Tony Bennetts responses to Blacksmith's "A worthy cause"

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Tony Bennett Today at 12:22 am
saltnpepper wrote:
The Blacksmith Bureau

A worthy cause

Mr Tony Bennett finds himself in a tight spot. The Bureau and Mr Bennett very much don’t get on for all sorts of reasons, none of which are we going to list: doing so would only be seized on by the parents’ diminishing bunch of allies who have precious else to sustain them than pleasure at the misfortunes of others.

REPLY - Blacksmith, I'm not quite sure why we 'don't get on', never having met you, nor spoken to you so far as I can recall, but if you don't get on with me, OK, noted. I do seem to remember that you have said some unpleasant things about me, and I think with some expeletives added. My beliefs require me to forgive others, so if you have said anything bad about me, I forgive you.

Mr Bennett, like many before him when faced by opponents with greater financial clout, chose to try and avoid being bankrupted in the libel courts.

REPLY - That's correct. Where you speak of 'greater financial clout', I'm really not sure that I have ANY financial clout. The gross imbalance of financial clout is called by the European Court of Human Rights 'inequality of arms'. And in several ECHR cases, they have said that inequality of arms means that any trial is unlawful. Period. End of. As in Steel & Morris v UK, and Alkan v Turkey.

For reasons which he has never given the public he then chose not to stay silent as the terms of his formal gagging order demanded.

REPLY - Let's be very clear. The terms of the undertakings never required me to 'stay silent', as both the McCanns and Carter-Ruck accept. Indeed, in one of my letters to Carter-Ruck, I actually wrote the words: "My undertakngs were not a Trappist vow of silence". I am fully at liberty (or so I thought) to write as much as I wished on the facts of the case. The McCanns themselves accept that I can recite as many facts about the case as I wish. For example:

* Listing obvious contradictions in witness statements

* Examining their choice of private investigators

* Reproducing the list of police questions that Dr Kate McCann refused to answer

* Listing the reasons why Tavares de Almeida in his report of 10.9.07 said the Portuguese police decided to make the McCanns suspects in Madeleine's disappearance...

...and so on.

Look at some of my articles, running to 30-50 pages, and (if you look at their committal file), there may be only 2 lines within those articles that are said to breach the terms of any of the undertakings.

He told us what his savings were some time ago and it is clear that the Smethurst and McCann costs already accrued will wipe out that figure

REPLY - If (a) the McCanns win and (b) if the judge then awards them all of their claimed costs.

It is clear also that the chances of a support fund raising significant amounts of money to assist him as things stand are very low.

REPLY - I suspect that's correct.

He is bankrupt.

REPLY - Hold on a moment. Not yet, by a long chalk.

The temptation to try even now to cut his losses shouldn’t trouble him any longer – it is too late. He is broke,virtually on his own, and unless he publicly recants...

REPLY - That won't do me any good, it's too late for a recantation now. Even if I did recant, I'd probably do an 'Archbishop Cranmer' and end up being burnt at the stake at the end of the day anyway.

...he is likely to face jail, perhaps repeatedly.

REPLY - Go to jail? For repeating what the original detective in the case has said, in a book which has been translated into 9 different langauges and has sold over 600,000 copies in around 30 countries around the world? That seems more than a tad unfair, don't you think? Especially in this land famed the world over for loving freedom of speech and allowing robust debate.

It is a position which is going to test him to his very roots, as it would test any of us. And in that situation lies his salvation. What else can the courts and his enemies do to him? It is Kate and Gerry McCann who are asking for Mr Bennett’s imprisonment. And it is they who will have to decide what action to take should Mr Bennett, his original contempt purged and with no financial means to pay future fines or costs, make fresh and, one hopes, very carefully considered, comments on them.

REPLY - Spiller v Joseph [2010] gives me and everyone else on this forum and everywhere else the right to make 'honest co mment' on just about anything.

Should Mr Bennett go to jail he becomes, to put it bluntly, a valuable commodity for the first time.

REPLY - Thanks a bunch!

Whatever criticisms can be made of him hewill be in jail because of his beliefs about justice and the way he has expressed them to the public, something that most people thought could
no longer happen in the UK.

REPLY - You make a valid point there.

Mr Bennett has never gained financially from his stance on the fate of Madeleine McCann

REPLY - As members of The Madeleine Committee know and can verify, I've made a significant loss so far.

, unlike the journalists who profited so richly from writing about the family and unlike the fortunate recipients of the Find Madeleine Fund. People instinctively recognise and respond when someone makes a sacrifice for their beliefs.

REPLY - Not always. It depends what the issue is.

And so, as both Mr Bennett and, more particularly, the McCanns should recognise, do the media. He may not believe it at the moment and he may feel that we are being presumptuous about even discussing his affairs like this; but once he is truly broke he has a surprisingly strong hand to play.

REPLY - I doubt it..

We've said some very harsh, indeed libellous, words directly to Mr Bennett in the past.

