The Duke & Duchess of Sussex and Family, News and Events 4: April-June 2021

[UglyAmerican]

Didn't he arrive at Heathrow on Sunday afternoon? While he lives far away from his family, it doesn't take over 48 hours. So, he most likely left home on Saturday. Not on Friday morning before it hit the news.

Good point! I remember the media being camped out at his gate as soon as the news broke. IIRC, they never saw him leaving, which is why I assumed he'd left before they got there. But maybe there's another way off the property.

TMZ is actually extremely reliable when it comes to these things - they are often the ones to break death news, as an example Kobe Bryant.

I find it more likely that they didn’t think Harry would speak to them. Charles may have been angry, but he would never put his anger above his father’s death and informing Harry. Even now, reports indicate he would love to reconcile with H...

You're right. TMZ's tactics are known to be kind of shady, but that's not the same as the information being unreliable.

That could be their reasoning, but remember this wasn't long after William's conversation with Harry (which was probably an attempt to reconcile) was reported by Gayle King as "not productive." They may have just not wanted Harry telling the world about what exactly they said to him, whether they sounded upset when they said it, etc. I don't blame them for that.

 

[Heavs]

Harry talking about his mental health issues is just a mess at this point and I can't think he's actually helping anyone, he isn't really presenting his pathway out of his anguish (because he isn't yet) and seems very muddled on blaming others (still) despite it being "The Way Forward".

His family (esp his brother) knew he had problems in his 20s and tried to/got him to go to counselling and whilst they may never have realised the full extent of his pain I sincerely don't think it's anyone's fault if they don't talk about it, I speak from personal experience of not telling anyone how I was feeling.

James Middleton said he didn't tell his family the full extent of his depression until they started going to therapy together and he gave his therapist permission to share it, even though they knew it was bad. This was all going on at the same time as Harry and Meghan were experiencing their problems.

They certainly seemed to have known he was using and drinking heavily but it's almost impossible to get someone who doesn't want to to stop and get into a 12 step Fellowship etc.

As for the Embassy trying to reach him, maybe his family did try and he didn't answer so they asked officials to keep trying and finally call the police?

The Telegraph article says they managed to talk to a night security guard so surely someone would have been awake to take a landline call? (If they have one?). We know all the family were expecting the news.

Or maybe they really were estranged once it was clear they were giving Gayle King permission to share things. I think we can say they weren't having private Zoom chats with HM very often if their phones weren't on to expect it at any time.

It is clear they *made sure* he knew before the media were informed.

https://archive.ph/GNKKk

 

[Somebody]

Good point! I remember the media being camped out at his gate as soon as the news broke. IIRC, they never saw him leaving, which is why I assumed he'd left before they got there. But maybe there's another way off the property.

I see where you are coming from. They might have left their home on Friday morning but stayed for example at Doria's or a friend's house before Harry left on Saturday for the UK? Although, if they are smart they also have another way out to leave their property (via their neighbors or so) in cases like this.

 

[Betsypaige]

You're right. TMZ's tactics are known to be kind of shady, but that's not the same as the information being unreliable.

That could be their reasoning, but remember this wasn't long after William's conversation with Harry (which was probably an attempt to reconcile) was reported by Gayle King as "not productive." They may have just not wanted Harry telling the world about what exactly they said to him, whether they sounded upset when they said it, etc. I don't blame them for that.

That’s exactly it...it’s probably that shadiness that gets them the scoops..

GK reported that both C and W had spoken with H...which actually supports your theory even more, based on the timing. If that’s the case, that’s incredibly sad...

Harry talking about his mental health issues is just a mess at this point and I can't think he's actually helping anyone, he isn't really presenting his pathway out of his anguish (because he isn't yet) and seems very muddled on blaming others (still) despite it being "The Way Forward".

His family (esp his brother) knew he had problems in his 20s and tried to/got him to go to counselling and whilst they may never have realised the full extent of his pain I sincerely don't think it's anyone's fault if they don't talk about it, I speak from personal experience of not telling anyone how I was feeling.

James Middleton said he didn't tell his family the full extent of his depression until they started going to therapy together and he gave his therapist permission to share it, even though they knew it was bad. This was all going on at the same time as Harry and Meghan were experiencing their problems.

