As Scotland Yard suggest Christian Brueckner will likely never be charged over the ‘disappearance’ of Madeleine McCann, Matthew Steeples argues that the British government finally put a stop to funding this pointless search and instead feed hungry children
This morning on Twitter, @Oi_Its_Strikey pointed out that people should: “Remember this is the same government who spent £12 million looking for Madeleine McCann, but doesn’t want to feed children. Oh how the UK has fallen to the depths of hell.”
Aside from the fact that this person’s point is bang on the nail, what must be remembered is that every penny spent searching on the search for a child whose parents didn’t even lock the doors of the apartment in which they left three children alone is a penny that could have been used to actually seek out other missing children who could actually be found.
Now, with news this morning in the Daily Star that “Madeleine McCann’s parents have been told its ‘highly unlikely’ prime suspect Christian Brueckner will be charged over her disappearance,” those rightly outraged at the way in this case will again correctly cry foul.
According to the paper: “Scotland Yard detectives say there is ‘no evidence’ linking the German drifter to the crime 13 years ago” and added: “Police have warned parents Kate and Gerry not to get their hopes up that Brueckner, 43, will ever be brought to justice.”
As has been repeatedly pointed out, Brueckner is a thoroughly vile man, but his predilection appears to have been for much older victims. Equally, as his lawyer highlighted earlier this month, phone record evidence suggests this monster could not have been near the apartment in the 90-second window when the alleged ‘kidnapping’ took place.
Yet again, the authorities have played the ‘distraction card’ in this case and yet again all it does is bring shame upon them. Here we have a story where politicians and the police have repeatedly aided and abetted the hiding of the real truth of this almighty mess and here also we have a media who lap up the nonsense they are repeatedly fed.
It is now finally time to put a stop to the wasteful and fruitless search for Madeleine McCann and instead use valuable and scarce resources to actually achieve something – perhaps like feeding poor children.
On Twitter, @Oi_Its_Strikey highlighted the fact that the British government continues to fund a case where there is plainly no evidence whilst neglecting to back a campaign to feed poor, hungry children.
Christian Brueckner appears to be simply nothing other than the latest pawn in the ‘distraction technique’ that has repeatedly been used to continue funding for the road-to-nowhere search for Madeleine McCann.
As Erik Menendez is undeservedly thrown in ‘the hole’ in the most ludicrous fashion in California, Matthew Steeples suggests it is time both him and his equally abused brother Lyle were finally released
In February 2018, The Steeple Times was amongst the first to report on brothers Erik and Lyle Menendez being reunited in prison after 22 years of incarceration without sight of one another, but last week, quite wrongly, they were once again separated.
Erik with his brother Lyle whilst on trial. The brothers shot dead their parents at their familial home at 722 North Elm Drive, Beverly Hills, California, CA 90210 on 20th August 1989. The duo claimed they acted in self-defense after years of physical and sexual abuse, but were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole in 1996.
The reason for Erik Menendez’s isolation is that last Monday a parcel containing marijuana was sent to him and intercepted by prison workers. On the basis of their discovery, Erik is now under investigation accused of either planning to use the drug personally, distributing it or using it as currency according to TMZ.
In response, Tammi tweeted:
“It’s the most ridiculous case. They sent in the box items Erik clearly cannot have sent to him. Only a few items inside the box as well. To ensure the mailroom would figure out there is contraband inside. He is being railroaded once again.”
In a series of missives, she later added:
“Exhausting day! Dealing with the prison and drained because they put Erik in the ‘hole’! Miss him & hard to deal with a loved one disappearing off the face of the earth! Had two anti-maskers in my business today, didn’t have the strength to debate mask wearing.”
“It’s amazing the prison will not tell family members anything about Erik’s situation. But they will talk to TMZ and tell them crap!”
“When are you going to do something about the barbaric LWOP in the state you Govern right now @GavinNewsom? You did the right thing and abolished the death penalty in CA. LWOP is cruel torturous punishment for a person to endure. At least give a person a chance at redemption.”
“Erik was able to call me today. I will be releasing his official statement later today. He was told by ISU the investigation officers at the prison, they are going to drag this out as long as they can. They sent this incident to the DA’s office to be prosecuted.”
“Received a letter from Erik today. He seems scared of what they will charge him with in the CDCr kangaroo court. They are in charge of their own investigations. The guards seem to be taunting him.”