REPLY - I agree.

So be it.

REPLY - You could recant?

If he goes to jail we’ll be among the first to make a financial contribution to assist him.

REPLY - A food parcel from Fortnum and Mason would be nice..

____________________


Tony Bennett

Haha. Nice to see Tony hasn't lost his sense of humour whilst making some good points in answer to Blacksmith.

wjk wrote:Haha. Nice to see Tony hasn't lost his sense of humour whilst making some good points in answer to Blacksmith.

I do admire Mr. Bennett for standing up to the McCanns. It is one thing to log onto a computer and express your thoughts but just think about what he has been doing for the past five years - he has stood up for Madeleine never allowing himself to be bullied by her parents and their publicly funded legal team.

I wish him only the very best in his continued fight for justice for a little girl he hadn't even heard of until the night she was, at the very least, abandoned by her parents.

I admire Tony greatly

he along with Mr (Dr?) Amaral have put their 'money where their mouth is' regarding this case

if I had the money I would be 100% backing both of them ( sadly I don't) but if my euromillions ticket tonight comes in watch out! :-)

unlike others who talk a good game and see fit to slate either one of them no-one can deny their dedication to Maddie's cause

when this is all over and the truth is known I hope everyone recognises the sacrifice he ( they) have made

Am I allowed to say that I don't admire him at all?

Long time ago on this forum he posted his madeleine voice post.
I did tell him that i found it very creepy.......................
it is still a very wierd post for a mature man to post.......taking on the voice of a missing child to her parents.. shudders if not actually
no is fine
still find it very creepy and repulsive
So no admiring from me ....................imho.

I'm quite sure he doesn't admire you either, snowflake.



Creepy?


What are you suggesting ?

kitti wrote:I'm quite sure he doesn't admire you either, snowflake.



Creepy?


What are you suggesting ?

Why would he admire me?

He replied to my post here when i told him i found it creepy.

"creepy" in that an adult man a grandfather would sit down and write such words imagining the words of a dead child in heaven speaking to her parents,
dont you find that creepy?

Novelists, dramatists, poets and composers write in other people's voices all the time.

If educationalists found that form of writing 'creepy', there would be no English Literature or Musicology courses left for students to participate in.

Snowflake,you havn't been around for a while.I hope i didn't upset you with that question you prefered not to answer. Do you think the twins are safe or are things still unsettled at the mccann household ?

almostgothic wrote:Novelists, dramatists, poets and composers write in other people's voices all the time.

If educationalists found that form of writing 'creepy', there would be no English Literature or Musicology courses left for students to participate in.

I didnt realise that you included mr bennett as a dramatist, poet , composer ..................


honestly for a grown adult man to assume the voice of a little missing girl and to address er wordsto her parents..............
so would you do this?
how would you feel if it was addresed to another missing child and thereby his/her parents

would it be another literary masterpeiece?

Lioned wrote:Snowflake,you havn't been around for a while.I hope i didn't upset you with that question you prefered not to answer. Do you think the twins are safe or are things still unsettled at the mccann household ?

what bizarre questions?

snowflake wrote:

Lioned wrote:Snowflake,you havn't been around for a while.I hope i didn't upset you with that question you prefered not to answer. Do you think the twins are safe or are things still unsettled at the mccann household ?

what bizarre questions?

Why so ? Not unreasonable i would have thought as you come here as the only supporter of the mccanns seemingly seeking answers from a group of devout disbelievers.
Not bizzare to wonder why you are here is it ? Are the twins safe ?

snowflake wrote:

almostgothic wrote:Novelists, dramatists, poets and composers write in other people's voices all the time.

If educationalists found that form of writing 'creepy', there would be no English Literature or Musicology courses left for students to participate in.

I didnt realise that you included mr bennett as a dramatist, poet , composer ..................

And I just had a bet with myself that this would be your exact response. How predictable.

That's not what I meant and you know damn well it wasn't.
I meant that writers of all varieties, professional and amateur, famous and unknown, have been using that technique since time immemorial.

I'm no fan of TB at all although I wish him luck for his 'battle' against his opposers. That said what I find truly repulsive is neglecting children, going on holiday with three kids and returning home with two because one went missing while you were too busy drinking, eating, laughing and having fun with your friends while your three under 4 year olds are left alone in a holiday apartment in a foreign country with no supervision. That I find truly

Snowflake, would you mind if I asked you a question.

On this side of the fence we have the likes of Tony Bennett and Amaral, both of whom have been vocal and pro-active in the search for the truth as to what happened to Madeleine. Also on this side of the fence are various forums, such as this, where people discuss, debate and ask questions about the case.

On the other side of the fence we have people on other forums who discuss mostly what is said on these forums, but have no figure head or Bennet/Amaral equivalent, out there trying to establish the facts, prove the parents story to be true, show the world how it could have happened in the way the McCanns say it could have happened.

My question is why is that ? Where are the Amaral / Bennett equivalents on that side of the argument ?