They certainly seemed to have known he was using and drinking heavily but it's almost impossible to get someone who doesn't want to to stop and get into a 12 step Fellowship etc.

As for the Embassy trying to reach him, maybe his family did try and he didn't answer so they asked officials to keep trying and finally call the police?

The Telegraph article says they managed to talk to a night security guard so surely someone would have been awake to take a landline call? (If they have one?). We know all the family were expecting the news.

Or maybe they really were estranged once it was clear they were giving Gayle King permission to share things. I think we can say they weren't having private Zoom chats with HM very often if their phones weren't on to expect it at any time.

It is clear they *made sure* he knew before the media were informed.

https://archive.ph/GNKKk

I agree with this entire post, but I’ll comment on the parts in bold.

H shouldn’t be advising anyone about mental health - unless it’s to suggest it - since although it worked for him in the past, he’s apparently still in the process of additional therapy. He’s also not qualified to offer advice, especially when his main goal seems to be to get revenge on his family - hence the public attacks - and making money. There is no earthly reason for H to have broadcast his unhappiness - no qualified therapist would ever have suggested that this was the best way to heal.

I wouldn’t even say “almost” - I believe it really is impossible to get someone to do something if they truly don’t want to do it, especially something like getting help for addiction.

 

[Osipi]

As far as alerting Harry that his grandfather had died, what doesn't make sense to me is that Philip's death, at the time it happened, was not unexpected. Surely someone in the family would have called Harry to tell him that the time was at hand and if it was someone in my family and it was the middle of the night and I was alerted my loved one's time was near, the phones would not be off and I'd be anxious to get that call and even calling family myself for updates whether I was feuding with them or not.

Harry was close to and loved his grandfather and I have no doubt about that at all. So, this story does not sit right with me. It's TMZ and if I'm not mistaken, Thomas Markle's favorite go to to get his story out. If by some chance, all the details of this story are true, and the sheriff had to alert Harry, it would really prove the distance there is between Harry and *all* of his British relatives.

There are also people that are court ordered to attend 12 step meetings for various reasons. It doesn't work for them other than getting a piece of paper signed to present to court. The steps do not work unless a person actively takes the first step of his own volition which is admitting that he has a problem. It sounds simple, but denial is a major component of addiction.

I don't see Harry anywhere near a "first step" yet as he's not come close to admitting that he's the source of any of his mental health problems. Everything "wrong" has been finger pointed to something outside of Harry. He's blaming his mental health issues on exterior people and events and hasn't taken responsibility for any problems that he's had that are on his own head.

 

[Alison H]

According to my newspaper - which may or may not be accurate - the police went round after numerous phone calls were made but no-one answered. Maybe Harry and Meghan are just heavy sleepers! Or maybe their phones were switched off.

 

[UglyAmerican]

I'm inclined to believe it, just because there would be records of the sheriff having been sent there at that date and time. If they're making the whole thing up, that will be clear soon enough. I doubt they'd bother making up something so easy to disprove.

 

[Denville]

I'm inclined to believe it, just because there would be records of the sheriff having been sent there at that date and time. If they're making the whole thing up, that will be clear soon enough. I doubt they'd bother making up something so easy to disprove.

Not sure, but it is an odd story. Who in the US wants to knock Harry in this way that they'd make up a story involving the police? As you say, there would probably be records if it is true and it would be provable. but surely the Sussexes have some live in staff? Wouldn't there be a housekeeper or someone who keeps their phone on, and could be contacted in an emergency? Philip's death was hardly unexpected, so they must have been thinking back in April that any day they could get a call saying he was worse or that he had passed away....

 

[ACO]

I literally slept through calls my cousin was in an awful car accident. Thankfully he recovered but it happened at like 2am and I was knocked out. I’m sure many people sleep through calls, especially in the dead of night.

With a toddler and a very pregnant wife, I can very well see them having the ringers low to make sure they get rest.

Also sounds like the embassy was calling their home line? No one from the family called their cells directly? Either way Harry was told and then so was the world.

But 8 hours difference can complicate things.

Also TMZ is fairly accurate on scoops but they have had some epics fails too. That said I see no reason to think this is false. Just not sure why it’s a story.

