Comments on Obsolete: I'm not sorry, and I blame Allison Pearson.

Fiona and her family are lovely people, they live ...

2009-05-25T20:29:03.556+01:00

Fiona and her family are lovely people, they live near me, what happened to Scarlett was a tragedy. What the stupid journolistic cow should realise is that Scarlett was a 15 yr old left in the care of adults, not a 3 yr old left alone in an apartment while her parents went for a drink. I imagine that many 15 yr olds are left while their parents go out, tragedy can strike, even if a minor is left for a couple of hours in their own home.

Class snobbery, Fiona is a gypsy therefore worth berating, Fiona lives an alternative lifestyle, therefore worth berating, Fiona home educated,(legal, I do it too) therefore worth berating.
Fiona is worth 1000 Allison Pearsons!

The voice of reason at last -thanks.Scarlett was m...

2008-03-26T02:19:00.000+00:00

The voice of reason at last -thanks.Scarlett was murdered and then raped again by the British press,how do they sleep? Sharon MacKeown.

"witless, brain-addled fuckbubble" poetry, pure po...

2008-03-16T14:14:00.000+00:00

"witless, brain-addled fuckbubble" poetry, pure poetry! And what a smug looking bitch she is too.

[applauds]Since you say comments encourage you, I ...

2008-03-14T11:15:00.000+00:00

[applauds]

Since you say comments encourage you, I thought I'd better post one. Great article, great blog. Keep it up :)

I got back from work to find the middle of a Richa...

2008-03-14T09:44:00.000+00:00

I got back from work to find the middle of a Richard and Judy 'debate' on this very topic. The most rational of the guests tried to move the conversation over to the police investigation, but Richard kept stopping him saying that wasn't the topic under discussion. Apparently the topic was "Would you leave your 15-year old child with an unknown person abroad". Wonderful upper-middle class fodder.

kid: no need to apologise, if I felt that it wasn'...

2008-03-13T20:10:00.000+00:00

kid: no need to apologise, if I felt that it wasn't suitable I would have removed it. You doubtless spoke for those who would have just dismissed Kamm in similar terms without going through his contradictions and evasions.

I think it's a good idea to have something approaching a comment policy though, which my next post will be on.

Feel free to remove my comment on the Kamm post - ...

2008-03-13T04:38:00.000+00:00

Feel free to remove my comment on the Kamm post - I thought it was funny spoken in my head but there baldly on the screen it looks hysterically nasty and vindictive. I sometimes forget that in many ways below-the-line commenters have a duty of care to the blog they are contributing to (i.e not to go off-topic; not to undermine a valid posting by being somewhat over the top), and as a pseudonymous sometime commenter (for work reasons) I could appear to look like a sock-puppet, thus potentially inadvertently causing a more negative view of the author. So, apologies...

As for Pearson and the Mail, I'm not surprised that they have taken a very negative line against Fiona MacKeown: they want to attack Scarlett outright for being (allegedly) a sexually-active, drug using minor. But even the Mail's readers might recoil if their paper of choice ran attack pieces on murdered children, so the mother gets it both barrels.

In summary, it appears MacKeown left her daughter ...

2008-03-13T01:43:00.000+00:00

In summary, it appears MacKeown left her daughter with this guy who she apparently trusted. Her daughter then turns up dead; according to the Goan police, she drowned. Mother refuses to believe, gets a second opinion, which finds that she had over 50 separate bruises. Most likely was raped and killed. Mother demands justice. Daily Mail eviscerates her.

By quite a few accounts the Mail, because of its success, such as it is, pays well and has a decent pension scheme, unlike other papers. Davies in FEN, to come back to it for the umpteenth time, makes clear that if writers don't produce what's expected of them, it gets sent back to them, or it simply doesn't get in at all. They learn the lesson the next time. Most on the Mail are probably decent liberal people who decide to produce this crap for an easy life, regardless of the consequences. Others, and I would presume Pearson is one of them, are just complete fucking scum.

I just looked at that link mellomeh provided. Didn...

2008-03-13T01:09:00.000+00:00

I just looked at that link mellomeh provided. Didn't read the story, just looked at the picture captions.

Picture showing a messy interior:
A room in the caravan Scarlett Keeling and her family call home

Picture showing another view of messy caravan:
The family caravans are a far cry from the idylic image Fiona MacKeown painted

Picture of Scarlett in a bikini riding an elephant:
This is one of the last pictures taken of Scarlett in Goa before she was found dead on the beach

Picture of Scarlet and Fiona MacKeown:
Scarlett was one of Fiona MacKeown's nine children by five different fathers

Picture of a rather untidy caravan site:
The family live on a run-down small holding in Devon

Picture of Scarlett and her boyfriend:
Scarlett with boyfriend Julio Lobo, ten years her senior
He is also black.

I have to admit I don't know this story at all but I obviously gather than Scarlet was murdered. I don't think it matters if mum herself did the murder, she doesn't deserve ripping apart so vicously - twice.
If there is a case to answer it's up to the police to sort it, not some a "news"paper.

As for Pearson herself. I don't know if you have to be a complete asshole to work at the mail, or if you get training in it, or if people who work there are actually decent people but are paid to pretend to be assholes (which to me removes their integrity and thus they become assholes for another reason).. whatever the case, the Mail is much more of a black mark on this country than the government could ever do.

Worth remembering that the Mail doesn't just attac...

2008-03-13T00:59:00.000+00:00

Worth remembering that the Mail doesn't just attack those grieving for not coming up to their moral standards, but also women that have yet to be convicted of any crime; Meredith Kercher apparently unlike Scarlett Keeling wasn't asking for it.

Accompanying this horrid opinion piece is an equal...

2008-03-13T00:07:00.000+00:00

Accompanying this horrid opinion piece is an equally disgusting article picking apart their private life.

Heh. It's impossible to write a short piece about ...

2008-03-12T22:50:00.000+00:00

Heh. It's impossible to write a short piece about this vile old witch. I only discovered Pearson last week when I read the Matthews piece on here. Awful, awful woman. Gets paid real money to slag off people in distress and call them bad parents. Yet they show more dignity and compassion than I think she'll ever possess.