Socializing and Your Home Schooled Child

It's wonderful that 1 of the biggest concerns that individuals tend to have with homeschoolers is the socialization issue. The questions of interaction with other children and activities are the ones that generally arise and are merely taken out of proportion. A homeschooler have to have not worry about socialization abilities since those are learned on a daily basis. The key concern ought to be the high quality of the education and not how the toddler will socialize.Really a homeschooler will have a lot more time to socialize than a child that attends a traditional university setting. In all honesty, moms and dads closely monitor the kind of socialization that a homeschooler gets, unlike when they are in a standard university setting. In a public college or private college setting, there are bullies, unstable individuals and teachers you would not want your baby socializing with. It is unfortunate that children in a conventional school environment have to be subjected to the negative form of socialization this kind of as bad behavior, rumors and bullying, to name a couple of.Homeschooled kids have the possibility to get required in following university actions such Boy and Girl Scouts Rosetta Stone Spanish (Latin America) , 4H Clubs, and several church pursuits. There is no shortage of opportunities to interact with young children their own age. Young children also have the possibility to get required in team sports this kind of as soccer, baseball, and cheerleading, which will boost their capacity to interact with many other young children.There are also homeschool groups where youngsters will interact with other homeschooled kids. Mother and father have the chance to plan group pursuits with other homeschooled families, such as field trips, meet and wonderful activities and community service projects. As the young children get to know each other, the mothers and fathers get a well deserved break as nicely and an chance to socialize themselves.The notion that homeschooled kids have no socialization abilities is far from the truth. Homeschooled kids do not invest each waking hour at house; they are included in a lot of pursuits that included youngsters their age. Discovering close friends is not and must not be a concern for them; you'd be surprised at how numerous good friends a homeschooled little one has.

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Less Stress With Home School Programs

If you live far off the mainland in a remote country then there are few options for your child to study. Either you send him/her to a boarding school where he/she would be on his/her own for the better part of the year, or you teach him in a place which is difficult to journey to and fro, making your child feel tired and stressed out thanks to all that extra work. Truly, it is a big trouble for parents when it comes to teaching their own child. Also a lot of students suffer from different physical and/or mental disorders which make them a target for bullies in the school. That is not a problem when it comes to learning from home.However, if you think of the problem the solution is pretty simple too. Have you thought of bringing the school to your home? Yes, we are talking about one of the many Home School Programs which cater especially to the needs of those children who cannot attend regular school. Most of these home school programs have a very Rosetta Stone Software compatible and practical set of syllabus that can be understood by the students, and you can help your child learn about all the things a child should from a very young age. The child would be able to understand the things about reading and writing first, and then different kinds of knowledge would be added to enrich his/her learning process like math, science, arts and other extra-curricular activities.The best thing about most programs like this is that they make learning a fun task rather than a pressured thing one must do. There is no compulsion so you would have to make sure that the student is learning everything provided in the Homeschool Curriculum. Check out the detailed syllabus online because most major programs put their syllabus there, and before buying into one such program you can always ensure you get value for money by comparing more than one online school on the basis of their resources, tools of teaching and the homeschool curriculum they follow. That would help them understand the basics of the process better, and ensure that they get the best learning possible through online programs.You would see that as the student is not under any kind of pressure while learning, it actually helps him/her better grasp the different ideas and concepts and he/she is more open to new ideas and concepts.

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Tips For Parents Deciding on Home Schooling