“I have remained pretty silent over the years about how they treat Erik inside for fear of retaliation but it stops now. This is serious and I am worried about his mental health. It’s been so very difficult for him. He has been incarcerated over 2 decades now!”
“I was going to release Erik’s official statement about what happened but next week we will be able to get a recording from him and post it to YouTube. I will tweet the link when it’s live. Thanks for all your support! It is really helpful for him to know people still care!”
Giving his take on the development, Lyle went further and described the situation his brother now finds himself in as “pathetic, disgusting, outrageous [and] unacceptable.” He added:
“All crime victims now know what to do… Buy pot, which is easily available to all in CA – and mail it to the inmate who hurt you – and make their life a living hell…”
“Give your victim impact statement – then wait for the defendant to get to state prison – then you march down to your local pot shop and put a little package together. Voila! Instant revenge.”
“Or this is some weirdo who obsesses about inmates – noooooooooo….. we have never seen that on this page – No, never!!! Uh-huh… What a way to insert yourself into their life and affect it… And then sit back and watch the fallout – since the CDC will tell you all about it.”
“Or… or… or… You are an insider. No more to be said there.”
“How the CDC could allow themselves to be manipulated like this is inexplicable.”
Analysing the matter, author and journalist Robert Rand added that his “take” on the story was:
“This is a hoax… This is fake news… After 22 years of being separated, some asshole enemy decided to F with them 2.5 years after they were reunited in the same prison… Shameful and pathetic.”
Aside from the fact that the majority who’ve taken time to study this case in detail – myself included – now in agreement that though the Menendez brothers deserved to be punished in some way for the killing of their plainly sexually abusive parents, their life-means-life incarceration is inhumane and wrong and now Erik’s isolation seems yet another example of vindictiveness.
Lyle shared his thoughts on his brother’s treatment via a Facebook page maintained on his behalf.Robert Rand slammed the decision to place Erik in ‘the hole’ as “shameful and pathetic.”Erik’s wife, Tammi, meanwhile tweeted to suggest her husband was “being railroaded once again.”She later slammed the prison’s decision as “kangaroo court” and added: “It is really helpful for [Erik] to know people still care!”
Matthew Steeples suggests that instead of banning people from enjoying themselves, the government should do something useful and ban a genuine disease spreader: Junk mail
Tonight, our totally inept government sends London into a tier two lockdown that will preposterously allow citizens to meet people from other households in a garden but not indoors.
Aside from the fact that that seems as likely to reduce the risk of the spread of coronavirus as closing restaurants at 9.59pm instead of 10.59pm, the government’s “do this but don’t do this actually” approach has not only been poorly communicated, but will also do nothing but further damage our car wreck of an economy.
One thing, however, that would be useful at this time would be a ban on the blight that is distribution of junk mail. This morning my household, just as would any other in my neighbourhood, received three items of such through my door promoting a building firm, a taxi service and a pizza delivery.
Given that the three people delivering these three items no doubt touched the doors and letterboxes of hundreds of houses on their rounds as well as each leaflet individually, one can sensibly suggest that the risk of contamination if one of them were a disease carrier to be immense.
If the coronavirus crackpot Boris Johnson had an ounce of sense he’d immediately ban junk mail and its delivery. Not only would the nation and its letterboxes thank such, so would the trees depleted in its wasteful creation.
In 2002, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs estimated that “direct mail and promotions” accounted for between 500,000 and 600,000 tonnes of paper in 2002, with just 13% being recycled.
Coronavirus has become the go-to excuse for just about anything that goes wrong and it is ridiculous suggests Matthew Steeples
“Coronavirus” and a shrug is now the equivalent of “leaves on the line.” Used when anything at all goes wrong in this weird new era, this unfortunately completely overused response to any situation has become beyond irritating.
When I telephoned a car hire firm yesterday to simply extended a booking in France, I was told that under new rules because of “coronavirus,” I would have to go to a specific office in St Tropez. I got there and found it “closed due to coronavirus.”
Sent next to another location at a private airport by a call centre operative, I was told there that they could not help as they’d reduced their operation “due to coronavirus.”
Though I eventually sorted the problem by going to yet another location many miles away, this situation is far from rare. When any mishap occurs right now, people just pin it on coronavirus in spite of the fact that many problems have utterly nothing to do with such.
The likes of Marks & Spencer and Pizza Express are operations that have failed to move with the times, yet they blame their decline on a pandemic rather than their bad management. It’s the easy way out and it’s become the go-to get out clause.
