Russian ship stuck in Antarctic

It's summer in Antarctica and the Russian ship, MV Akademik Shokalskiy, is stuck in 3 metre ice, 2773 kilometres south of Hobart. Chinese and Australian icebreakers are trying to get to them but the ice is too thick. The Chinese Snow Dragon came within 7 miles of the ship before turning back and Aurora Australis tried but had to retreat to open water.  The last resort is a helicopter rescue from the Snow Dragon.

The people on board are retracing Sir Douglas Mawson's Antarctic expedition and conducting scientific research.  They have been trapped since Christmas Eve and look set to celebrate New Year's Eve on the ice.

"There is more risk with a helicopter" Lisa Martin, spokeswoman for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said.  "The icebreaker Aurora Australis will make further attempts when the weather improves, we are looking at trying to keep that going for now."

View from the Russian ship

A decision to evacuate 52 passengers and 4 crew using a helicopter from China's Xue Long (Snow Dragon) was made, but the first attempt was called off due to bad weather. 

The passengers include tourists, scientists and explorers, mostly Australian, and 22 Russian crew.  The ship left New Zealand last month on a research voyage to honour the 100th anniversary of Australian scientist Sir Douglas Mawson.

The Aurora Australis has a rounded keel which slides over the ice and then crashes down into the water below.  Captain Murray Doyle said they can handle thicker layers if he backs up and rams the ice but the ice floes around the ship are too thick to penetrate.

The American icebreaker Polar Star is said to be capable of getting them out but is about two weeks away.  That's about the time their provisions run out.  What an adventure!

Edit January 3, 2014:  The aim of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, led by global warming alarmist Chris Turney of the University of NSW, was to prove the East Antarctic ice sheet is melting. Instead there were record amounts of ice for this time of year, despite the IPCC’s  predications, which led to their ship becoming stuck for over a week.  Now safely on board the Aurora Australis, the professor and his crew must agree that the dire predictions he believed in, didn’t happen.

Affluenza - spoilt, rich kid syndrome

Ethan Couch

When 16 year old American teenager Ethan Couch went for a drunken joyride with his friends, he killed four people and injured seven others. His friend Sergio Molina was in the back of his pickup and is now permanently disabled and needs 24/7 care.

It's a tragic case that reeks of racial discrimination - a judge sent a rich white kid to a luxury rehab facility and sent a poor black kid to jail for ten years.  It looks terrible, but when you read the small print, it's not so bad.

I think Judge Jean Boyd is only guilty of being a soft touch who wants to see young offenders rehabilitated and kept out of jail.

Judge Jean Boyd

She believed a psychologist's analysis of Couch who said he was a victim of 'affluenza' - a condition caused by his wealth and privilege, which prevents him from understanding the consequences of his actions.  On this advice, she sent him to rehab and gave him ten years probation.

Last year, she tried to send a black 14 year old boy to rehab but the system let him down and he ended up in jail. In October 2011, the boy was driving in a Cadillac with two friends when he suddenly jumped out and king hit Mark Gregory, a slightly built boy only 5ft 1in tall, who was walking along the street.  He fell and hit his head on the pavement and died two days later. 

Police said the boy had a bad attitude and showed no remorse.  The victim's mother said Judge Boyd was far too soft on the boy who killed her son because she wanted to send him to rehab.  She was glad when nobody would take him and the system sent him to jail.

Sergio Molina before the accident

A psychologist called by Couch's Defense, Dr Gary Miller, blamed the teen's behaviour on his parents, claiming they gave him whatever he wanted including "freedoms no young person should have" and said he was a product of "Affluenza."

Sergio Molina now

When Couch was 15, police found him in a parked pickup with a naked, unconscious 14 year old girl, yet his parents didn't punish him.  They believe their wealth brings special privileges - money can fix any problem - so there was no rational link between behaviour and consequences.  Dr Miller said his parents never taught him to say sorry for anything, instead he learnt that money can always buy you out of trouble.