Some parents decide to have their children Home School Jewel . But is this actually one of the best choices parents could make for their children? Along with this decision are some responsibilities that you should deal and undertake before considering any conditions regarding the matter. This might be a gift to children who wanted to be just in their homes but you, as a parent, can be a bit overwhelmed by this fact. It is advisable to actually be prepared, stay organize and keep things structured as much as possible before engaging to such task and responsibility. Aside form teaching your children about writing, reading and arithmetic, you are required to teach them about life and the struggles that encompasses it, how to deal and give of their help towards anyone needing to a hand and to value and efficiently use time for their advantage. First, assign specific points or areas for certain activities so as to let the children feel that they are really going to Home School Jeweland not remind them about playtime. It a good idea to create rooms or centers specifically on subject matters such as math, science, reading, writing, etc. It allows you to decrease the boredom felt by most children Rosetta Stone , permits variety as well as help you keep the things needed for each subject organized and accessible. Next, designate a place for every Home School Jewelgear so that you can easily find specific places for each gear. Require your children to put every home schooling gear in its proper places after your lessons are done so as to create a feeling of effective productivity between you and your child as well as to give you a fresh start the next day. Then, focus on one activity at a time because having to deal with many things at once is not conducive for learning productively. Manage your time and schedule household chores during the time of rest or during break time, playtime or after your lessons. Further, follow your schedule. Before starting or after your lesson on one subject matter so that they would not be distracted and their work would not be interrupted for they are hungry. Do not allow the children to pressure you in changing your schedules. Be flexible but keep in mind to stick with the original schedule. In addition, if you know anyone that can help you in performing such task you can ask for his/her assistance. You can also hire a tutor to teach your child when you have a difficulty teaching a certain subject matter.

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There is a risk of a real humanitarian emergency

But in the end, it was his people who brought down Egypt's modern-day pharaoh. Pulling off a second surprise in as many days, President Hosni Mubarak today stepped down and handed over power to the army from whose ranks he emerged, his deputy Omar Suleiman announced on television. 1622 GMT: Obama to make on-camera statement on Mubarak resignation 1620 GMT: Mubarak 'listened to the voices' of Egypt's people: EU 1614 GMT: US stocks surge on news of Mubarak's resignation, with the Dow moving from an early slight loss to add 0.30 percent, while the Nasdaq also rose 0.30 percent. 1611 GMT: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has stepped down and handed power to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Vice President Omar Suleiman says in a brief televised statement. 1607 GMT: Wall Street stocks jump on Mubarak's resignation 1607 GMT: Mubarak hands power to Egyptian army: VP Suleiman 1606 GMT: Military to rule Egypt 1605 GMT: Explosion of joy in Tahrir Square 1603 GMT: Mubarak steps down: VP Suleiman 1552 GMT: "They've got to hang on. Any concession will only add to the obstinacy of that fox Mubarak," is one piece of advice Tunisian Abdel Kader is eager to share with Egyptian protestors fighting to topple their ruler. 1549 GMT: Nigerian rights groups say police denied them permission to stage a protest in support of Egyptians demanding that President Mubarak step down. 1545 GMT: The United States should not fear engaging Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood as it is crucial to support people's choices in the Islamic world, Malaysia's opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim says. 1539 GMT: correspondent Dave Clark, who is coordinating coverage in the Cairo bureau today, did a similar job in Abidjan a few weeks ago, while everyone waited to see whether Ivory Coast?s Laurent Gbagbo would take the hint and step down as president, after elections which the world said were won by his opponent. Gbagbo?s still there, he points out. What will Mubarak do? 1537 GMT: Hossam Badrawi, secretary general of Egypt's ruling National Democratic Party, is about to resign after just six days in the job, a source close to him tells . 1534 GMT: An Egyptian protester has died and 20 people have been injured in clashes Rosetta Stone Software between police and demonstrators in the north Sinai town of Al-Arish, a security official tells . The unidentified protester was killed in an exchange of gunfire between police and demonstrators who were trying to free detainees from a police station, the official says. 1529 GMT: Leader of Mubarak's ruling party to step down: source 1527 GMT: State TV, besieged by cheerful protesters, has adopted a novel form of reality protest show. A presenter is standing in the crowd with his cellphone passing it to demonstrators who are filmed in long shot from somewhere behind the security cordon. One by one they shout the people?s grievances into the phone, and Its broadcast live on air. Its a bit repetitive, but Its an extraordinarily open development on a state channel normally seen as a propaganda organ. 1520 GMT: US official: Mubarak's move to Sharm el-Sheikh "positive first step" 1515 GMT: Italy warns of a looming immigration "emergency" and appeals for European Union assistance, after coast guards intercepted hundreds of undocumented immigrants sailing from Tunisia. "There is a risk of a real humanitarian emergency," says Interior Minister Roberto Maroni. The uprising in Egypt and last month's revolt in Tunisia are leading to a "mass flight" to Italian shores by immigrants, he adds.