Equally, crazy people are spreading messages that coronavirus is a creation of billionaires seeking to profit from us – one society sort ludicrously told me that it was “made” by Bill Gates whilst another, claiming in all seriousness it to be fact, announced that Barrack Obama had put it on a plane and sent it around the world. Here in coronavirus we have a new bonkers and sadly it has also brought with it the phrase “the new normal” also. The sooner such (and the virus itself) disappears into the ether, the better.
Matthew Steeples laments the death of the high street, but sees some hope in a shift to a new way of retailing
Remember when Mary Portas was banging on about saving the high street? Appointed in May 2011 by David Cameron and Nick Clegg to “breathe life back” into shopping hubs, this “retail consultant’s” well-meant attempt ended up sadly achieving little in reality.
Now, partly due to the impact of coronavirus and in many cases actually due to longer standing systemic problems with largescale companies, Britain’s towns and cities need to fast adapt if their central business districts are to survive.
Firstly, the high street’s customer base has altered and businesses must come to understand this. With those who’d worked in offices previously having used sandwich shops and retailers at lunchtime gone, many operations such as Pret are seeing footfall collapse and opting to cut staff hours and close stores.
Secondly, the likes of Marks & Spencer – which announced 7,000 job cuts yesterday – will find itself forced into doing more business online. People have adapted to having their food and clothing delivered and a shift to more of that kind of business seems the only way forward for the big household names.
Thirdly, as both retail and office space empties as a result of these changes, town planners must look at new ways of drawing in life and use for this accommodation. Whilst some such spaces are suitable for conversion to housing, another idea could be to make more locations centres of specialisation. Hay-on-Wye, for example, has prospered as a book town whilst Margate has gone from a shabby resort to a vastly successful centre for the arts. Another example is Leeds – which took advantage of the .com boom in the 1990s and became a major location for financial services businesses and call centres.
In spite of a future that looks bleak right now – with Pizza Express axing 1,000 of its workers also as they close numerous locations – if our currently completely haphazard government help it adapt, there could be a future for the high street. It must, however, be one that will have to involve more reasonable landlords and a firm goodbye to greedy robber barons asset strippers like Sir Philip Green also.
Matthew Steeples expresses lament for London’s post-coronavirus future – here is a city that faces an exodus and recession
This morning in The Guardian, Emma Brockes – a “British writer in New York” according to her Twitter handle – penned an article about how that city is “going back to the 1970s” as a “long overdue correction to the ravaging effect of high finance.”
Her fascinating analysis of how the “post-Covid hotspot” is set to lose its middle classes and “become more dangerous,” could also be applied to London.
Aside from families releasing that they desire outside space rather than cramped flats in the pandemic, the exodus to the suburbs and beyond is most definitely occurring. Property prices are rising in more rural areas and workers will commute less and less.
The new era ahead involves working from home and the consequences were explained to me recently by a city restaurateur. When allowed, he reopened for a week – but hardly anybody came. He found the city empty of his usual regulars, closed his doors and will try again in September.
Sandwich shops such as Pret have seen a sharp decline in revenue and tailors are suffering as well. People no longer need a Savile Row suit and instead wear their shorts or dressing gowns whilst they work. Many shops have closed – some would have closed anyway given the high street was already failing – and stabbings have sadly dramatically risen.
Dick Whittington famously fictionally arrived in London expecting the streets to be paved with gold. He initially found to the contrary and ended up cold and hungry and now many will find the same. With an expected second wave of coronavirus this winter and the worst recession in history underway, London needs to wake up and smell the coffee.
In describing ‘Finding Freedom’ as a “whole sorry saga” Richard Kay is spot on suggests Matthew Steeples; moaning ‘MeGain’ should simply now shut up
This morning in the Daily Mail, Richard Kay shared his thoughts on Finding Freedom, the tacky tome written plainly with cooperation from the Duke and the Duchess of Sussex.
Describing the book as containing “page after page” of “self-pity and indignation sandwiched between dollops of oily sycophancy,” Kay rightly summed up Carolyn Durand and Omid Socbie’s work as a “moan-athon” and suggested: “I fear it will backfire horribly on them, inviting both ridicule and scorn.”
Here, indeed, is a book that is nothing but drivel, but given that moaning ‘MeGain’ has turned her husband into a drip, what else would one expect? It is now time for this ghastly pair to simply shut up.
