wolfing down a bacon burger in public is not about self-indulgence but about "eating for two" -- a sacrifice of her thin self to her growing baby. The pregnant movie star is an arresting contradiction in terms, like Kirstie Alley pitching a line of diet products. We want our stars to be like us (to gain weight when pregnant) but also to live in a fairy tale (to have a flat stomach three weeks after giving birth).

The apotheosis of female celebrity has now become stardom + motherhood. What is more glamorous than being Angelina Jolie or Madonna? Being Angelina with a huge brood, biological and adopted. Being Madonna with a young Brazilian guy on one arm and a black baby on her hip. Presumably, they pursued motherhood for their own reasons, not for the optics. But motherhood, once a frumpy, non-career-enhancing role, now only adds to their glamour.

This new breed of rich and famous mothers seems to look upon the job of raising children the way their own mothers might have once imagined careers -- as something fulfilling, challenging, and slightly exotic. In terms of public perception, motherhood has become the Microsoft of life experiences, a respected, progressive brand of human software.

But this new status has also given birth, as it were, to a new source of anxiety. The more we invest in the mother role, the more pressure we put on ourselves to be accomplished, successful parents, raising accomplished, successful children. As boomer parents, we believe in self-expression, whether it manifests as art or narcissism. Our latest form of self-expression may be our children.

Every parent lives vicariously through the success or failures of their kids. But with more parents spending more time focused on child-rearing, the risk of over-investing in our offspring has gone up.

As usual with parental love, this has come about with the very best of intentions. Just as our own post-war parents worked hard to give us the material security and spacious rec rooms that their families couldn't afford, we did our best to shrink the generation gap and cultivate closer relationships with our children. We wanted them to be more like us -- and for us to be more like our kids.

Motherhood now enjoys a cultural currency that it's never enjoyed before, but oddly enough our knowledge of children, what's best for them, doesn't seem to have kept pace. Childhood itself is a relatively recent invention; for most of the 19th century children were thought of as a source of cheap labour or adults-to-be, better "seen and not heard." They helped on the farm or were raised by governesses in the nursery, well apart from the adult world of their parents. Children were not considered fascinating. They were spanked, rebuked, and yelled at. They were held upside down and slapped on the bum at birth or circumcised without anesthesia as infants. This was not considered cruel because no one attributed consciousness to babies. It's only in the past several decades that we have paid attention to vital issues such as pain in children, the impact of absent fathers, or the enduring wounds caused by childhood sexual abuse. We're only beginning to fathom the depths of childhood.

In the meantime, we are anxious parents. In the predawn hours, mothers camp out in lawn chairs to get a spot in the desired preschool. They haul themselves up the park slide with the same single-mindedness their feminist mothers once brought to climbing the corporate ladder. It seemed to make so much sense at first, to work less and be there more for our kids. But now the pressure's on, to be the best possible mom and to produce the best possible kid.

Excerpted from Home Free by Marni Jackson. Reprinted by permission of Thomas Allen Publishers. Copyright 2010.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

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