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His nearest neighbours were two kilometres away

Point Lonsdale Township at the entrance to Port Phillip Point Lonsdale is a popular but relatively peaceful holiday resort located on an outcrop which forms the western head of Port Phillip Bay. 3 km east is Point Nepean (see entry on Portsea). In between is the entrance to Port Phillip where the calm waters of the bay meet the turbulent waters of Bass Strait. This stretch of water is, for good reason, known as The Rip which, with its turbulent crosscurrents and variable depths, is recognised as one of the most dangerous stretches of water on the Australian coastline. Point Lonsdale is 101 km south of Melbourne and 28 kilometres southeast of Geelong at the southeastern tip of the Bellarine Peninsula. It is a sort of twin town to Queenscliff which sits at the eastern end of Lonsdale Bay. The area was originally inhabited by the Wathawurung Aborigines. European visitation of the bay dates back to 1802 when Lieutenant Murray spent over three weeks exploring its features. He was soon followed by Matthew Flinders who mistook Port Phillip Bay for Western Port. Two French ships were also exploring the southern waters at this time and, largely to forestall French claims to any part of the continent, the first European settlement on Port Phillip Bay was established by the British in 1803, though it was abandoned the following year (see entry on Sorrento). A convict escapee from this settlement, named William Buckley, was adopted by the local Aborigines with whom he lived for 32 years. He is thought to have lived in a cave beneath Point Lonsdale lighthouse. Advertisement: Story continues below Buckley aside, Rosetta Stone American English white settlement of the peninsula was not resumed until the 1830s after the establishment of Melbourne. Point Lonsdale was named in 1837 after Captain William Lonsdale, the first police magistrate of Port Phillip. A pilot service for ships passing through The Rip was established beneath Shortland Bluff in 1838. This was the genesis of Queenscliff which emerged as a town in the early 1850s. A signal station was established at Point Lonsdale in 1854. The operator, Captain Preston, built a house there. His nearest neighbours were two kilometres away. After a stone lighthouse was constructed at Queenscliff in the 1860s, the old wooden structure it replaced was rebuilt at Point Lonsdale in 1867. It was superseded by the current structure in 1902. Little development occurred at Point Lonsdale until the first land sales proceeded in 1876. In the early 20th century, a shellprocessing works was established at the southern end of Lake Victoria, just west of Point Lonsdale. Here shellgrit was removed and processed for commercial usage in glassmaking and the poultry industry. Large deposits were found beside the Geelong Highway in 1935. The Point Lonsdale Markets are held on the second Sunday of the month from 9.00 a.m. all year round at the primary school in Bowen Rd. Things to see: Tourist Information The Queenscliff Tourist Information Centre is located at 55 Hesse St and is open daily, (03) 5258 4843. Coastline Front Beach, in Lonsdale Bay, is a fine sheltered beach for swimming and fishing while the Back Beach, on the other side of a series of large sand dunes, is ideal for surfing (it is patrolled in the holiday season). There are plenty of opportunities for walking along the beaches, clifftops and through the abundance of titree. Salmon, barracouta and mullet can be caught from the rocks at Point Lonsdale while snapper, whiting and salmon inhabit the waters off Point Lonsdale jetty.

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Newcastle Second largest city in New South Wales