 

[UglyAmerican]

As I think about it more, I wonder. Didn't Meghan say that someone called and talked to their staff when they were both asleep, and the staff member left them a note saying Philip had been hospitalized? Obviously they knew who to call in that case. That also seems like the sort of thing they could have told Harry directly as a text or voicemail if he didn't pick up. But maybe this approach of talking to staff rather than principals is normal for them?

Their staff was kind of a revolving door when they lived in the UK, and maybe it still is. If whomever the Firm called to inform them of Philip's hospitalization a month before his death had left H&M's employment in the meantime, they may not have had the new person's number. There would probably have been someone available for emergencies - reading between the lines, I suspect they have someone on duty for security 24/7 - but that doesn't mean everyone was kept up-to-date on the contact information.

PS: Sorry for my American spellings!

 

[Claire]

Personally this confirms a few things to me - I do not think that the anyone in the family is currently in touch with Harry and Meghan. If they were picking up the phone and calling the Queen daily or if they were on the cousins Whatsapp group - they would have been something or been told.

 

[ACO]

I mean it was also like 3AM their time. LOL. They were sleeping.

 

[UglyAmerican]

Personally this confirms a few things to me - I do not think that the anyone in the family is currently in touch with Harry and Meghan. If they were picking up the phone and calling the Queen daily or if they were on the cousins Whatsapp group - they would have been something or been told.

I agree. I've always suspected they were misrepresenting this. I have no reason to think Meghan was lying when she told Oprah that she immediately picked up the phone to call the Queen and send good wishes for Philip's recovery. But IIRC, she didn't say the Queen took her call and spoke with her.

 

[Heavs]

I'm inclined to believe it, just because there would be records of the sheriff having been sent there at that date and time. If they're making the whole thing up, that will be clear soon enough. I doubt they'd bother making up something so easy to disprove.

A spokesperson for the Sheriff's office confirmed that they were asked to visit because no one was responding to phone calls and Harry needed to know urgently and that they gave a message to the gate guard for Harry to please call the Embassy, so it's true.

We were told all the family knew when he came out of hospital that this was the end and everyone had the chance to come and say goodbye. Was Harry not told this (due to his own actions) or did he not believe it? However at one point we were told Harry was self isolating because he knew the end was near.

If he knew it was the end why wasn't his phone on or why didn't he tell the guards/staff that they might have a 3am phone call? Did they both just sleep through the calls? Harry is not a stranger to the middle of the night bad news call.

This blows any "we keep in regular chatty Zoom contact with HM" out of the water. And possibly another nail in the "we're close to Eugenie/Jack".

We don't know if his family tried to contact him personally before asking the Embassy to try.

If not, it seems relations were so bad that either they knew he wouldn't pick up or not one of his relatives felt comfortable being the ones to pick up the phone and as Claire says they're no longer part of the family Whatsapp groups we've heard about.

This isn't necessarily a huge deal in and of itself but it potentially opens up more questions and contexts about family relations 1 month after Oprah and post Gayle King's "unproductive" statements.

 

[Betsypaige]

Personally this confirms a few things to me - I do not think that the anyone in the family is currently in touch with Harry and Meghan. If they were picking up the phone and calling the Queen daily or if they were on the cousins Whatsapp group - they would have been something or been told.

I think this is probably true. I think likely Charles and William were just kind of leaving Harry to live his life and do his thing...If reports are true that they didn’t trust H enough to have conversations with him without someone else in the too, they sure wouldn’t trust him not to reveal their phone conversations.

 

[HighGoalHighDreams]

I have to believe if Harry was in touch with anyone in his family, the message would not have been "call the embassy" but rather "return the calls of your grandmother/ father/ brother right away." Or if you were awoken in the middle of the night and told to call your embassy but saw a series of missed calls from your family members, who among us would not return those calls before calling the embassy. Methinks this is the story TMZ was breaking here. To be blunt, it's not a story how Harry found out about Philip's death. The story here is that no one in the family called Harry.

I'm not sure what stories about how people have missed calls about family events or make a habit of sleeping with their ringer off before have to do with this. Yes, people miss calls about major life events all the time- I missed the call when my father died because I sleep with my ringer off, too. That's not really what we're talking about here. What is odd here is that Philip's state of health was well known, and Harry also knew that he would have to be told before the urgent announcement could go out-- in other words, that it would create a situation like this if he was not able to be reached. Most people would not consider it normal when a family member is gravely ill and informing you would be a priority of international scale, to not leave a way to get ahold of oneself. Harry understood the situation he would be creating for his grandmother and the stress and logistical nightmare it would add to the day and seems to have "removed himself from the trappings of the institution" to the point he didn't care.

