Can The Mccanns Take Any More?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4180046/Kate-Gerry-McCann-fury-libel-battle-defeat.html

One has to empathise with them, the thought of a long missing daughter and now this, what can only be guessed an enormous legal bill to face?

Should they appeal?

[vortex]

Measure twice, cut once...

[hc4361]

At least 2 babies were snatched from prams outside stores while the mothers were shopping in Dublin in 1954. It didn't change behaviour - mothers had no choice but to leave babies outside when they were shopping, the prams were too big and the shops were too small. No baby slings in those days. It was common to see a dog tied to the pram - what would have happened if a cat chanced by is a scary thought.
Babies were left in prams outside their homes, too, when fresh air was believed to be essential for baby's health whatever the weather and there was no back or front garden.
I can well understand a harried parent leaving baby in the baby seat of a car whilst returning the trolley.

[andy-hughes]

hc4361 - They were indeed different times.

I recall my in-laws talking of a visit to Dublin (MIL is irish) in the early sixties, and seeing a man on a bike travelling at some speed through city traffic pulling a baby's pram on a rope, with a baby in it!

[vortex]

//in the early sixties, and seeing a man on a bike travelling at some speed through city traffic pulling a baby's pram on a rope, with a baby in it!//

Sounds like a scene from 'On The Buses'!!

[hc4361]

Maybe it was he who invented those baby tow trailer things for cycles. I'm sure there is a proper name for them. Not sure I would have been confident enough to use one.

[anotheoldgit]

It is extreme foolishness to leave a child alone in a 'LOCKED' car.

Taking into consideration that it will not be the first time that a motor vehicle has suddenly burst into flames.

[andy-hughes]

Or Some Mothers So 'Ave 'Em!

[andy-hughes]

AOG - //It is extreme foolishness to leave a child alone in a 'LOCKED' car.

Taking into consideration that it will not be the first time that a motor vehicle has suddenly burst into flames. //

Given that personally, I would never be more than a few feet from the car, and that cars do not explode like they do in films, but smoulder first for some minutes, and that the instances of cares spontaneously combusting are as rare as eclipses, I considered it a risk worth taking.

Certainly, on a percentage basis, the chances of a car catching fire balances against the chance of a child abduction, I would prefer to avoid the chances of the second, and be ready to deal with the first on the millions-to-one chance that it ever happened.

[anotheoldgit]

/// Although I would never condone leaving a child in a car - even when the car is in sight, ///

/// I left my girls when they were past ten in the car, which I locked, when returning a trolley, but not before then, I took them with
me. ///

???????????????????????????

[andy-hughes]

AOG - I would not leave a child under ten on their own in a car.

I did leave my to children when they were twelve and ten, together, in the car.

You could have worked that out for yourself if you were not so keen to have a dig at every opportunity you can create.

[ummmm]

AOG - 10 year olds can act in an emergency. Little ones can't.

[andy-hughes]

ummmm - //AOG - 10 year olds can act in an emergency. Little ones can't. //

Of course, and modern 'motor cars' are equipped with locks that release when the door is opened from the insde.

But let's not let simple facts about modern motor design divert from the opportunity to derail a thread with pointless nit-picking - again.

[anneasquith]

It's not rocket science, only leave a child/children unattended when you can hear and see them .

[NoMercy]

I'm going to get my act together and start pontificating ...

[-Talbot-]

lol, are you going to ramp up the pomposity on your next wine thread, Nom?

[jourdain2]

In the late '70's I never thought twice about leaving my baby in a pram by the door of a shop. She had my beautiful and very well-trained Labrador tied to the handle to protect her. Labrador (called Rowi) would tolerate coo-ing from passers-by, but growl if anyone touched the pram. No, she would not have chased after a cat or anything - she was gun-dog trained and always justified my total faith in her.

[NoMercy]

Indeed I shall, my dearest, loveliest Talbot.