PLEASE DO NOT HURT HER

• 

  Sarnia said,

  This is all very sad and horrific.

  I have no patience with the lynch mob types (Sarah’s Law etc) but heard that people were berating the parents (on a phone in) for “leaving” their children in the apartment whilst eating downstairs.

  By all accounts the parents are very protective and caring.

  Anyone who has been on a Mark Warner holiday (and I have – once – and that was enough) will know that that the ‘compounds’ are just that.

  Just hope that Madeleine is found safe and well.

• 

  I Beatrice said,

  I too am haunted by the loss of little Maddy and praying she will be found alive.

  What her parents are going through must be the ultimate, unimaginable horror – and though I am not by nature a violent person, there are people on this earth whom I feel I could tear limb from limb myself! Personally.

  Thank you so much for your comment on mine, by the way. But please, don’t be in awe of me, I’m very ordinary!

• 

  Marianne said,

  I once ‘lost’ a child for 20 minutes. I shall never forget. This is horrible. Please God, let her be found safe.

• 

  Babysteps said,

  That’s so frightening and horrible!

  In my 20s, I worked for an agency that worked with the families of missing and abducted children. Most children were taken by their parents in custody disputes, but I had a few on the caseload that had just vanished, or who were abuducted by strangers. I remember meeting with the family of a young boy who’d been missing since he was 3 (the very age my Daisy is now). He would have been 12, so he’d been missing all that time. The parents still clung to the hope that he was alive…but they didn’t know what that would mean, what kind of life he’d be having. The father wondered aloud if it would be better if the boy were dead.

  That was 10 years ago. As far as I know, the boy never came home. I couldn’t do that job now, now that I have children of my own. The thought of someone hurting or taking my sweet babies brings out my inner grizzly bear.

  I will pray for poor sweet Madeleine and her family.

• 

  Drunk Mummy said,

  I read Ian McEwan’s “The Child In Time” (about a child abduction) before I had kids, and I found it seriously disturbing reading even then. This case is so traumatic. I hope they find her soon.

• 

  debio said,

  We mentioned Madeleine on our way to school this morning, my daughter and I, at 7.15am – 4.15am GMT. – having briefly watched nighttime Sky.
  On collecting her this afternoon, her first question was whether little Madeleine had been found.
  She concluded – ‘Her kidnapper should die’ and added, ‘slowly and painfully’.
  Black and white is called for in these instances – not shades of grey.
  She and her family are in my every thought.

• 

  Anonymous said,

  This post has made me realise that you are a real person. I still struggle to understand that anyone can be as shallow as you are. Before you start imagining me to be some kind of hippy who is nocd: I public-school educated, have a relatively high profile banking job and live in Dulwich.

  I have met some shallow, snobbish nouvs in my time but if this blog is an accurate reflection of your personality I suggest you take a long look in the mirror. Try to see beyond your botox for once.

• 

  Nunhead Mum of One said,

  This is truly awful, I cannot even begin to think about what Madeleine’s parents are going through. I’m not particularly religious but have spent much of today willing Whoever is up there to help the police and search parties find little Madeleine, safe and soon. Whether or not you have children, whether or not you spend your time writing amusing blogs, whether or not you can’t see further than the end of your own pompous nose (anonymous)you surely are keeping Madeleine’s family in your heart and your thoughts at this time.

• 

  Drunk Mummy said,

  What a shame Anonymous’ education was paid for – I would be looking for a refund. Clearly satire was not on the curriculum.

• 

  The Good Woman said,

  This goes to the darkest, most unspoken fears of every parent.

  I can’t think of a more benign setting than a Mark Warner resort. It’s the sort of place I might have left my daughter in a room for a half hour while I grabbed a bite a few hundred yards away. But not any more.

  Such damage done – most especially to one little girl and her family, but also to the fabric of society. Where are we when we can’t trust anyone, anywhere? What have we become?

  PS Forget Anon. Your blog gives me a few minutes of escape each day to a world which we all know doesn’t exist (even for the ‘nouvs’). If Anon is so offended she should just move on – there are plenty of cerebral, somewhat dull blogs out there that could do with her custom.

• 

  rilly super said,

  It is an upsetting story dulwichmum. not much more to add to what you’ve already said

  High profile banker? isn’t that an oxymoron anonymous, unless you are TS Eliott…

• 

  Stay at home dad said,

  Only cowards act under cover of darkness or anonymity. All that can be hoped is that they realise what is right before it is too late.

• 

  Anonymous said,

  Hmm. “This blog is pure satire” you say, DulwichMum. Strange, because as far as I can tell you actually DO live in ridiculously large house in Dulwich, send your children to an extremely smart fee paying school, and collect expensive handbags. So beyond attempting to be arch and witty, making up ever more outrageous cars for your (supposed) husband to drive, and being rude about the other mothers at school, I don’t quite see that you are well positioned to write a satire on Dulwich life. It seems to me that you are living a life far too close for comfort to the one you say you are lampooning. As the other Anonymous suggests, take a long hard look at yourself.

  Oh, and I always find it hilarious the way that your little coterie of supporters make unpleasant comments about cowardice every time someone posts a negative comment anonymously. What do you expect me to do, attach my name and postcode? After all, I don’t know who *you* are?

  Regards,
  Thekla von Stift
  (I’m sure that nice OmegaMummy can help you with the Chalet School allusion)

• 

  Tired out dad said,

  As far as I can tell, in this world which we live there are all sorts of people. Those that have a huge amount, those that have nothing, and like a lot of us those who fall in between. My children are at a private school, for which the other parents fall in to two of the above categories but all strive to give their children the best start in life. When you mix in any circle with such diverse people you get all sorts of personalities most of whom have a sense of humour. Those that take offence at this blog obviously find it hitting a little close to home.