This is not like you or I just silencing our ringer.

 

[valeas]

I do not understand why somebody (cousins ...)should have tried to call Harry that night.
J'd think it was Charles job to do so and others would respect this.
And Charles was probably taking time, being shocked, comforting his mother, brothers, William.... and imagine what this death meant to the court. I guess though plans existed for decades, the situation suddenly went crazy, which is the normal thing to happen yet your father is a Prince.
I doubt Harry was that close to his grandparents since the Sussex left, the way Harry emphasis it again and again does not give proof but arouses doubts (my opinion).
I like many others turn off my phones and Meghan is said to be close to Yoga and maybe sensitive to radio waves/eletric smog....
The police telling them, is quite a normal procedure, so why not?

...

 

[Hallo girl]

Why would it be the American Embassy calling him, surely it would be the British Embassy in the USA.

 

[UglyAmerican]

[...]

To be fair to Harry here, could it be that no one told him his grandfather's condition? Most of us could piece together that "99 years old + released from hospital after more than a month" probably meant "going home to die," but nothing of that nature was publicly reported. And if they wanted to be sure it wouldn't be publicly reported, perhaps they thought it best to just not share those details with Harry.

 

[Claire]

I think this is probably true. I think likely Charles and William were just kind of leaving Harry to live his life and do his thing...If reports are true that they didn’t trust H enough to have conversations with him without someone else in the too, they sure wouldn’t trust him not to reveal their phone conversations.

The thing that has been bugging me is that Firm policy is dictated by the Crown. SO essentially if the Queen said Charles sort out the nonsense everything would be done to sort it out. The fact that according to the Sussex's they are/ were in contact with HMTQ and the DOE but not Charles seems counter to this. If Charles is not in touch - I don't think the Queen is either. I just don't see the Queen, Charles and William been on different points here.
But then again it seems like some of the younger royals - notably Eugenie has been in touch. I suppose they must have been to arrange things with Frogmore.

 

[Heavs]

To be fair to Harry here, could it be that no one told him his grandfather's condition? Most of us could piece together that "99 years old + released from hospital after more than a month" probably meant "going home to die," but nothing of that nature was publicly reported. And if they wanted to be sure it wouldn't be publicly reported, perhaps they thought it best to just not share those details with Harry.

Is is possible but after he died we were told that the entire family knew and Telegraph sources said that that included PH, because it was a big thing "did they know?!".

In none of their press releases or leaks during the events leading up to the funeral did they say "we didn't know" when they were taking a lot of heat for doing the interview whilst he was in hospital. And they did change the statement from "it's going ahead regardless" to "we would have cancelled if he had died that weekend" which suggests they were made aware of his condition.

Although, they also claimed to be in close contact with HM which I think we can now completely discount.

We know they had *some* contact after the Interview and that it was "unproductive". I would have thought some of that might have been "how could you do that when Grandfather is dying!" albeit that's speculation.

It wasn't hard to piece together the fact that he wasn't likely to hang on long, especially with PC's lockdown dash. Maybe they really didn't know or believed it to be a lie to get them to "stop speaking their truth".

Wouldn't the fact that Harry didn't know he was dying be something that he brought up as another example of his family's "cruelty"?

I don't know. It just seems a little weird that a) he had no idea and B) he wasn't on tenterhooks making sure he arranged for someone to take the call if he was indisposed/asleep. So much so that BP aides had to ask the Embassy to call and then the Embassy had to call the Sheriffs.

I don't necessarily have a problem thinking Harry had blocked his brother's number and we know PC doesn't have a mobile so it's possible aides tried to contact him on his behalf. And the cousins would be dealing with their own parent who had lost a parent and their own grief. And I think talk of them being close to Eugenie has been exaggerated.

 

[Hallo girl]

Meghan mentioned in the Oprah interview that she had known Eugenie before Harry.

 

[Heavs]

Meghan mentioned in the Oprah interview that she had known Eugenie before Harry.

IIRC Eugenie had some connections with Soho House and Misha Nonoo's ex husband Andrew Gilkes (he was her boss) so that's probably where she knew Eugenie from.