Whilst there are discussions to be had in the way both of these men might have gone about things, some will agree 100% with what they have done and continue to do, others will concede they may have made some mistakes along the way, but surely it can be acknowledged that at the root of their actions is one common theme - to find out what happened to a lost little girl. That can never be a bad thing.

I am not asking this to start an argument with you, but I truly would like to know what your opinion is. Simply put if Amaral and Bennett were not in the picture, had not started their searches five years ago, would anybody be still here, on either side of the fence ? What would have happened ?

almostgothic wrote:

snowflake wrote:

almostgothic wrote:Novelists, dramatists, poets and composers write in other people's voices all the time.

If educationalists found that form of writing 'creepy', there would be no English Literature or Musicology courses left for students to participate in.

I didnt realise that you included mr bennett as a dramatist, poet , composer ..................

And I just had a bet with myself that this would be your exact response. How predictable.

That's not what I meant and you know damn well it wasn't.
I meant that writers of all varieties, professional and amateur, famous and unknown, have been using that technique since time immemorial.

But he isnt a writer of any variety.
Not professional, nor amateur.

So should I assume a voice for another little missing child?

It always makes me smile when trolls mention the poem (or whatever you call it) that Tony wrote. They seem to think (if thinking is the correct word for what goes on inside their heads) that this error of judgement (which Tony freely admits to himself) negates everything else he has said and done relating to this case.

Mossman: I don't advise that you hold your breath waiting for an answer!

Claudia79 wrote:I'm no fan of TB at all although I wish him luck for his 'battle' against his opposers. That said what I find truly repulsive is neglecting children, going on holiday with three kids and returning home with two because one went missing while you were too busy drinking, eating, laughing and having fun with your friends while your three under 4 year olds are left alone in a holiday apartment in a foreign country with no supervision. That I find truly

At some time when you omit the usual "drinking"" EATING" and "laughing" and "having fun" nonsense and actually give some thought to the fact that none of this may have resulted in a little girl being missing, then you might ust be on the right track.
I hate the word kid.

If Snowflake finds TB's writings 'creepy', i hope she never gets to read Page 129 of KM's bewk!

The loving, pleasing and enjoying her delight bit (I think on page 128 so it's a real double whammy) is equally bad in my opinion.

What "normal" person would say that about their young daughter?

Snowflake,sorry if my questions have offended you,must be very difficult for you.

mossman wrote:Snowflake, would you mind if I asked you a question.

On this side of the fence we have the likes of Tony Bennett and Amaral, both of whom have been vocal and pro-active in the search for the truth as to what happened to Madeleine. Also on this side of the fence are various forums, such as this, where people discuss, debate and ask questions about the case.

On the other side of the fence we have people on other forums who discuss mostly what is said on these forums, but have no figure head or Bennet/Amaral equivalent, out there trying to establish the facts, prove the parents story to be true, show the world how it could have happened in the way the McCanns say it could have happened.

My question is why is that ? Where are the Amaral / Bennett equivalents on that side of the argument ?

Whilst there are discussions to be had in the way both of these men might have gone about things, some will agree 100% with what they have done and continue to do, others will concede they may have made some mistakes along the way, but surely it can be acknowledged that at the root of their actions is one common theme - to find out what happened to a lost little girl. That can never be a bad thing.

I am not asking this to start an argument with you, but I truly would like to know what your opinion is. Simply put if Amaral and Bennett were not in the picture, had not started their searches five years ago, would anybody be still here, on either side of the fence ? What would have happened ?

My most honest answer is I dont give a stuff about anything apart from little madeleine being found and that not for one moment do i believe that her parents had anything to do with any cover up, disposing her body and that seems to be the opinion of NSY
and while im being honest if either amaral and bennett are "figure heads" for your side of the discussion, then you are very welcome to both as not for a single moment do i believe they are remotely interesested in little madeleine.
Their own egos are more important. imho.

almostgothic wrote:If Snowflake finds TB's writings 'creepy', i hope she never gets to read Page 129 of KM's bewk!

Ive read the "BOOK".
Nothing in the book was "creepy"
I can imagine that Kate had the vilest of thoughts abought what could be happening to her little daughter, and that was possibly the mildest way she could describe her thoughts.

If your little daughter was abducted, would you not imagine the worst?

Lioned wrote:Snowflake,sorry if my questions have offended you,must be very difficult for you.

Why would it be difficult for me?

snowflake wrote:

almostgothic wrote:If Snowflake finds TB's writings 'creepy', i hope she never gets to read Page 129 of KM's bewk!

Ive read the "BOOK".
Nothing in the book was "creepy"
I can imagine that Kate had the vilest of thoughts abought what could be happening to her little daughter, and that was possibly the mildest way she could describe her thoughts.

If your little daughter was abducted, would you not imagine the worst?

I would be able to imagine the worst, but I have never thought of small children as having "perfect little genitals."