Once a major industrial city, now an elegant and attractive destination full of historic buildings and interesting walks. With a population of over 250 000 Newcastle is the secondlargest city in New South Wales and the sixthlargest in Australia. 156 km north of Sydney via the freeway and at sealevel, Newcastle is located at the mouth of the Hunter River. It has the largest export harbour in the Commonwealth, by tonnage, and the second busiest. It is known, quite reasonably, as the 'gateway to the Hunter Valley' and certainly is the commercial, administrative and industrial centre of the region. It has numerous beaches, a rich heritage of Victorian architecture and a fabulous lookout at Mount Sugarloaf. The Hunter Valley was once occupied by the Awabakal and Worimi Aborigines. Indeed the foreshore area adjacent what is now Newcastle Harbour was once a major campsite. They called the river 'Maiyarn', meaning 'river that comes from the sea'. When Captain Cook sailed up the east coast in 1770 he noted what is now called Nobbys Head at the mouth of the Hunter River but did not investigate further. In 1797, while pursuing a group of escapees, Lieutenant John Shortland landed in the vicinity, 'discovered' the river, which he named after Governor Hunter (though it was known as Coal River for some time), and reported coal deposits. It was then that the potential of the area was recognised. The following year ships began collecting coal from the riverbanks and selling it in Sydney and in 1799 a shipment of local coal , which was sent to Bengal, was Australia's first export. Advertisement: Story continues below In 1801 a convict camp known as King's Town (after Governor King) was established to mine the coal and cut timber. What is thought to be the first coal mine in the Southern Hemisphere was sunk at Colliers Point, below Fort Scratchley, in 1801 and the first shipment of coal (24 tons) dispatched to Sydney (by comparison, in 1997, the 272metre S.G. Universe carried 148 000 tons Rosetta Stone of coal to the state capital). However, the settlement was closed less than a year later. Around this time timber cutting also began in the Hunter Valley. The real beginning of the town was in 1804 when the administration in Sydney, under Governor King, decided that the site's isolation, combined with the hard manual labour of coalmining, limeburning, saltmaking, timbercutting and construction work, would make the base for an ideal secondary penal colony for recidivists. The Lower Hunter was then covered in subtropical forest which was rich in cedar, so much so that the tributaries around Newcastle were then known as the Cedar Arms. The only initial source of lime were Aboriginal middens at Stockton while the salt was attained through the evaporation of the highly saline water of the Stockton mangroves. The penal settlement was placed under the direction of Lieutenant Menzies though he soon resigned and Charles Throsby was in charge from 180508. The convict settlement, named Newcastle after the English city, rapidly gained a reputation as a hellhole. The regime was severe and the work arduous. From 1814 it became the major prison in NSW with over a thousand convicts. An early Australian novel, Ralph Rashleigh (written in the 1840s), by exconvict James Tucker, describes dungeating, flogging and murder at the penal colony.

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Steering la dolce vita

Click for more photos Steering la dolce vita Steering la dolce vita The 1963 ASA 1000 GT, or baby Ferrari, was in a league of its own, writes KEVIN NORBURY. Ean McDowell loves to tell the story of getting to work one Tuesday morning in Kuala Lumpur and the conversation centred on what everyone did over the long weekend. "And I said I went to Barcelona and bought a Ferrari," he laughs. There was stunned disbelief in the engineering office where he was at the time. But he wasn't kidding. As he tells it, as soon as he knocked off on the Friday night he caught a plane to Paris, where he was met by his contact, Olivier, who next day drove him to San Sebastian, in Spain, to see an ASA, the fourcylinder "baby Ferrari", as McDowell calls it. It was a wreck, so they drove on, across Spain to Barcelona, to see another one. This one was better. It had done a mere 30,000 kilometres. "It was very dirty but it was a very original car," he says. "When it started I just had to have it." Negotiations proved "interesting", though, given the language barrier: a mix of Olivier's French, McDowell's Aussie English and the Barcelona owner's Spanish dialect. "In the end I just gave up and bought the car." Then they drove back to Paris and he flew to Kuala Lumpur in time for work on the Tuesday. Now that's dedication. Advertisement: Story continues below Spend time with McDowell and you soon discover that little ASA mission wasn't out of character. He loves Italian cars, although he started out a Riley man, as was his father. But the son's conversion happened one wet day in 1972 after he traded his leaky Austin Healey Sprite for a Fiat 850 Coupe in suburban Ringwood. "It was more a spurofthemoment thing," he says. At the time Fiat's advertising campaign slogan was "have an Italian love affair". And McDowell did just that Rosetta Stone . He now has quite a collection of Italian cars, everything from a 1958 Moretti to a 1968 Lamborghini Miura S and "little Italian cars (Fiats mostly) that people don't even bother to tow off the street". "But I still think they're great little cars," he says. Many are not exactly pristine, let's be honest, but he loves every one of them. Still, McDowell had always wanted a Ferraribased ASA, the fourcylinder coupe concept that Enzo Ferrari sold to the big Italian chemical manufacturer ASA. McDowell bought one in the US in 1972 but it doesn't have an engine. It was his hunt for an engine that led him to Barcelona and on that same trip he mentioned to his French companion that he'd also love a Stanguellini and three years later, bingo, Olivier calls: he'd found one. In the warehouse he rents to store his cars, McDowell pulls back a cover to reveal a blue and white 1959 Stanguellini Formula Junior race car, number 41 (pictured below). "That's basically as it last raced in 1963," he says. "They were made with total disregard for cost and the performance is staggering.