Prior to sentencing, he testified that Couch's life could be salvaged with one or two year's treatment and no contact with his parents. What a charming indictment of their parenthood.

Judge Boyd readily agreed with the psychologist's analysis and handed down her sentence that caused such outrage.  Because Couch's father said he was prepared to pay, she sentenced him to a private rehabilitation facility near Newport Beach in California, at a cost of $450,000 and ten years good behaviour bond.

Sergio Molina's family are suing Couch and his father's business for $20 million as the pickup involved was owned by the company.

I understand this case very well because I see "affluenza" everywhere - teens with wealthy parents who are spoiling them rotten by giving them everything they want, without doing anything to earn it.  We can only guess what type of adults these children will eventually become.

Sydney Fish Market Christmas Eve 2013

The Sydney Fish Market opened at 5am yesterday (Monday) for its 36 hour Christmas marathon and finishes today (Christmas Eve) at 5pm. The people who came in at 2am this morning, thinking they would drive straight into a parking spot were disappointed, the place was packed. Why?  Because you can't have a Christmas feast without seafood.

Jim Angelakos who has been working the fish markets for over 40 years

They expect to sell 840,000 oysters and 120 tonnes of prawns in two days.

It's not a pleasant experience, coming to the Sydney Fish Markets. It stinks. It's been a dump for years, and unlikely to change.  In the 1990s the market was sold and is now privately owned - half by the retailers and half by the fishermen.

Fishermen Steve Stacey (left) and Brand Doyle

The retailers keep refusing offers to bring the site up to scratch.  Its potential, right on the Sydney waterfront, is huge, but no, they won't be moved.  

In 2010 the state government offered them $20 million but the tenants said redevelopment wouldn't generate sufficient income to support the borrowings needed for the project.  In 2011, the market's chief executive said "I'm ashamed of the place" and so are we.

Another option is a giant king crab from the icy cold waters of Tasmania

So in the meantime, we have to put up with the old facility that is crying out for a refurb - the smell, the seagull poo all over the place and the hopelessly inadequate carpark and if the retailers get their way, it will stay this way for years to come.

So why do we bother?  To buy the best seafood in the world.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Police

It takes a certain type of person who can go to the scene of an accident, see the mangled bodies of dead children, mutilated murder victims, suicides and other horrors day after day, and not be affected. Common sense tells us that the mind, just like the body, can only take so much.

Peter Klein was once a happy cop doing a valued job that he loved and now he's being hunted like a criminal.  He's lost his job, his career and his marriage and his only crime was doing his job. 

Having to bear witness to a constant barrage of tragic events eventually took its toll and his brain rebelled and shut down. He's got what hundreds of returned soldiers from Afghanistan have - it's called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and it's real.

For 18 months, the police insurance company MetLife has paid him $400 a week and they are following him and taping his every move, hoping he will do something that will justify letting them off the hook. Family and friends are helping him out financially which only compounds his illness by hurting his pride.

The constant surveillance makes him feel guilty, as though he's done something wrong, and he hasn't.  His career started in Tasmania in 1994 and transferred to NSW in 1998.  His favourite job was working in the Police Air Wing division, where he rescued people hanging from a winch.

Now he rarely leaves the house and survives on a daily cocktail of psychotic drugs.  He's taped up the windows with foil and blankets to keep prying eyes out but their constant presence isn't helping his recovery.

But it was picking up body parts of suicide victims off the rocks at The Gap that finally sent him over the edge.  Once he had to chase crows who took off with part of a skull and an ear because it was his job to get them for the Coroner.  His psychiatrist suggested he return to The Gap as part of his recovery, but it didn't work and he couldn't stay long.

"Forty-one years of age, having your friends and family pay for simple things like food after you've worked two or three jobs, never taken a day off that you didn't need - why am I still being watched? Why is this still going on?  Because to me, surveillance means you're up to no good" he said.

Andy Peverill

Former senior constable Andy Peverill is going through the same thing. Every time he leaves his property with his wife, someone from MetLife is waiting at the gate with a video camera.  "He has to come with me, he can't be left on his own" his wife said.  "The last time I left him on his own he cut half of his hair off because he got extremely anxious, and then another time, he started a grassfire without supervision."