Matthew Steeples finds himself in shock and agreeing with Jess Phillips MP after she calls out Tory hypocrisy over their failure to withdraw the whip from an unnamed MP arrested for alleged sex crimes
A cataclysmic and likely one-time only event occurred last night: I found myself agreeing with the normally bombastically bonkers Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, Jess Phillips.
“In any other organisation, were this investigation to be going on, this police investigation, somebody would be suspended while the investigation was taking place.”
Meanwhile elsewhere, with news that Boris Johnson’s crony Crispin Odey – a man until now best known for spending the ludicrously ostentatious sum of £150,000 on a chicken shed and giving over £870,000 to support the campaign for Brexit – has been charged with assaulting a women aged over 16, comes further bad headlines for the Prime Minister.
Though Mr Odey denies the allegation, “will strongly contest this matter” and deserves to be subject to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, the mere fact that so many Conservatives are even being accused of such crimes is proof only that this once great party has sunk deeper into the quagmire of sleaze than it did even in the days of John Major.
Jess Phillips MP got it right in calling out the shocking hypocrisy of the Conservative Party in failing to withdraw the whip from the unnamed Conservative accused of a number of alleged sex offences. The same unnamed MP’s constituency party has also come out and announced they will support said individual.Natalie Elphicke MP – whom replaced her husband as the member for Dover – stood by her husband Charlie Elphicke during his trial. She suggested she did so because she feared he might “kill himself,” but frankly that she plainly knew he was guilty is proof of her hypocrisy.Tory supporter Crispin Odey remains innocent until convicted, but the fact that there are so many allegations floating around only helps portray Boris Johnson’s government as one of sleaze.
This morning’s revelations from Thomas Markle Jnr. are proof that the Duchess of Sussex must put a stop the almighty mess she created with her family
The former Meghan Markle’s half-brother has just shared his thoughts with The Sunday Mirror today and frankly, after a week where his relative lost part of her court case against the owners of the Daily Mail, his words should lead to only one thing: The warring Duchess of Sussex making peace with those closest to her.
In comments to the paper, Thomas Markle Jr. remarked:
“As far as a reunion goes, [my father has] given up on Meghan and Harry completely.”
“He doesn’t trust her and doesn’t want to know that person because of the lies, manipulation and deceit. He just had his 76th birthday – needless to say, he didn’t hear from Meghan.”
“He will fight and pursue the avenues needed to see Archie. They’re not the only ones who can launch a court case. He’d love to hold that little boy one time.”
“Dad wants to die a happy man. He’s had enough BS. He’s better off enjoying his retirement and travelling – and forget Meghan altogether.”
Though there are two sides to every story, for once, someone has spoken sense about a familial situation that simply needs to stop. It is time that ‘MeGain’ pulled herself into the land of reality and it is time that she orchestrated a resolution before it sinks her deeper into the quagmire.
Pictured top: Thomas Markle with his daughter, Thomas Markle Jr. and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Their warring simply needs to stop.
Matthew Steeples suggests it is not only Russia that Britain must fear, it is the interference of the likes of billionaires such as Robert Mercer
Whilst the Russia report has revealed much about how Putin and his cronies have interfered in British politics, it must also be remembered that there is another powerful danger subverting democracy both here and in the US: the secretive billionaire Robert Mercer.
A man with octopus like tentacles and fingers in a multitude of pies, computer scientist Mercer funded Cambridge Analytica’s work on the Brexit campaign and was the biggest single donor in the 2016 US presidential race.
Aside from being one of the owners of the far-right Breitbart News Network, Mercer is known to have links with The Taxpayers’ Alliance – whose founder, Matthew Elliott, also happens to be the man whom set up Conservative Friends of Russia. The TPA, it must be remembered, is not actually the voice of the British taxpayer, but is, in fact instead a private company limited by guarantee that lobbies for secretive vested interests.
As well as having close associations with such people as Arron Banks, Nigel Farage and Donald Trump, here is someone with a determination to deny climate change and someone who once allegedly suggested that “white racists no longer exist in the US.” As Carole Cadwalladr pointed out of him in February 2017, Mercer is an expert in algorithms and big data also and his clear desire is to “remake parts of the media landscape.”
Beneath it all, kingmaker Robert Mercer has an agenda that is focused on the interests of no one but himself. He deserves to be called out as nothing but a force for bad and Britain would be all the better if he disinvolved himself from our affairs.