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Indonesia pledges to follow US on nukes

Indonesia has offered a boost to President Barack Obama's vision of a nuclearfree world, pledging to ratify a treaty banning nuclear tests if the US Senate does. Obama said in April said he would ask the Senate to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), part of his ambitious goal of eliminating nuclear weapons unveiled in a speech in Prague. Indonesia is one of nine countries including the United States that need to ratify the treaty, which would ban all nuclear explosions everywhere for any purpose, to come into force. Advertisement: Story continues below "We share his vision of a world in which nuclear weapons have been eradicated," Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said on a visit to Washington on Monday. "We trust that he will succeed in getting the CTBT ratified and we promise that when that happens, Indonesia will immediately follow suit," he said at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Wirajuda spoke before a meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who visited Jakarta in February in a sign of the new US administration's interest in the world's largest Muslimmajority nation. While Obama's antinuclear initiative was mostly wellreceived around the world, one holdout from the treaty North Korea brazenly defied it by testing an atomic bomb last month. The other nations that have not ratified the treaty are India and Pakistan, which both refuse even to sign it, along with China, Egypt, Iran and Israel. Indonesia operates nuclear reactors but does not have nuclear weapons. Wirajuda said the threat of a "nuclear holocaust" had been growing until Obama's Rosetta Stone initiative. Wirajuda said Indonesia was ready to help the United States negotiate with North Korea and Iran, which is suspected of seeking nuclear weapons. Indonesia maintains friendly relations with both Tehran and Pyongyang. Clinton, in her meeting later with Wirajuda, said the Indonesia and the United States were committed to building "a comprehensive partnership based on mutual respect and mutual interests". The world's second and third largest democracies "share a commitment to democratic values, human rights and a vibrant civil society", she said. "The American people have the greatest respect for what the Indonesian people have accomplished in the last decade," she said, referring to the archipelago's transition to democracy. She announced a $US10 million ($A12.65 million) grant to support higher education in Indonesia, including Englishlanguage teaching. Obama spent part of his childhood in Indonesia, an experience he credits with giving him a greater understanding of the Islamic world. In turn, Obama is wildly popular in much of Indonesia, in contrast to predecessor George W Bush. Wirajuda lavished praise on Obama's speech last week in Cairo, in which the US leader called for a "new beginning" with the Muslim world after years of mutual suspicion. The foreign minister called it "one of the greatest speeches I have ever heard from a world leader". As the foreign minister visited, the US Indonesia Society which promotes ties between the two nations released recommendations to develop a partnership between the two countries. It called for an end to a ban on US military training of Indonesian units accused of human rights violations in the past, saying that Washington should instead only blacklist individuals over wrongdoing.

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A setting fit for an emperor