"I never signed up to get PTSD" Mr Peverill said "I signed up to make a difference, to do a good job."  But part of his job description included counting limbs after car accidents, trying but failing to save teenagers from a burning car, and giving CPR to a friend's brother who hanged himself and died in his arms.

One day he just couldn't go to work anymore. Not long after his wife came home to find him in the shed. He was thinking whether or not to hang himself or connect a hose pipe up to the car.

MetLife lost the contract for NSW Police death and disability insurance last year.  Police believe the reason claims are being dragged out is because MetLife still carry the obligation to pay injured police.

Peter Klein and Andy Peverill are not alone, they are part of what they call The Forgotten 300.  So how many other police are out there right now, on the edge, ready to fall over?

We got the Ashes back

Not only did we win them back but Michael Clarke is going all out to win five out of five.  Australia's dramatic turnaround to win back the Ashes has people wondering how they did it, and Darren Lehmann, affectionately known as Boof, is getting most of the credit.  There doesn't seem to be any other explanation, so it has to be down to their new coach, who has only been in the job for six months.

Darren Lehmann and Captain Michael Clarke

Darren Lehmann 44, is an ex cricketer who played in 27 Tests from 1998 to 2004.  He has spent a lot of time studying each member of the English team, working out a plan for each individual man and Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris, and Peter Siddle carried out those plans to perfection.  Lehmann is the reason the Aussie team played such aggressive, in-your-face cricket this time, they literally frightened the life out of the Poms.

Lehmann also worked on how Australia could improve their batting and we had seven centuries to show for it.  He believes in old-fashioned mateship and encourages the boys to get together to relax with a few beers, which has resulted in a tightly-bonded team.

Lehmann's 21 year old son Jake also has praise for his father.  "He was always thinking about what he would do if he got the job - his strength is in his people skills, the way he brings players together, gives them confidence" he said.

Clive Palmer opens his dinosaur resort

When Clive Palmer bought the Hyatt Coolum Resort on the Sunshine Coast, he promised to turn it into one of the best resorts in the world. But 18 months later, guests and villa owners are unhappy, and staff say it reminds them of a five-star version of Fawlty Towers.

Rooms range from $300 to $2000 per night but some guest's comments haven't been very complimentary.  On the 8th of December, one guest commented "The room I stayed in was very dated, I was charged 80 cents for just turning on the television and the internet wouldn't work."

Clive Palmer with the Irwin family

So what was Clive thinking when he decided to create the world's largest dinosaur park in the grounds of a successful golfing resort? Not only are they ugly, they move and growl, all 160 of them.

He's called it Palmersaurus and it's now open for business. Admission costs $100 for a family of four and an extra $75 to visit Motorama, Clive's personal collection of vintage cars.

Robert Irwin

Australian PGA boss Brian Thorburn said the Palmer Coolum resort would not be on the future tour calendar list after 11 years.  A number of disputes with Mr Palmer were cited as the reason.  It has since been downgraded to a second-rate golf course.

Clive Palmer is an unknown quantity.  We know he's a successful miner but can he run a luxury resort?  He owns Mineralogy and has iron ore, nickel and coal holdings and as of January 2013, Forbes magazine estimated his worth at $895 million.

But one thing is for sure, he shouldn't be underestimated.  When he decided to go into politics, he launched his own political party and won. He's currently the new member for Fairfax (Qld) and two other Palmer United Party (PUP) members will take their seats in the Senate on 1 July 2014.

Some are calling him a buffoon but he hasn't really been tested yet, it's still early days.

Reverend Fred Nile gets married

Fred Nile got married on the weekend.  The 79 year old looked younger with blond streaks in his hair, and very happy. His best man was Liberal hard-right faction boss David Clarke.

