The Jimmy Saville Nightmare

You cannot avoid hearing about the disgusting behaviour of Mr Saville and others around him on a daily basis, but one thing l haven't heard , is what seems an obvious answer to the question "How did he get away with it for so long?"
Simple - money - Mr Saville craftily bought his way in with generous amounts of cash raised in the name of charity. Many of his charities relied heavily on his bountiful gifts - l do not believe that they didn't know what was going on - l think they turned a blind eye because without him they would be looking at raising the cash themselves - he was simply too high a profile figure to shun.
There were some charities that knew what he was and had the  strength of character to refuse him - Save the Children for instance - and yes save the children they did !!

In Praise of France

Dear Readers
I love France, l have a french friend who lives in Corsica and is very dear to me, l love the perfume and the way your lips have to pout if you want to get the accent right. I especially love the way that the french have found a way to enjoy their time without entering into the materialistic free for all which l experience on a day to day basis in Miami.
BUT...why does a culture so enamored of style live in such a mess ? From the Auto-route you can see pretty little villages with trees and a spire but if you turn off to find it you end up in a dilapidated heap. When l travel in France l never pay attention to the star rated system for hotels but if you want to here is a rough guide
* - don't even go there - the whole place smells like a toilet
** - it might burn down sometime in the next week because everything in the place was updated 50 years ago
*** - The front of the Hotel looks pretty good but once you've paid and they open the door to your room you realize that it is in fact a ** and the above caution applies. The food however might actually be good but it might not.
**** If you can find one outside of a Metropolis, the front of the hotel is very nice, the foyer is nice and clean and if you want to eat in the restaurant they will look you up and down to see if they think you are suitable. Once in your room you realize that this is a *** hotel with extra carpet in the lobby.
*****There aren't any - except in Paris where you will PAY big time for a view of a wall.
The only exception to this rule that l have found are the Logis chain who run motels that although they look like the set for 'No Country for Old Men' provide very clean modern spacious rooms at a reasonable price.
Now everyone says that the French are rude and l disagree - they just want to be in front of you - in a store - on the roads- on the ski lift and they just forget in their rush to be first that you are also human. A word of warning to American skiers - you will be mown down - there are at least 300% more skiers on piste than you are used to and you are in the way.
When l first moved to Miami l thought that people there could do with learning a few manners but in comparison with the average french ski resort Miami runs like a Jane Austin novel.
So if you are ready for the fray - enjoy the fabulous wine, the great coffee and get ready to fight for your place in line.

TigerMania

We all seem to be missing the point here - as long as we are looking for moral role models in people whose only merit is that they can hit a ball with a stick we will always be disappointed. We Americans need to get away from the glamor trap and start valuing wisdom.
Tiger Woods only needs to apologize to his wife, the rest is a GAME. If we are looking up to him we are wrong.