THERE'S something about London hotels that I cannot fathom. Theyeither have the service right and the style wrong or the other wayaround, but very few of them have it all in sync. As the city has been welcoming holidaying visitors for more than150 years, you would think they might have worked out the formula.One of the oldest hotels in London, the Langham Hotel, seems to beaware of this shortcoming and has broken away from the pack, albeit with a few oddities. It has learnt much from its cavalcade of famous guests. Napoleonspent much of his enforced exile from France here in a firstfloorsuite. Others include Mark Twain, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Noel Coward, and Mrs Wallis Simpson, who stayed here during her courtship with Edward VIII. Advertisement: Story continues below The Langham must still have its magic because Madonna loves itand recently launched her new fashion collection in the hotel's Artesian bar. Most new hip watering holes in London draw thecelebrity crowd for a nanosecond before they scamper on to the nextone that is going to offer them free Moscow Mules and tabloidcoverage. Artesian, it appears, has more longevity than that. It's notsuperexclusive you can walk in off the street which means nooverweight and undereloquent bouncers denying entry to anyone whoisn't Vogue beautiful, at No.1 on the charts, or Jordan and Peter Andre. Also, the place is not dripping in gold, nor is it jet black andso dark you stumble over the ottomans and spill gin fizz all overfootballers' wives. Instead, it smacks of a French salon with hintsof an absinthe age. I don't know if the designer, David Collins,was trying to evoke vaguely hedonistic memories of Oscar Wilde are gular former Langham guest but you do get the sense that theold rogue would approve. There is a purple and mauve colour theme, the most Rosetta Stone Hindi strikingexamples of which are the butterflies painted onto well, into,really the tables. Behind the bar is a big, mirrored and Asianthemed wall where the bottles glisten invitingly underminiature pagodastyle roofs. In many ways Artesian doesn't fit the London scene and that's what makes it good. It hasn't followed, it has led plus the staffare polite, quick and they know their cocktails. Rum is the basedrink of choice, a big shift from vodka, which was the stapletipple of the Artesian's predecessor. The barwoman mixing my Good Night Chihuahua (yes, really) was ablur as she worked her arms independently like a cocktail Kali.Once I had drunk it, I was a blur, too. Madonna also stayed here after her fashion launch, booking thepremier Infinity Suite, which must be one of the most extravagantin the city. The idea was to create a lavish innercity apartment. For thisneck of the woods, right in the heart of London, about afiveminute walk from Oxford Circus and Regent Street, the space isvast at 236 square metres. The suite comes with all the essentials the modern head of stateor celebrity needs: bombproof windows, CCTV, panic alarms, privatebutler service, and an Infinity bath that projects differentcoloured lights to soothe you (a treatment known aschromatherapy). Now, for those oddities. If you don't want to spend a fortuneeating out in London, then you might want to pick one of the roomsin the Langham Club, a separate section of the hotel where you haveaccess to two relaxing lounges (one nonsmoking). They serveallday snacks and drinks, so you can sip Laurent Perrier champagneand eat canapes instead of taking out a second mortgage for a mealat the Ivy.

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Harsh heart of the truth

Photo: Supplied Peter Temple's new novel focuses on male relationships as a state goes up in flames. Jason Steger meets the celebrated crime writer. IN A short essay in Greil Marcus and Werner Sollors' A New Literary History of America, Walter Mosley, the creator of ''Easy'' Rawlins, muses on the hardboiled: ''In the pages of any hardboiled book worth its ink is the question can I do right in a world gone wrong? There is no one answer to this question. People in a hardboiled world have had to improvise from the moment they were born. The writer may have a notion of what is right and make a world where the ending, if not exactly happy, is at least satisfying.'' It's not clear if Peter Temple is as hardboiled a writer as some of the examples Mosley has in mind but certainly his main characters are trying in their own shambolic way to get things right. Usually after they've previously got them spectacularly wrong in an uncooperative world. Think Jack Irish, his Fitzroy solicitorcumfixer; think Joe Cashin in The Broken Shore; and now think Stephen Villani. Advertisement: Story continues below His new hero if that's the right word for this flawed character appeared in The Broken Shore, which won the major award from the British crime writers' association and added yet another Ned Kelly to Temple's large collection of Australian Crime Writers Association gongs. Temple is a world away from those US mean streets and a decent train ride from the ones in Melbourne where the new novel is set. He is in the Ballarat cafe near his home where he is a regular fixture, known by many and appearing to know everyone else. The staff is taking advance orders for Truth while he is telling it. He has a strong view on most things, often caustic, invariably perspicacious. He is a man worth listening to. You will be entertained, Rosetta Stone Portuguese you will certainly laugh, there'll probably be a glass or three of red to smooth the process. Truth is not a sequel to The Broken Shore, more a companion piece. Temple was worried that readers might get the impression that it heralded another series. (Not that he's done with either Cashin or Irish. Both pop up in Truth; walkon roles that show his affection for them. And there will be more Irish down the track.) Villani, the head of homicide, is dealing with a couple of ghastly murders of young women and endeavouring to deal with the dismal state of his marriage, his onoff affair with a television journalist and his role as a father, a brother and, significantly, a son. All this in a Melbourne enveloped in the stink of political and corporate corruption and a bush that is about to burst into flames. The British crime writer John Harvey reckons Truth is ''a pretty apt title for one of Peter's books. I don't think he has truck with much less. I hold him in the highest regard as a writer, both in terms of his choice and control of subject matter and his use of language, which is direct and, where necessary, evocative. Above all, readable. ''In common with many of the best crime writers, he often uses the mechanics of the crime novel to strip away layers of hypocrisy. He has a knack of pinning down the daytoday nature of people's lives and laying bare their weaknesses and obsessions.'' Temple has always been interested in power and its exercise ''what I see as the disintegration of things, the way every step forward carries with it its own slide backwards, that all the things we try to do even with the best of intentions are doomed''. And the bleak political world he unmasks in the book? Simply the way he sees it. ''It is the perception of reality. What is the reality itself? People don't really know.'' He doesn't like to make things easy for the reader; indeed he likes to make things as complex as he can.