Elaine and Fred

Fred's wife Elaine was his political partner in the NSW Upper House for 15 years.  They were childhood sweethearts and married for 53 years. Before Elaine died of cancer, Fred said she wanted him to remarry after she was gone.

Apparently Fred had been praying for a new wife and when he looked up, he saw a beautiful brunette, dressed all in white, with what appeared to be a beam of light shining on her head.

The lucky lady is Silvana Nero 55, a teacher and single mother of three who used to live in a Housing Commission flat in Dee Why. "Fred's my knight in shining armour" she said.

His new bride chose to wear white, an odd decision for a divorced woman and mother of three.

Two of Fred's sons attended the ceremony but one son and a daughter stayed away.  They are still fuming about how quickly their father found a new love when their mother died.

Last month, Fred helped defeat a Bill for same sex marriage in the Upper House and the gay community performed a mock wedding outside the church.  They pointed out that the Bible teaches that a man and a woman should marry in order to procreate the earth but as Fred is almost 80 and his bride past childbearing age, what's his point?

I think we know.

Keli Lane appeal unsuccessful

The Keli Lane trial worried me a lot.  I thought there was a definite element of doubt and half expected her appeal to be successful. But it wasn't, and even though Tegan's body was never found, the charge of murder was upheld today by three Appeals Court Judges. She will now continue with her minimum 13 years and five month sentence behind bars.

Keli Lane was a married working mum with a 2 year old daughter at the time of her arrest.  In 2004, the woman in the flat next door in a block of units in Manly had a baby and she and Lane became close friends over a three year period.  She said Lane loved to visit the new baby and was always very considerate, teaching her little girl to treat the new baby gently.  Keli Lane's neighbour doesn't think she killed her baby.

Lane's husband Patrick Cogan

Lane's husband Patrick Cogan says his wife believes the baby is living with another family and one day will come looking for her.

Lane had two unwanted pregnancies before and had both babies adopted.  She was also a doting mother of a little girl, so it just doesn't add up. And then there's the taxi driver's evidence which was totally ignored. Maybe his testimony was discounted because he was a raving nut case but his story is bizarre enough to be true.

He said he picked Lane and the baby up at Auburn Hospital.  She wanted to go to Manly but on the way, asked him to stop on River Road where there were some private homes scattered among natural bush. When he stopped, she got out of the cab with the baby and returned without her.  When he asked where the baby was, she said she'd given her to a babysitter and they continued on to Manly. When he dropped her off in Manly, he noticed she'd left a baby bag in the back seat.  He called out to her but she said "I don't need it" and left.

The cab driver decided to go back to the spot where she left the baby to give the babysitter the baby bag. When he got there, he found the baby wrapped up near a tree, with a baby bottle nearby. There was also a woman at the scene and when he asked her what was going on, she said she was going to take care of the baby, so he handed her over.  Could she have sold the baby and been too ashamed to tell anyone?

Was Keli Lane a sneaky consummate liar?  Definitely, but that doesn't make her a baby killer.  I just hope that Chief Justice Tim Bathurst, Justice Carolyn Simpson and Justice Christine Adamson made the right decision today.

Goodbye Holden, thanks for the memories

It's no surprise GM has decided to close down its Australian factories. They denied it at first but finally owned up after Warren Truss and Joe Hockey goaded them into telling the truth about their intentions during Parliamentary Question Time.  GM's first female CEO, who takes over in January, finally spilled the beans.  We've been down this road before, GM is just another manufacturer taking their business out of Australia because our high wages cut into their profit.

There are two points of view, Labor leader Bill Shorten says the government should continue to pour millions into GM when common sense tells us it's a complete waste of money.  We should be giving that money to an Australian enterprise capable of paying our high wages, yet clever enough to still make a profit. 

It's sad news for the 2,900 Holden workers, especially at this time of year, but at least now they know what their future holds. Holden's Port Melbourne plant that makes the V6 engine will close in 2016 and the Elizabeth factory will close in 2017. 

Almost every face has a mortgage 

Goodbye Holden, thanks for the memories.

