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JAWS
18-Jan-06, 09:07
I will try to be careful with the way I open this thread because of the Personalities and the Organisation involved.
The fact that Tony Blair's five year old son Leo, and the organisation Father's for Justice play a major part is not relevant to the problem.
If anybody wants to comment on Leo being the PMs son or on the anything about Fathers for Justice, then a different thread might be appropriate.

It would appear that the security services had become aware of what seems to to be little more than idle chatter among some ex-members of the organisation that kidnapping Leo Blair and holding him for a few hours might be a good publicity stunt.
The idea, terrible as it is, it would seem was not even at any sort of planning stage.
I have no objection to the fact that the security services appear to have taken some sort of appropriate measures.

My problem is that the press and media are screaming all this from the roof tops.
It seems that the Sun (of course) has published the story and the Media, from the reports I have so far heard, are giving it a large amount of headline airtime.

I appreciate that once the story is made public they can't ignore it but has the correct thing been done by screaming the idea to the whole world.

Whilst Leo Blair has presumable now got the proper security there are other promenant families who's small children might well have been put into a similar state of risk.
There may well be far more dangerous people who have now been presented with a "good idea" for a publicity stunt and may well kill a child to make their point.

I may be over-reacting a little in those concerns.
The question I pose is that, in view of the very frail and vague circumstances would it have been better if the Press and Media had shown a little more restraint or is the story so important that coverage was absolutely necessary.
I am, of course, asking that as if the story was not already public knowledge.

brandy
18-Jan-06, 10:08
politically i would even start to know the ramifications.. but for a fact i knkow how i would feel in mrs blairs place!
just teh thought that some one would take my boys.. even for a ffew hours is horrifying!
i dont see how anyone who is a parent or a caring human being could even begin to think of kidnapping a child for any reason..
with the coverage they will be cowering in fear ... looking over their shoulders and jumping at every shadow..
and leo being 5 will understand that things are not right and little people have big ears so .. how do you think they will keep the rumors from him?

so now you have a 5 year old terrified he is going to be taken from his mummy and daddy..
wonder if they thought of that before they started shouting it from the roooftops?