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Shame on those so quick to judge

Roberta Quinn Newtown A private school banning a samesex couple from a formal reflects the inherent contradiction in our antidiscrimination laws. Private schools will never be able to provide a legitimate, safe and supportive environment for samesex attracted youth while they are legally entitled to discriminate against samesex attracted adults. Samantha Chung Newtown Vigilantes too quick to judge, and too harsh I hope all the vigilantes feel good about themselves now that a young man has lost his job, his dignity and self respect ('''This is torture' deep breaths, stumbles highlight the distress and humiliation of a father's son'', November 10). While I in no way condone what Joel Monaghan did, it was nothing more than a boorish prank in the privacy of someone's house in an attempt to make his drunken mates have a laugh. The people calling for his blood are, among other lame excuses, saying he is a role model and should know better. I don't know of a better role model in the past few years than Joel. He has blamed no one; taken full responsibility for his actions; apologised to his club, its sponsors and his teammates; and stepped down from a lucrative job for the good of the game. We have all been ''guilty'' of doing stupid things in the privacy of our homes. How many of us would be prepared, having been caught, to cop it like Joel did? Shame on those so quick to judge. Greg Friend North Epping Joel Monaghan is a complete goose. But it seems to me the ones bellowing ''abomination'' and ''bestiality'' and milling about under the hangin' tree with a rope and stool are the ones who, by admission, couldn't wait to get a look at it, as well as Googling other examples, to reinforce their selfappointed righteousness. We need to beware the vengeful. If all the circumstances have been disclosed, Monaghan deserves reinstatement. Jody Bailey Kahibah Unfortunately, Jeff Thornton (Letters, November 10) is wrong to say bestiality is considered as offensive in the law as child abuse. In the ACT, where the ''offence'' was apparently committed, Rosetta Stone Latin America Spanish bestiality is not illegal. I wish it were otherwise. Mark Richmond Lisarow Julia Archer (Letters, November 10) suggests Joel Monaghan spend some time with the RSPCA learning to ''love animals''. Isn't that what got him into trouble in the first place? Andrew Howell NewtownA thoughtless bout of bank bashing So bank bashing has overtaken petrolprice whingeing. The big four banks are gouging money from the public, so we are told, without any competition. But of course there is Suncorp, Bendigo Bank, Bank of Queensland and ME bank for the unionists. Building societies and credit unions have been forgotten. Retirees relying on interest from the banks have been terrified into silence. The bank shareholders have been quiet, including all those whose superannuation includes bank shares, and who complained when the super balance went down during the global financial crisis. Variable interest rates are bad, we are now told. We should follow what other countries do, such as the US. So how are their banks doing? How much did they cost the taxpayers? Australians have had access to fixed interest rates for as long as I can remember. Of course, those who selected them a couple of years ago were complaining that they found themselves paying three to four percentage points more than those on variable loans. When the first home owners' scheme was in full flight, I recall financial advisers warning new home buyers not to overextend themselves. Now those who did are blaming the banks, rather than accepting their responsibility. Philip Dowling Turramurra Anyone seriously considering Anthony Phillips's proposal to borrow foreign currency to fund an investment or purchase at a lower interest rate should do some research (Letters, November 10). In the late 1980s many banks sold Swiss franc loans in Australia to unsuspecting borrowers, when the rate difference between the two countries was more than 10 percentage points. It looked too good to refuse, but when the dollar went into freefall, some borrowers found they needed $1.75 million to repay the original principal of $1 million.