The Stolen Generation stops adoption

The Stolen Generations is the name given to the Aboriginal and Torres Islander children taken away, forcibly removed or made wards of the state by the assimilation policies of successive Commonwealth, State and Territory  governments of Australia.

Political correctness is a terrible thing.  Neglected children of Tennant Creek are being denied a good home with white families because of the "Stolen Generation."  There was a law introduced that would ensure it never happened again, and although it outlines a definite truth, nevertheless, it has denied generations of children the right to a better life. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuAyEZ8BKn4

It reads:  It is the role and the right of parents everywhere to pass on their beliefs, knowledge, customs, language, law ... to their children. In that way the culture of a group lives on and its distinctiveness, too, and consequently, the pride of the people who own it. The role and the rights of parents and families in this can become endangered when other institutions take over aspects of handing on a heritage.

Australia's first indigenous leader, NT Chief Minister, Adam Giles, said some months ago that he was going to remove neglected kids from their parents and adopt them out to white families, if necessary.

He was appalled to learn that only one Aboriginal child was adopted over the past decade. "There are decent, loving people out there who want to adopt, who will raise that child in a loving environment" he said.  "You mean to tell me when we've got all these alleged cases of chronic child sexual abuse, children running around on petrol, going on the streets at night sexualizing themselves and there's only one permanent adoption for fear of the Stolen Generation? That's not standing up for kids."

But the Northern Territory Stolen Generations Aboriginal Corporation were horrified by his idea of adoption.  They are sticking to their guns and insist that long-term harm is caused by Aboriginal children being removed from their families.

So there we have it, a standoff that's likely to continue indefinitely until the indigenous people who have the power, change their minds. Adam Giles wants to help the kids by putting them in good homes with Australian families, and the Aboriginal people themselves won't allow it.

And that's where we are today.  After all this time, the kids of Tennant Creek are still wandering around town, surviving the best way they know how, while white families are lining up, willing to take them in and offer the chance of a better life.

Paedophiles Peter Truong and Mark Newton jailed

In 2010, ABC journalist Ginger Gorman wanted to do a story about how the homosexual community were discriminated against by heterosexual society. 

Out of scores of emails she received, she chose nine different stories, one of which was about a homosexual couple and their adorable 5 year old son.  She called it "Two dads are better than one" and portrayed Mark Newton and Peter Truong as model fathers who were bringing up a happy, well-adjusted child, even without a mother.

She visited their home in Queensland, met the child and took some pictures of him with his fathers, holding a baby chicken and she featured it on the front page of her project's web page on the ABC. This picture (above) is the one used by news organizations all around the world.

American-born Mark Newton 42 and his partner Peter Truong 36 wanted a child of their own so they paid a Russian woman $8,000 to be their surrogate, using Newton's sperm.  They wanted the child for the sole purpose of allowing men around the world to sexually abuse him. In one video, Newton performs a sex act on the baby when he was less than 2 weeks old.

They travelled the world, offering him to men, recording the abuse, and putting it on Boy Lovers Network, considered by hardened child abuse experts to be the sickest paedophile ring in the world.

In June, Newton was sentenced to forty years and yesterday, US Judge Sarah Evans Barker sentenced Truong to thirty years.  A deal was struck with prosecutors because he promised to lead police to other paedophiles.  He was also sexually abused as a child.

But there was another reason both men went to trial at the district court level - to avoid subjecting a jury to repulsive images that would haunt them for the rest of their lives.  "What can be said" the judge said "What can be done to erase some of the horror of this?"

It's hard to imagine how this child will ever recover enough to lead a normal life.  His fathers brainwashed him into believing the abuse was normal and trained him never to speak to anyone else about what was happening to him.

Oh how civilized we have become, no death penalty any more for vermin such as this, we must pay to keep both men alive, humanely, and in relative comfort, for the rest of their lives.  

Zac Young killed by shark at Coffs Harbour

A group of mates were sitting upright on their boards, dangling their legs in the water at the The Well, 5-10 kms north of Coffs Habour last weekend when a tiger shark came up behind Zac Young and severed his legs. Three of Zac's mates didn't panic and run to safety, they paddled him back to the beach, knowing the shark could still be underneath them.

