A little secrecy goes a long way ..( about six thousand kilometers actually)

According to the Telegraph U,K, Sherlock Holmes has been sent to North Korea to encourage change.

The British Foreign Office spent about Aus$500 to buy the rights to a Sherlock Holmes episode produced by the BBC for screening at the  Pyongyang International Film Festival in 2012. 

Sherlock could visit here to encourage change to the "return to sender" shipments of refugees. The hermit kingdom is not the only one suffering from a secrecy overload.

News Docos

Channel 7

Well, what do you know? It's not so long ago that the Murdoch's were in deep pooh through their phone hacking saga and we were happy that in Australia we hadn't plumbed the same depths as the U,K,

Obtained illegally , according to Pristorius' defence and broadcast while the trial is still underway in South Africa, the news doco presented by Channel 7 was a bit  "ïffy".
The facts are confusing enough  without further speculation being aired cto all and sundry.It's really a strange and weird case.

Of course , Seven feels totally justified in broadcasting the reenactment of the incident . What else?

Altzheimers

A cure?

The Telegraph in the UK reports  that a  blood test to predict if someone will develop Alzheimer’s within a year has been unveiled by scientists in a breakthrough which could see the disease become preventable.
After a decade of research, experts at Oxford University and Kings College London are confident they have found the 10 proteins which show the disease is imminent.
It means that clinical trials can now start on people who have not yet developed Alzheimer’s to find out which drugs halt its onset.
Alzheimer's is a heart-rending disease altering personalities and causing the patients to live in a world of their own eventually leading to death as various functions break down,
There are many people who have suffered from loved ones and relatives being struck down with the disease. 
It would be good news for quite a few of us . Who knows what the future holds ?

Pragmatism..' suppose

It is what it is.....

The ABC reported that  while in Myanmar the Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop,  declared she will urge the Myanmar government to be inclusive and respect human rights as the nation moves towards democracy. This is a little at odds , ironic almost , bearing in mind the current proposal to send refugees to Cambodia and the recent reported return of a boatload of Tamils by Australian authorities to Sri Lanka. 

It would seem that asylum or economic refugees are not blessed with the right to be human. It's a big problem the world over .Oppressed, disadvantaged people will always look for a way out of their predicament. In our society it is admired and called ambition. 

Cambodia has one of the worst human rights records in the world while Sri Lanka has much to answer for following the civil strife that engulfed that beautiful island for decades. It's a question of " don't do what I do but do what I say" .           

Wise Move

So sorry....

Commonwealth Bank boss Ian Narev, came out and did it. Japanese style he apologised for the trauma caused to investors, some of whom had lost many thousands of dollars due to inappropriate advice from the bank's investment salesmen.

Of course, not everybody is happy .Some pundits claim in essence the bank was acting as prosecution, defence, jury and judge all rolled into one. 

The bank has probably acted sensibly and by presenting their plan have pre-empted further enquiry and examination which would have been much more damaging in the long run, 
It makes sense to control the enquiry, as far as possible ;  to do otherwise would be like giving your house keys to burglars and telling them to fill their boots.  Admittedly, investors are not in the same category as burglars but then,  there are always two sides to any story. 

We often seem to forget that if returns are too good to be true, tread with caution. There are exceptions but these are rare. When things are going badly ,  we are easily reassured by speaking to some who seems to know what they are talking about .Nine times out of ten they know little more than you. I recall,being advised that a certain support line was rock solid and most technical advisers agreed however,  when the crunch came,  the market fell through this " cast iron" support like a knife through butter.

It will  take a while before the Commonwealth Bank CAN get over the hurdle of client's memories. All the dilly-dallying cost them a considerable amount of goodwill.