Posts by Ross Francis
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strike crime is down in general, but the ~20% fall in strike offending is dwarfed by the ~62% fall in strike recidivism.
If the number of cases has fallen from 256 to 81, that is a fall of 68.4%, not 62%.
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There is of course this version of 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' with Mariah Carey and, um, Jimmy Fallon. It doesn't sound like a girl band at all!
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Hard News: Art with a job to do, in reply to Matthew Hooton,
For the fern to lose, turnout will have to exceed that of the 2014 election, and pretty much all the non-voters in the first referendum will need to back the Union Jack.
I don't think that is true at all. I expect many of the non-voters, the informals and quite a few of the fern voters to vote for the current flag.
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I haven't read any detective novels as such but The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time can almost be described as a detective novel.
"Mark Haddon's bitterly funny debut novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, is a murder mystery of sorts--one told by an autistic version of Adrian Mole. Fifteen-year-old Christopher John Francis Boone is mathematically gifted and socially hopeless, raised in a working-class home by parents who can barely cope with their child's quirks. He takes everything that he sees (or is told) at face value, and is unable to sort out the strange behavior of his elders and peers."
http://www.amazon.com/The-Curious-Incident-Dog-Night-Time/dp/1400032717
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Up Front: Fringe of Darkness, in reply to linger,
There are different standards of evidence for determining
“do we have enough evidence of abuse that this child needs protection?” and
“do we have enough evidence to conclude this person is guilty of abuse?”
It’s a distinction that FGS deliberately blurs – which may give her “credibility” among (accused) offenders, but definitely not with victimsI'm not sure that's a fair characterisation of FSG's position. As an expert defence witness, she would certainly be involved with cases where there might be insufficient evidence of abuse. I'm not sure she would be involved with possible abuse cases where children need protecting.
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Up Front: Fringe of Darkness, in reply to Kyle MacDonald,
Kyle
You've omitted a fairly important comment from FSG's description of her time at Centrepoint.
"Subsequent trials for sexual abuse leading to convictions of Bert, my husband John and five other members of the community related to events in the late 1970s and early 1980s. John left the community in 1985 and I met him a year later."
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writing academic papers about, for instance, how it is “possible” to contract STI’s as a child without sexual contact. (seriously)
Not STIs in general but gonorrhoea specifically. And it seems she is correct.
"It is important that all cases of N gonorrhoeae in children be fully investigated for sexual abuse, and reported to the relevant child protection authorities. There is no doubt that almost all gonococcal vaginal infections in prepubertal children are sexually transmitted, and this may include those previously reported as non-sexual. However it is also accepted that cases of non-sexual transmission of N gonorrhoeae in children do occur, but proof beyond all doubt can be very difficult to document scientifically."
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The above came from Felicity Goodyear-Smith's website.
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Up Front: Fringe of Darkness, in reply to Russell Brown,
Absolutely, Felicity Goodyear-Smith has credibility.
She and others have made the point that there can be a reluctance by some to appear as expert witnesses in cases of alleged child sexual abuse. That is unfortunate.
FGS says:
"I have acted for both the Crown and the defence as an expert witness or medical advisor in cases involving allegations of sexual assault. I have always acknowledged that sexual assault occurs and have never condoned it. I have no desire for guilty people to escape punishment. However the basic premise under which I have always operated is that both true and false allegations occur. I believe in the overriding tenet of innocent until proven guilty and that people are entitled to a fair trial."
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Polity: TPP, eh?, in reply to Andrew Geddis,
What are the chances of Philip Morris winning? They have already lost Round 1 in the Australian courts. "Clearly, the High Court has decided that there hasn't been an acquisition of property and so the claims by the tobacco industry that Governments are seizing its property are simply untrue."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-15/high-court-rules-in-favour-of--plain-packaging-laws/4199768
Meanwhile, consumption of cigarettes has dropped significantly in Australia since the introduction of plain packaging.
http://ash.org/tobacco-consumption-plunges-in-australia-plain-packaging/