When paramedics finally arrived, it was too late, having lost such an enormous amount of blood, he suffered traumatic cardiac arrest and died on the beach in the arms of his friends.

Zac lived in Port Macquarie and belonged to the local Christian Surfers network.  His close friend Kurt Gillan said "He was loving, compassionate and always happy..... I can't remember a time he wasn't smiling.

(from left) Shayden Schrader, Kurt Gillan and Lindsay Isaac

Zac's father Kevin Young addressed a memorial service at Port Macquarie High School and said "These three young guys didn't run, I want you to know these guys."  He was referring to Shayden Schrader, Kurt Gillan and Lindsay Isaac.

After the service, hundreds of surfers and bodyboarders gathered at Town Beach, Port Macquarie, where they formed a circle in the water and held a minute's silence.

His  pastor said Zac had a "revelation" a few years ago and made a decision to change the way he was living. He turned his back on the wild, partying lifestyle and was training with a Christian organization, Youth for Christ.

Lee Winkler from Coffs Harbour Boardriders said The Well is known to be a risky spot to surf, but it's not unusual for bodyboarders to take risks.

Speaking to ABC radio, he said the area was notorious for attracting sharks.  "It's a heavy, nasty wave for experienced bodyboarders only, it's a left hand break in deep water and it has rocky outcrops all over the place."  

"It's probably two or three hundred metres out to sea, it's a long paddle" he said.  "Those guys, they want to surf big waves, they want to feel the adrenalin and sometimes they're in deep water and sharks are looking for food and fish."  The Well, located 5-10 kilometres north of Coffs Harbour is a large fish nursery.

The chief lifeguard for Coffs Harbour City Counil said shark attacks in the area were rare.  "We've only had two recorded shark attacks ever - that's in 150 years of settlement, so it's highly unusual" he said.

Nigella Lawson's shame

Nigella and Cosimo

It's a bizarre situation.  Nigella Lawson and Charles Saatchi were supposed to appear in court together to testify against Francesca and Elisabeta Grillo for using company credit cards to steal 300,000 pounds. It sounds straight forward but it's not, and so much has happened since then.

When charges were initially laid, the sisters didn't mention anything about Nigella's drug use to police, but not long after, they had a change of heart.  They told Saatchi that Nigella had given them permission to spend as much money as they liked, as long as they didn't tell him that she and her 19 year old daughter Cosima used drugs on a regular basis.  Charles now supports this view and hopes the sisters will be found not guilty.

The defence is trying to prove that the Grillos were innocent pawns in a personal war between Lawson and Saatchi.

There is no doubt that Saatchi is a vindictive, controlling man who wants to hurt Nigella for making him look bad.  He was outraged when she didn't come to his defence and allowed the media to portray him as an abuser. She trashed his reputation and he was determined to make her suffer for it, and he has.  His revenge is now complete as her secret life has been revealed to the world.

But why did the sisters turn on Nigella after being in her employ for so long?  What did she do to warrant such betrayal?

The trial continues next week.

Nigella Lawson goes to court

It must have been one of the most difficult days of Nigella Lawson's life yesterday when she walked into court, yet she managed to hold her head high and look dignified.  

She said there is a 'witch hunt' against her, she was the one on trial, with no counsel and no rights and she pleaded with Judge Robin Johnson - "Please don't make this go on for two days."  But it will, after five grueling hours in the witness box, she has to come back again tomorrow.

It's still not clear what actually happened at the London restaurant. We want to believe Nigella because Charles is obviously a bully, but something just doesn't add up because there are three different stories.

Nigella told the court that Charles became enraged by an innocent remark she made when a young couple passed by their table with a small baby in tow.  When she said she was looking forward to having grandchildren, Charles became enraged.  In his sick mind, he was jealous and the thought of Nigella showing affection to anyone else sent him into a fury.  She had to learn that he was her only concern and emphasized his point by grabbing her around the throat and tweaking her nose.