I'm not convinced it was a close friendship and there was nothing about it at the time of the engagement when they said Eugenie and Jack were they first to meet her because they were neighbours. Wouldn't they want to emphasis her being friends with her? Much was made about Eugenie and Cressida being close friends.

The Frogmore arrangement notwithstanding I'm not convinced they're close now (see timing of recent announcement) but if they were, wouldn't she be able to tell him "Grandfather is dying, keep your phone on"?

 

[Sandy345]

It's odd but I think Harry's not in great demand for anything other than what he's already done as far as trashing his family. That isn't something that is sustainable in the entertainment field but rather a "flash in the pan" as something he's doing that has never been done before. TV viewers in the US most likely do not remember the Duke and Duchess of Windsor other than the fact that Wallis Simpson was an American. Even they didn't publicly trash David's family.

I kind of see Harry already at the stage of his "fame" where he's similar to Eric Roberts and Pat Boone hawking walk in bathtubs and Joe Namath telling senior Americans to get what they're entitled to in Medicare benefits. These people, along with Harry are known to the American public for being famous once upon a time and a familiar face. Nothing more.

Eric Roberts, Pat Boone, and Joe Namath IMO are 'crying all the way to the bank.' Namath is a sports legend and I doubt needed this money to support himself now. Pat Boone is retired from singing, and probably has lots of financial security, not necessary for him to do the commercials. maybe he wants to stay active and not just sit home. Eric Roberts still gets movie work. Betty White became famous again when doing commercials and got more TV work. I don't consider them 'has beens.'

The Duke of Windsor made it known how he resented Wallis not getting the HRH. He was hardly silent about that.

 

[Betsypaige]

The thing that has been bugging me is that Firm policy is dictated by the Crown. SO essentially if the Queen said Charles sort out the nonsense everything would be done to sort it out. The fact that according to the Sussex's they are/ were in contact with HMTQ and the DOE but not Charles seems counter to this. If Charles is not in touch - I don't think the Queen is either. I just don't see the Queen, Charles and William been on different points here.
But then again it seems like some of the younger royals - notably Eugenie has been in touch. I suppose they must have been to arrange things with Frogmore.

Charles and Harry were speaking after that brief time when apparently Charles wouldn’t take H’s phone calls.... Does that mean they were in touch? I don’t know. Given how inaccurate some of the Sussexes comments have been, it’s hard to take them at face value.

Is is possible but after he died we were told that the entire family knew and Telegraph sources said that that included PH, because it was a big thing "did they know?!".

In none of their press releases or leaks during the events leading up to the funeral did they say "we didn't know" when they were taking a lot of heat for doing the interview whilst he was in hospital. And they did change the statement from "it's going ahead regardless" to "we would have cancelled if he had died that weekend" which suggests they were made aware of his condition.

Although, they also claimed to be in close contact with HM which I think we can now completely discount.

We know they had *some* contact after the Interview and that it was "unproductive". I would have thought some of that might have been "how could you do that when Grandfather is dying!" albeit that's speculation.

It wasn't hard to piece together the fact that he wasn't likely to hang on long, especially with PC's lockdown dash. Maybe they really didn't know or believed it to be a lie to get them to "stop speaking their truth".

Wouldn't the fact that Harry didn't know he was dying be something that he brought up as another example of his family's "cruelty"?

I don't know. It just seems a little weird that a) he had no idea and B) he wasn't on tenterhooks making sure he arranged for someone to take the call if he was indisposed/asleep. So much so that BP aides had to ask the Embassy to call and then the Embassy had to call the Sheriffs.

I don't necessarily have a problem thinking Harry had blocked his brother's number and we know PC doesn't have a mobile so it's possible aides tried to contact him on his behalf. And the cousins would be dealing with their own parent who had lost a parent and their own grief. And I think talk of them being close to Eugenie has been exaggerated.

Sherlock Holmes said “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth“. Granted, it’s not quite impossible, but if we assume that Harry being completely unaware of his grandfather’s condition is close to impossible to believe, then our other options - however improbable - are likely the truth. In this case, one of those options is that Harry didn’t care enough to keep even one phone on. It’s not even that hard for me to believe, to be honest.

 

[camelot23ca]

A spokesperson for the Sheriff's office confirmed that they were asked to visit because no one was responding to phone calls and Harry needed to know urgently and that they gave a message to the gate guard for Harry to please call the Embassy, so it's true.

