Hindsight versus Foresight...

They say hindsight is a wonderful thing... they really do!  And funnily enough, there is an awful lot of it going on in this case.

"Of course, with hindsight... it's put in a very different light to us."

Gerry McCann

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"...it's only in hindsight that... you know, which is a wonderful thing, you think, 'I wonder was that relevant?"

Kate McCann

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"...they'd said they'd been crying and... this is sort of with hindsight but I was trying to think whether I'd heard anything but..."

Rachael Oldfield

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"Yeah, I was carrying sort of... across the body like that... I suppose in ret...in hindsight you'd probably think that somebody would carry them more across the shoulder."

Jane Tanner

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"With hindsight,... And again with hindsight,... with hindsight we should have taken action earlier, against the newspapers in the UK for publishing these stories."

Gerry McCann

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"We were given legal advice that what we did was well within the bounds of reasonable parenting and of course at the time we thought what we did was perfectly reasonable.  However hindsight has proven that we made a mistake..."

Gerry McCann

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"In hindsight, yes, Gerry and Kate wish they hadn't left the children alone."

Trish Cameron

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"Kate always felt, in awful hindsight, their movements were watched..."

A friend of the McCanns

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"In hindsight, he recognises he perhaps got a little too close to the couple and it may have clouded his judgement..."

A friend of Father Pacheco

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"I want to tell her, for a start, that many of us have left our children in situations which (with hindsight) could have been disastrous..."

Bel Looney

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"With hindsight, Kate and Gerry think someone could have disturbed Madeleine that night..."

Clarence Mitchell

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"I think there's a tremendous amount of hindsight going on..."

Jon Corner

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Yes, the buzzword was hindsight... not as bad as ludicrous but almost... Anyway, what about that incredible act of foresight?  After the child's mysterious disappearance, these people had enough foresight to...

Call the right people

Delete data from their phones

Create their own private company

Trademark the company name
Employ a crack team of lawyers

Give up work

Record a daily diary

Plan events months in advance

Create a wider agenda

Hold back photos and videos

Flee from Portugal

and many more...

...but not enough to realise the blatant dangers of leaving children alone?  They did have the foresight to use the stairgate provided as protection against those steep, concrete steps, yet none when treading that cold, tiled floor?  No foresight to all the dangers within a normal dwelling - sockets, door hinges, climbable furniture, sharp objects and corners, cutlery drawer, hot water?  Not to mention what was stored under the sink?... We all know that list is endless.  And with full responsibility being put on this 'little mother', anything could have happened to her younger siblings.  No foresight of a baby waking up, being lifted from their travel cot or fed something unsavoury?  They say their checks were all about listening for indications that the children had woken up or were crying, so did they really care about them simply waking up alone and in the dark?  And being frightened.

The mind boggles as to what Madeleine McCann and her little holidaying companions could have got up to if they'd woken up in an empty apartment.  It's a horrifying thought and one which should never be 'gotten over'.  In fact, it would be helpful to publicise to other, ahemm naive parents, instead of brushing under the carpet.

We are led to believe that all of the above was simply overlooked by eight professional adults, all parents of small children and babies.  They all left their children alone, in apartments further away than the McCanns?  Did they really?  Could any caring, sensible parent really be that selfish for the sake of a meal with friends?

Hindsight may be a wonderful thing, however it really is the donkey's ass when a little foresight or common sense is all that need be applied.

**Thanks to the McCannFiles for reference, please click to visit.