However, the photos show Charles actually putting his finger into one of her nostrils which is a bizarre thing to do and tallies with what the restaurant chef said yesterday.  He told the court that Saatchi 'told everyone' he was taking cocaine out of her nose.  So if that's true, why did Saatchi lie when he gave evidence last week? He said they were not talking about her cocaine use, he was merely making her focus on what he was saying.

Then Nigella gave her version of events. "But what actually happened was that somebody walked by with a very cute baby in a stroller and I said I am so looking forward to having grandchildren and he grabbed me by the throat and said I am the only person you should be concerned with, I am the only person who should be giving you pleasure. That is what happened."

She said Saatchi feels betrayed and is out to ruin her in any way he can.  He even threatened to sue her if she didn't appear as a witness at the trial.  She said it was 'just another form of bullying.'

Nigella denied having a drug addiction and that her house was littered with drug paraphernalia and white powder was left discarded on top of the toilet.  She had used cocaine six times with her first husband John Diamond after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and took it again in July 2010 during a relationship issue with Saatchi. 

“I was having a very, very difficult time, I felt subjected to acts of intimate terrorism,” she said. “I felt shamed, isolated in fear and unhappy.” And later “I have to say, since freeing myself from a brilliant but brutal man, I'm now totally cannabis, cocaine, and drug-free.”

The Grillo sisters claim the argument occurred after Saatchi found out that Nigella had given her permission for them to spend up to $1.3 million on luxury items because she was afraid of her husband finding out about her drug use. 

So who's telling the truth, Charles, Nigella or the Grillo sisters?

The trial continues.

British welfare cuts start to bite

Marie Buchan 31, has eight children and lives in Birmingham in the UK. In September this year, her benefits were cut by $A147.50 per week and Marie now finds it impossible to survive.

The relationship with the father of all the children broke down this year and she is now a single parent.  The children's ages range from 2 months to 12 years and she has to live on $A3597.66 a month. 

Marie was on the waiting list for a four bedroom house but lost her place when she fell behind in her rent. She sleeps with three of her children in one bedroom, another four share a second bedroom and one son has a third bedroom to himself.

She's already been to court once for rent arrears and currently still owes four weeks.  The logical next step is eviction.  'It's normal policy for social housing landlords not to transfer households to larger properties when there are rent arrears, especially at this level' a DWP spokesman said.

The British government had an epiphany and discovered that people like Marie were getting more in benefits than the average working family.  The Brits created an "entitlement" mentality that's goes back decades. There is really no incentive to work anymore in Britain, generations of losers have never had a job.

And Marie knows she doesn't need a husband, she can survive very well without one.  The British taxpayer guaranteed her a modest, comfortable lifestyle, up until September it was easy, but not anymore.

The benefits cap, introduced in September by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) means nobody gets more than 500 pounds a week ($A900) , no matter how many children they have.

"We've been working with claimants for 18 months to help them prepare for the cap" a DWP spokesman said. "Already 18,000 people potentially affected have been helped into work, as those receiving working tax credits are exempt."

The DWP estimates the radical reforms have led to 36,000 people trying to find work. 

The annual British welfare bill last year was 208 billion pounds,($A373,667,840,000.00).

Could Nigella Lawson be a drug addict?

Two Italian sisters who have been working for Nigella Lawson for years, have turned on their employer to try and save their own skins. They've accused her of having a serious drug habit which started many years ago, a shock accusation yet to be proved.

Elisabetta and Francesca Grillo must have decided if they were going down for theft, they would take Nigella and her career with them. Not much loyalty there, which is strange because Elisabetta began working for Nigella as a nanny fourteen years ago and Francesca started out as a 'housemate.'

They are accused of using Charles Saatchi's company credit card to fund their extravagant lifestyle, clocking up $1.2 million over 4 years and according to them, they had every right to do it.

