Look 4 Maddie ¡Please!

I saw this during my walk home yesterday, scrawled on a bus stop. It made me realise just how pervasive this story has become in the UK. It also struck me as interesting that they used the Spanish-style inverted exclamation mark to emphasize the "please!". It made me wonder who the writer was, who they expected to read it, and what they'd hoped to achieve. Maybe this made them feel like they were doing something to help a situation entirely out of their hands.

It also makes me wonder how much longer the story of this little blonde girl can stay in the news. Every day seems to bring a new lead, often barely newsworthy but hungrily seized apon by the British media. Today it was reported that the Portuguese police are going to start using face recognition technology to scan holiday snaps taken at the resort at the time around the kidnapping. Worthwhile, possibly, but it's starting to sound increasingly like they're clutching at straws.

On a lighter note, did anyone else see Paul Merton in China last night? It featured the ingenious Mr Wu, a Chinese farmer who makes robots out of rubbish. Each one named after their creator, and each one wonderfully idiosyncratic. The moment where the giant silver robot appeared - solemnly pulling a rickshaw past the window of the room where Paul was chatting to Mr Wu's long-suffering wife - was the most magical thing I've seen on television in ages.

I found a video of the robot on Youtube last night, which doesn't quite give you the full experience, but will give you an idea...