I will make this short and concise to highlight just how much of an ass/arse British ‘Justice’ is. A piece of scum, Jason Diprose, got into an uninsured car near his home in Lancaster England, as an unlicensed driver and hit and killed a four year old child, Casey O’Callaghan. On seeing what he had done this piece of shit then drove again back over the fatally injured child in order to escape. The coward then tried to get his friends to take the blame. He was an unlicensed driver…he killed a four year old child then he ran away!!

His lawyer, Graeme Tindall, has just effectively secured his aquittal from all the charges against him. He has walked away scot free. He killed a little boy. He was an uninsured, unlicensed driver. He had already been cautioned by police for driving as such when he killed that little boy. Yet due to Graeme Tindall’s effort and skill as a criminal attorney he has walked away scot free. He has gotten away with murder.

You can be fined for not having a TV license in the UK…you can be fined and put in jail for not paying your council tax…you can be fined heavily for lighting a cigarette in a public place…you can be thrown in jail for knocking the scarf off the head of a Muslim female…

But jump into a car at your own whim and run it over a small child and kill him/her…? no worries mate, just say sorry and you can go home. Yes you can…just so long as your lawyer is named Graeme Tindall.

Mr and Mrs O’Callaghan my deepest thoughts and prayers are with you…Graeme Tindall – how on earth you lie straight in your bed at night is beyond me.

Above: Gordon and Jennifer O’Callaghan, parents of murdered Casey.

I think it would be safe to say that this years Olympic Games in Beijing (if they go ahead) will go down in history as not just the most politically explosive but, quite possibly, the last games ever. Judging by the present climate I would be very surprised if the usual quota of nations are represented when they start in August.

What a sad and yet predictable lead up to Beijing 2008. Those who awarded the games to this Chinese city must be shuffling their feet now and wondering who on earth they can pass the blame to. Looking at the complete shambles that the current torch procession is turning into one wonders just how much worse it can get – and you get the awful feeling that it is going to get a lot worse as we get closer to August.

Just thinking back to the Sydney 2000 Games and what a fantastic example it was of how the Games really should be (okay, I am an Aussie so you may think I am biased), and then the totally forgettable Games that followed in Athens 2004, the words of Juan Antonio Samaranch come to mind from his speech at the Sydney Games Closing Ceremony:

” This was the best Olympic Games EVER! “

And they were - anyone who was in Sydney in 2000 will agree with that statement. But I wonder if those words could prove to be prophetic in a way. Could they have been the last real Olympic Games ever?

You have to look at things from this angle: when one of the most recognised and acknowledged symbols of world peace and harmony - the Olympic Torch - needs an armed escort in public has the time come to put it away and admit defeat…or are we all still so naive to think that politics and sport are seperate when it comes to the Olympic Games?

Not in 2008 they are not.

If you have been following the unfolding saga of the Shannon Matthews case you would have to agree that with every passing day the details become more astounding. Actually, as angry as you should be with Karen Matthews for doing such a thing to her daughter, you cannot help but feel just a tinge of sadness for what she has brought onto herself – because through her selfish and irresponsible actions her whole family has been torn apart.

It is not just young Shannon, her experiences during the 24 days she was ‘missing’ and the probability of her never seeing her mother again, but her three siblings who have been taken into care as well and the youngest is just two. This is a family of young children who have been split up and may never see each other again.

The understandably angry neighbours in Dewsbury have vowed revenge – you cannot blame them for feeling betrayed as many of them gave up work and spent money of their own in order to help in the search for Shannon. The police have resorted to boarding up the Matthew’s house in order to prevent vandalism and revenge attacks on it. The sight of it is very sad; this was the only home those children knew, it was their refuge and where they ate, slept and played. Now it is under police protection in order to prevent it being destroyed by angry locals. 

You can whatever you like about Karen Matthews (and she deserves it) and especially about her partner Craig Meehan (as far as I am concerned the police can do whatever they like with the creep) what you have here is a true modern day tragedy. Poverty, irresponsible adults, dysfunctional relationships, greed, and at the heart of it all, innocent children.

 The police guarding that house from destruction is one thing; I am afraid as a home it is already destroyed beyond repair.