I don't think it's really "an underlying tide of opinion", Giok - a few individuals seem to see it that way. Waves, not a tide.

So far, thank God, what we've seen here hasn't quite matched the viciousness of some of the stuff that has posted elsewhere.

"Even the Help Find Madeleine McCann website is now full of disgusting insinuations: "I never believed in your pain", "You have shown nothing but cold emotion ever since 3rd May" , " Kate McCann is either a cold, emotionless woman or there is more going on than meets the eye" and so, appallingly, on. A similar website organised by the McCanns' local newspaper has had to be shut down, after the editors found themselves unable to stem the tide of vicious comments in what was designed to be a sea of comfort". (From this article by Dominic Lawson.)

What makes people like that tick? Perhaps that is something for another thread.