  PS – I do not see any cars that are made up or any comments that are rude to other parents.
  Oh and appologies for jumping to the defense of DM, but why oh why Anonymous do you keep returning to comment?

• 

  Anonymous said,

  Dear Rilly Super
  Would that be T S Eliot by any chance? And is he well-known for banking oxymorons? Is the Governor of the Bank of England a backroom job or possibly high-profile?
  If you’re going to defend DM’s aspirational posturings, at least come up with a convincing argument.

  Where is the satire in documenting a lifestyle which you choose to lead? You signed up for the JAPS/Alleyns 4+ assessments, presumably wanting a place for Freya. How does that make the other mothers so risible in their ambitions but not you?

  Satire should encourage the desire for change in society. You, DM, are quite happy for such privilege and social division to be maintained because you are the beneficiary of such a system with two children in private school. Therefore, this blog is not satire, it is showing off your affluence.

• 

  Anonymous said,

  There is a glut of ridiculously self-indulgent mummy blogs at the moment. All the mummy blogs have one thing in common – they have husbands funding the mummies’ lifestyles.

  The mummies have large houses, au pairs to help them with the children (what on earth for – none of them work) private schools, Harvey Nicks cards, large cars etc etc

  This isn’t a satirical blog. Even the illiterate Rilly – who has produced a genuinely satirical blog – should recognise that.

  Why don’t the mummies do something useful rather than write rubbish? Clearly they couldn’t hold down proper jobs, but they could work in charity shops or something like that, couldn’t they?

• 

  Tired out dad said,

  There are a lot of assumptions in your comments Annonymous’. I am sure not all the mummy blogs are written by rich housewives. I for one also know a lot of parents that struggle to put their children through private school. They do so for the benefit of the child, as the local school is shite, for want of a better word. Satire can mean many things and can be interpreted in whichever way you want. Satire or not, this is a funny blog.

  This debate is in the wrong post and has nothing to do with this sad article which is neither satire or funny but truly sad.

• 

  Anonymous Too said,

  Dear Anonymous,
  anyone can be anonymous but in your case you can be identified as someone who obviously has a problem that needs addressing. May I request that you seek your therapy somewhere other than this blog, satirical or not you have made your comments know on a post about poor Madeleine McCann. Please, respect the thoughts of others and go elsewhere to relieve yourself of the troubling aggression in your head.

• 

  Keef said,

  Exactly bloody right!!! If you had to come on here and vent your little spleen, you could have done it on any number of posts… What in the Hell would make you choose this one you sick freak?

• 

  Anonymous said,

  Well, it seems that there are four different anonymous people posting here, all along the same lines, so there must have been something about DulwichMum mentioning Madeleine McCann which really got the goat of more than one of us.

  I’d say, actually, this this is perfect opportunity for us to make our views known. The abduction of this little girl is truly shocking and so very sad for her family, but I’m quite offended by the endless focus on it in the press, and worse, the mawkish self-indulgence of all too many bloggers, message boards and newspaper columnists on the subject (India Knight in The Times is the prime example, from which all others seem to flow). As long as they are whimpering on about how terribly this has affected them (how much they love their own children, how sad for the family, how distressed at watching the news), they are not exactly engaging with the reality of the thousands of children who come to harm in various ways every year. Including reference to her in your writing is really just a cheap trick – we, the reader, get a little voyeuristic thrill at someone else’s second hand distress – nice.

  And as for why I have posted my comments here, I am ‘anonymous’ because I don’t wish to sign up for an account with Google. Neither do I, personally, have any ‘problems’ which need addressing. I just hate to see such sloppy thinking and poor writing go unchallenged, particularly when some of the substance of this blog concerns real people and places, including children, who are clearly identifiable to those who move in the same circles as DulwichMum. She has every right to say what she likes here, but she should not expect everyone to be happy about it. Why should only her admirers have a voice?

  Thekla

• 

  Foxy Minx said,

  Then why oh why do you keep reading DMs blog and feeling obliged to comment on it?
  You are clearly a sad and sick woman.
  Slag off anyone you like. But not here, and not on this subject.

• 

  Anonymous said,

  Hey! What’s going on here?

  Everyone knows that “anonymous” is not really anonymous. In fact “anonymous” is synonymous with “can’t be bothered to invent an unfunny pseudonym”. So all the comments about the cloak of anonymity are complete nonsense.

  I agree with the post on free speech even though foxy minx uses her right to free speech to be abusive …

  None of this makes me a bad person you know, because I too want Maddy to be found safe and well.

  Foxy Mink says that Thekla’s criticism about DM using sensationalism doesn’t belong on this post. That can’t be true, can it? What really doesn’t belong on here is cheap abuse.

• 

  AntiScam said,

  How are the children clearly identifiable in the blog ? Only Max and Freya are mentioned aren’t they. Anonymous has clearly got the wrong end of the stick with regard to who is writing the blog and what it is about and the fact that a lot of people are finding it funny and very entertaining. Sloppy thinking and poor writing! This is a blog, which are mostly written on the fly so to speak, and DM is not in school where marks out of 10 are awarded for grammer etc. I think there is a hint of the green eyed monster about.

• 

  Thekla said,

  Well, that was a bore. Seems that DulwichMum has grown tired of anonymous posts.

  I think there is a hint of the green eyed monster about.

  Hardly. I can think of few things more unappealing than being considered popular or funny as a result of writing an online diary mocking my family, my household and my peers.

  And I don’t think I have the ‘wrong end of the stick’. This is being written by a woman who lives in Dulwich and has two children. She thinks she’s funny, as apparently, do you. I’m entitled to disagree. Not much to get confused about there.

  Thekla

Add A Comment