http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/10/2135324.htm?section=justin

The removal of Ama Sumani from the UK back to Ghana has angered me greatly and will take pride of place as today’s rant!

Now with estimates of over 500,000 illegal immigrants living in the UK, and increasing rapidly, the government attempts to introduce measures to prevent them overstaying visas and such. So the Home Office suggests that they send a text message to remind people their visa is expired. Sure, it might work in the honest cases where people simply didn’t realise and they’ll leave of their own accord. So next, they decide to limit the stay of non-EU people to only 3 months (bringing in line with most other Western countries) AND impose a ‘deposit’ on family members sponsoring previous offenders who wish to return. If these families are struggling so much in their own countries that they want to move to the UK, family members already there will probably not be able to afford this. If they can, and the person disappears into the underworld of the immigrants, those relatives are left to foot the cost.

So far, so bad. But anyway, the Home Office is obviously so on top of the problem that they have time to trace down the most notorious of criminals that have moved over to the UK, involved in illegal people trafficking and such. No no, wait, that’s wrong. They find a vulnerable and innocent terminally sick widowed mother of three - who, by the way, is in hospital receiving treatment to help prolong her life - and remove her (in a wheelchair) back to the airport, throw her on and back to Ghana she goes. Where there is a health service that only the wealthy can afford, so she is likely to die within a matter of weeks.

This strikes me as yet another crazy move by the government which is tackling the problems in entirely the wrong ways.

Quote: Britain’s Border and Immigration Agency said it carried out all removals “with courtesy and dignity”.”Part of our consideration when a person is removed is their fitness to travel and whether the necessary medical treatment is available in the country to which we are returning,” a spokesman added.

So courtesy would be the taking them away from the life-prolonging treatment they’re about to receive, dignity would be the wheelchair and 5-person escort out of the hospital, and necessary medical treatment available in the COUNTRY - but not necessarily accessible. Kudos Brown, you’ve done it again.

Cricket’s been unsettled for a while now, with the good ole Shane Warne telling the Australian squad to prepare for a fall and poor umpiring decisions being made left right and centre. With Harbhajan having just been given a three test ban, I thought the kids might behave themselves more. But boys will be boys, and with an Indian reporter baiting Ponting, criticism from fans that the ‘banter’ should have been left alone, and the Indian players claiming Hogg was using inappropriate language, it looks like the average mental age of the players is about 10!

The claims from fans and sportsmen alike that the ‘banter’ should have been ignored is really quite worrying - it’s not a big step from making a racist remark to a physical retaliation (especially given the general maturity at the moment). If members of this society believe that it’s perfectly ok to call somebody a monkey due to their race and appearance, these are the same people who you pass everyday in the street. They say that it’s a different environment in the game, but it could be justified that with a bit of alcohol at the pub on a Friday night is a different environment and it’s okay there too. Of course, at that point it’s probably much more risky with people’s judgement impaired - but let’s be honest, Symonds was holding a pretty hefty bat at the time and his adrenaline was probably running high. If anything, we should applaude his self-control and quick-thinking to report it to Ponting, who in turn made the right decision to inform the umpire. Even if the umpire was making very poor decisions on play at the time (and yes, Symonds should have been out).

The retaliation of the Indian players that Hogg has been using ‘abusive language’ seems rather ludicrous. Rather than saying so at the time, it comes out after Harbhajan’s ban and, quite clearly, appears as knee-jerk reaction. ‘Muuum he hit me’, ‘But Mum, he was pulling my hair’ . As I said, a mental age of about 10.

Players should be growing up and playing the game in friendly and competitive manner, without the ‘abusive language’ (although it is unclear whether directed at somebody) and the racism. Commentators (I’m looking at you Tony Greig), should support players for following protocol and taking the moral highground when faced with disgusting comments. And Harbhajan, if you did do it, take the punishment like a man, not the little boy that you’re acting like.

Recovery mode

Welcome to 2008, a year of change for myself!

Christmas was a different affair than usual for myself - being the first I have had without my family close by. Late on Sunday night we went out for a shop for all of our food for the holiday, hoping to avoid the crowds. Despite being around 11.30pm/12am, there were still a couple people out in the supermarket - but thankfully we had the place mostly to ourselves! Sticking fairly strictly to a shopping list (to help budget), we managed to find all that we needed, plus more, and most importantly, we bought the ham that I was going to glaze the next day!

Christmas eve was a slow start for all except myself, and while I went on a quick trip to hunt down beetroot for a Finnish salad, I also picked up a couple bottles of wine. It was while purchasing these that Amber called to ask if I wanted her to take me to Dan Murphys and a supermarket for the beetroot! As I’d had little success, off we went to battle with the Christmas crowds (and trafffic), but we found the beetroot and managed to get through Dan Murphy’s without too much trouble - people directing the traffic was most helpful. So home we went and started preparing bits of food - the Finnish salad and potato salad as they needed to cool down. As everyone started getting up and coming home, we all congregated in the tiny kitchen to make the main course - honey glazed hame with mountains of roast veggies. While doing that we realised that there would be far too much food with all the other dishes, so considered waiting and making them a third course! The first time we’ve all sat down to a proper ‘family’ meal around the dining table, and it was fantastic. After the roast however, we could barely move, so ditched the idea of a third course and went straight to dessert (well, after an hours’ rest!) I can now say that dark chocolate and Kahlua pudding is a delicious but very rich dessert, not exactly the thing for after 2 big courses. So eventually we all waddled off to bed, hoping that at least some would digest overnight.

The next morning dawned bright and early for some..well, just Amber. She was heading off to her parent’s for a big family Christmas do, while the rest of us were off to Kat’s parent’s for a relaxed BBQ in the afternoon. So I had some stocking fillers to open that my parents had sent, and a few pieces from an aunt. My main present was money from my parents for a new lens for my 10D, a Sigma 28-300 f/3.5-6.3, which I am itching to receive!! Anyway, the afternoon was very relaxed and quite enjoyable, again with copious amounts of food (but isn’t that was Christmas is about?) and some unexpected presents from Kat’s mum.

After this it was mostly seeing friends, enjoying the time off and sleeping, until New Year that is! I also managed to see the new National Treasure movie, which has increased my tolerance for Nicholas Cage considerably.

New Year’s Eve came up hot and fast, quite literally. With highs of 41 recorded, I was barely coping. I caught a tram over to Kim and Toni’s place in the afternoon, and just hoped I wouldn’t die in the heat - and very grateful for my hand fan. We spent most of the afternoon trying to keep cool with Slurpees and cold water, but to little avail. As evening came in, Hugo and I braved the heat to fetch KFC for everyone, where the kid serving us was almost passing out as he handed over our order! KFC, please note, getting air con in your stores will increase productivity and stop staff from passing out on customers. Before we all got ready, it was cold showers all around and feeling much better, we could start the general merriment of alcohol and music. Overall, the night was a blast - we had phones with alarms on for just before midnight so we wouldn’t miss it, and champagne was popped open (and was refreshingly cold when Hugo decided to pour some down me!) Being so hot, we barely slept when we got to bed at around 4am, even with the fans on and windows open. Eventually I got home and had another cold shower, and was greatly relieved when a cool change came over late in the afternoon.

I’m now on my second day back at work, but it’s slow to take off as most staff (and the other stores) aren’t back until next week. In the mean time, I have this.