We were told all the family knew when he came out of hospital that this was the end and everyone had the chance to come and say goodbye. Was Harry not told this (due to his own actions) or did he not believe it? However at one point we were told Harry was self isolating because he knew the end was near.

If he knew it was the end why wasn't his phone on or why didn't he tell the guards/staff that they might have a 3am phone call? Did they both just sleep through the calls? Harry is not a stranger to the middle of the night bad news call.

This blows any "we keep in regular chatty Zoom contact with HM" out of the water. And possibly another nail in the "we're close to Eugenie/Jack".

We don't know if his family tried to contact him personally before asking the Embassy to try.

If not, it seems relations were so bad that either they knew he wouldn't pick up or not one of his relatives felt comfortable being the ones to pick up the phone and as Claire says they're no longer part of the family Whatsapp groups we've heard about.

This isn't necessarily a huge deal in and of itself but it potentially opens up more questions and contexts about family relations 1 month after Oprah and post Gayle King's "unproductive" statements.

I think it’s likely someone from the family - most likely Charles or William - tried to personally contact Harry before BP got the embassy involved, but they would have known what time it was in California, and when Harry didn’t answer the initial call or text they probably assumed his phone was turned off and he wouldn’t be reachable that way for several hours. Obviously it was important for Harry to be made aware of the situation before the press announcement, so the issue was time sensitive. If there had been any way to keep news of Philip’s death private until morning in California, they may have just held the news for a few hours and called him again once they knew he’d be up.

I don’t think harry and Meghan are in as close contact with members of the extended family as they’ve implied, and I don’t think Charles, especially, would have had it in him that day to expend much personal effort to track Harry down, but I do think the first thing they tried would have been contacting Harry directly.

It’s interesting, though, that the family/their staff didn’t directly contact Harry’s security. I wonder if they weren’t given this contact info, or if someone did have it but it was missed in the turmoil immediately following the death.

 

[Denville]

Sherlock Holmes said “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth“. Granted, it’s not quite impossible, but if we assume that Harry being completely unaware of his grandfather’s condition is close to impossible to believe, then our other options - however improbable - are likely the truth. In this case, one of those options is that Harry didn’t care enough to keep even one phone on. It’s not even that hard for me to believe, to be honest.

I cant imagine that they dont have some staff who have to leave their phones on at night, to deal with emergency calls, even if they are so fast asleep.

 

[Alison H]

When Prince Philip was in hospital, there was a lot of talk about Harry being on standby to fly home. There was even talk that he'd deign to cancel the Oprah interview if his grandfather died before it was broadcast - gosh, how jolly considerate of him. OK, it may have looked as if Philip had rallied a bit, but I can't believe that Harry had no idea how ill he was.


This all seems like a storm in a teacup. It was 3 o'clock in the morning. Maybe everyone did just fail to hear the phone ringing - it's hardly unknown for people to sleep through noise - and the Palace decided that it was easier to send someone round than to mess about looking for security's staff's phone numbers.

 

[Denville]

When Prince Philip was in hospital, there was a lot of talk about Harry being on standby to fly home. There was even talk that he'd deign to cancel the Oprah interview if his grandfather died before it was broadcast - gosh, how jolly considerate of him. OK, it may have looked as if Philip had rallied a bit, but I can't believe that Harry had no idea how ill he was.


This all seems like a storm in a teacup. It was 3 o'clock in the morning. Maybe everyone did just fail to hear the phone ringing - it's hardly unknown for people to sleep through noise - and the Palace decided that it was easier to send someone round than to mess about looking for security's staff's phone numbers.

in an ordinary house maybe but surely in a large house like Harry's there are several live in staff, security officers who are on duty and have an office with a phone as well as mobiles. And I agree that harry must have been aware that Philip was very ill and the next phone call might be one to say "h'es getting weaker" or "He's passed away".

 

[victor1319]

and the next phone call might be one to say "h'es getting weaker" or "He's passed away".

Sometimes one does simply not want to take such calls or to open such letters. And then people very often don't answer the door bell too...

It might look not very adult to avoid the inevitable ... - but it is understandable!

In German we call this "Ostrich tactics" - stick your head into the sand and pretend, nothing is happening...