Kim Dotcom--what a stuff-up!

It seems that the Police and the Government got it all terribly worng. Kim Dotcom has made them look like titwits and really embarased them. The dabte about whether he is guilty of the alleged wrong doings has been lost in the commedy of errors and he may well get away with 'stuff' that he should not have.
He is probably rolly polling aorund in his mansion, laughing at the predicment the Government finds themselves in. I very much doubt that Mr KDC will be on the new years honours list. The USA too will be pretty pissed that it hasn' managed to bring KDC back to face the charges and the artists and other 'creators' will be possibly moving on in the knowledge that they too have failed to receive justice.
Oh well, 'What goes around, comes around!' Has KDC really had the last laugh?

www.drivingdogs.co.nz----get yours.

Yes, get your fully licensed to drive dog from the SPCA in Auckland and I believe elsewhere in New Zealand now. They are coming on stream almost as fast as they can be placed. They are quite remarkable and creating a stir around the world. It took pure 100% pure New Zealand to bring these dogs to the market and you know what---they are not expensive. The SPCA is just glad to find these dogs a loving and caring home.

If you lack that something special in your life, then go to the website and see for yourself. It’s not every day that such a breakthrough is made and that the canine world is capable of being a special friend to mankind and then some is truly amazing.

Mmmm--- I hear there is something afoot with cats now; something about piloting an aeroplane. Watch this space for future developments.

www.authorneilcoleman.com   Check out ‘Talk To Me,’ my latest book.

When our police are assaulted, we are all the losers!

I am sickened by the latest attacks by angry and very drunken party-goers or boy racers. The excuse will be given by the criminals in Dargaville that their nine year old was pepper-sprayed. I do not believe that the police deliberately did that. If the adults were so drunk that they brought about the circumstances whereby the kid was affected then then must take the blame for the resulting events.

When our police are put at risk by the drunken idiocy that follows when people over imbibe, then we are all in danger and we haven’t even seen what may happen again on New Year’s Eve. That we now have a ‘culture’ that brings about these attacks is deplorable. Yes, we have always had a few idiots taking things too far, but attacks on the police are becoming common place.

The law allows for quite serious consequences, but still we see these attacks. Is there anything else behind these worrying events? I don’t think so. We have always had deprivation and poverty and some may say that the gap between rich and poor is growing, but that does not excuse this criminal behaviour.

Some of the party goers at Dargaville say that ‘this should not have happened.’ I say, they should have thought of that when they allowed the party to get out of control. No one makes you drink to excess. If you know you have a propensity to get out of control when you drink, then you must also know that society generally does not support your actions and lack of thought.

Throw the book at them! To the police---I don’t envy you your job when you are called to out of control parties. Reasoning with the rabble won’t do much good. Maybe you just have to take more of the boys and girls in blue to prevent getting hurt, but I don’t think we have the numbers to allow that. You do a great job trying to keep the rest of us safe, but you need some help, in the form of witnesses taking responsibility for the actions of those around them. By doing nothing, they are also culpable.

The UK--a land of opportunity?--not if you are an illegal immigrant!

This morning I watched with sadness a programme on BBC TV. The subject was the plight of many Indians who had been supped into paying large sums of money to agents (their own people) to assist in getting them to the UK. These unsuspecting people were promised the good life in the UK but most have fallen into desperate situations, living in ‘sheds to sleep’ or sometimes under bridges,

The promised employment generally does not exists and at best the ‘workers’ could only find a few days work a month. Their relations back in India had raised the money to pay the agents and had expected the men to pay back those loans and send money back home. The conditions the men were living in are often worse than the homes they left behind.

The UK has always been a land of opportunity to influxes of new arrival’s, going way back to the Roman occupation. These groups have stayed and become part of the general population. London of course has acted as a magnet to many groups as a starting point. What is that is different about the new illegal arrivals?

For a start, they have to hide; having no voice to vent their frustrations at the position they find themselves in. If they complained they risk been sent back, hence they are able to be easily exploited for less than legal wages and conditions. That they are being ripped off by their own people is doubly sad. Once in the UK, they become faceless as they seek to live the false dream. The UK Government has known for many years that this human trafficking has existed, but to date has done little to stem the flow.

Perhaps programmes like that I saw today should be widely circulated in the ‘new India.’ Access to BBC TV is probably fairly widespread, especially amongst the new middle classes. The Indian Government must tell the true story to its people. India itself is fast becoming a land of opportunity, not just to returning Indians but to other nationalities as well.

I know that other people around the world also seek out the British dream and they too fall prey to greedy and criminal groups, but the relationship between the UK and India is one that has existed in various forms for generations. Surely the two governments can cooperate to make the problems described to be dealt with in a humane manner. Ignoring it will only encourage yet more families to part with money they can ill afford; all for a nightmare, not a dream.

President Morsi is fooling himself.

One would hope that Egypt can find peace and enter a period of improved economic activity. Egypt must forge its own future and work out what is best for the nation. President Morsi however is fooling himself and making false claims about the so-called approval of his constitution.

How can he claim victory when fewer than 33% voted in the two rounds, just completed? He claims 64% support from the voters and in a sense that is correct. But take the full picture into account and the approval rating for his constitution would be far less.

I can only guess at the reason for the low turn-out and while I am not about to label the vote as corrupt, I can speculate that many did not vote as a way of showing their disapproval and also that most voters are not used to a ‘democratic’ model and therefore did not ‘trust’ the process. It is not so long ago that voting under a virtual one-party state, headed by Mubarak and his clique, does not lend itself to engendering a fair and transparent result.

The opposition, consisting of non-Muslim Brotherhood parties and groups were not well organized. Such organization only comes with practice. The Brotherhood was well on the way to achieving such a political machine as it provided opposition to Mubarak.

Where to from here? The ‘West’ must keep its interfering hands off Egypt. Only Egypt can work through this difficult period. If the populace wants an Islamic state, we have to accept that, but it is the process that causes so much concern and the future of the region as a whole is directly linked to the events in Egypt. We can but hope that Egyptians take up the challenge and work through the ramifications of electing a government that may well curtail their freedom in the future.