The news comes as a complete shock because Nigela Lawson doesn't fit the profile of a drug addict - she's beautiful, wholesome, a devoted mother and a fabulous cook, envied and admired by women everywhere. But it gets worse - the accusations by the Italian sisters don't just involve Nigella, they say her daughter has a drug habit too.

Chales Saatchi told the court yesterday he had never seen his wife take drugs so he had no proof, but he did admit to sending her an email that said she was "off her head."  He said he was very fond of the Grillo sisters but feared they would use their allegations that Nigella took drugs as a defence in their trial.

In that email he refers to his wife as "Higella" at one point.  "I can only laugh at your sorry depravity" the email read.  "Of course now the Grillos will get off on the basis that you ...... were so off your head on drugs that you allowed the sisters to spend whatever they liked and yes, I believe every word the Grillos have said, who afterall, only stole money."

When the theft was discovered, the sisters got off lightly and it's hard to understand why they decided to look a gift horse in the mouth. They weren't sacked but allowed to continue on their current salaries and repay the money in monthly installments. They could also live rent-free in a flat owned by Nigella in central London.  Yet the sisters weren't happy and said it tied them to the company for the rest of their lives.

Did the sisters feel confident their employers would never take them to court because the drug addiction accusation would be out in the open? Unfortunately for them, Charles Saatchi had other ideas. He would have known it would ruin Nigela's reputation and her career.

Anthony Metzer QC, defending Elisabetta, said it was common practice for PA's to spend money on luxury items for themselves, paid for by their employer.

Nigella's other PAs - Anzelle Wasserman, Zoe Wales and Alice Binks all used their employers' credit cards to buy personal items and they were allowed to run up bills at Annabell's, a private club popular with the royal family, and spend weekends at Babington House, a boutique hotel in Somerset.  These employees weren't asked to repay any money and there's a good reason why.

Francesca racked up an average of 48,000 pounds a month, Elisabetta 28,000 a month and the other PA's a maximum of 8,000 pounds per month.  

Elisabetta (left) and Francesca Grillo

Nigella is expected to give evidence at a later date but doesn't seem too phased by the fallout. Yesterday she tweeted a recipe for Butternut Squash with pecans and blue cheese.

The trial continues.

Simon Gittany's girlfriend

Rachelle Louise in a clip from a music video in 2011

It didn't take long for Simon Gittany to replace Lisa Harnum with another beautiful woman.  It wasn't a good look and gave the impression he recovered from his fiance's death rather quickly. What isn't clear is why his new girlfriend, who uses the stage name Rachelle-Louise, and her mother, never doubted his innocence.

Her real name is Rachelle Louise Welcome.  She's a model, an aspiring actress and hopes to write a book about her love affair with Gittany. Yesterday her mother said her daughter is a strong, smart woman, in love with an "innocent man" and she had no concerns about her safety while she was with him.  "He's a kind and considerate man" she said.

Did they not hear Lisa's mother tell the court how in her final days, Gittany forced her to kneel before him and "submit" to him?

Rachael Louise grew up in Sydney and worked for the Commonwealth Bank before heading overseas.  She worked for a while at the Spearmint Rhino gentleman's club in Vegas and as a masseuse in London.

You would expect Rachael's mother to be thankful  her daughter has had a narrow escape.  Now that Gittany is in prison, she's been spared a dangerous future with a controlling, violent man.  "I'm not relieved he's gone to jail, I feel desolate, I feel empty, I woke up this morning and felt physically ill" she said.

Someone suggested to Mrs Welcome that her daughter being filmed with Gittany coming to and from court was a stunt.  "Why would we all be upset and losing sleep and putting ourselves through this if it were all an act?" she said.

So there we have it, even with all the evidence against him, Simon Gittany still has the power to convince two women he's innocent.

Yesterday, Lisa Harnum's mother and her brother Jason took the first plane back to Canada, their shocking ordeal finally over.  They arrived at Sydney airport with detectives who worked on the case and gave each one an emotional hug goodbye.

Mrs Harnum was wearing a white ribbon, symbol of the campaign to stop violence against women.