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German authorities shut 9/11 plotters' mosque

German police on Monday shut down a mosque in Hamburg frequented by suicide hijackers from the September 11, 2001 attacks and suspected of recruiting jihadists, authorities said. An affiliated cultural centre called Taiba was also banned. "Hamburg must not become a cradle of violent Islamists," the city-state's chief interior affairs official, Christoph Ahlhaus, told reporters. Advertisement: Story continues below "We closed the Taiba mosque today because young men were converted to religious fanatics there. A purported cultural association shamelessly exploited the freedoms of our democratic state under the rule of law to recruit for holy war behind the scenes." Three of the September 11 hijackers including their ringleader Mohammed Atta, who piloted the first plane into New York's World Trade Center, met regularly at the mosque before moving to the United States. The prayer house, in the multiethnic Sankt Georg district near the main rail station, was known as Al-Quds until two years ago. Authorities said it had served for several years as a recruitment centre for Islamic extremists, including accomplices of the hijackers, and offered logistical and financial assistance to militants. Nine years after the anti-US attacks, the mosque's notoriety was a strong draw for young radicals, officials said. Twenty police officers searched the site and homes of the association's leaders in the early-morning raid and confiscated funds from the group. "We have finally put an end to the spectre behind the walls on Steindamm," said Ahlhaus, referring to the street where the mosque is located. The mosque, with about 45 members, was still the main meeting point for Islamic extremists in the city, according to Hamburg authorities. Between 200 and 250 people usually attended Friday prayers including Arabs, Iranians, Russians, Rosetta Stone Japanese Bosnians and German converts. Its current imam, German-Syrian national Mamoun Darkazanli, is wanted by Spanish authorities as a suspected Al-Qaeda operative with alleged links to the cell behind the 2004 Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people. Germany has refused to extradite him following a ruling by its highest court, and dropped its own case against him in 2006 for lack of evidence. Earlier this year, German media reported that the CIA had singled Darkazanli out for targeted killing. The claims were never confirmed. In a case officials described as decisive to the closing of the mosque, 10 men who regularly attended the prayer house travelled to the border region straddling Afghanistan and Pakistan in March last year, probably to attend militant training camps. They are under investigation by German prosecutors on suspicion of founding a terrorist organisation. At least one of the men allegedly joined the radical Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan while in Pakistan and later appeared in a German-language propaganda video in which he called for Muslims to take part in holy war, officials said. Ahlhaus said Taiba had a sophisticated programme of courses, sermons, seminars and online publications to whip up hatred of "non-believers". "We do not tolerate organisations that are levelled against the constitutional order and the idea of understanding between cultures in an aggressive, militant way," he said. "But I underline that these measures are not targeted against the majority of the peace-loving, law-abiding Muslims in Hamburg." The mosque belonged to the Salafist wing of Sunni Islam, a small fundamentalist minority among Germany's more than four million Muslims.

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God help Vinnies

At the feud-riven St Vincent de Paul Society QCs are busy, writes David Marr. Weeping in an apartment high over the north shore, Barbara Ryan despairs for the St Vincent de Paul Society. Until being summarily sacked three weeks ago, she was its NSW president. Now she stands accused of running an organisation riven with feuds, disruptive and bullying. "I think this sort of thing - a lot of innuendo, no fact to it - destroys the society; it destroys the good people who are working in it; it makes people query who donate to us. And this I think is scandalous." Once more, the society is a scene of wailing and gnashing of teeth. Can there be an unhappier charity in the country? Hearts are broken. QCs are busy. Grim allegations are in the air. Key players in the reform movement Ryan led for the past couple of years in NSW are walking away from the society. All this since Syd Tutton, the pugnacious national president of St Vincent de Paul, sacked the NSW council three weeks ago and installed himself as its provisional head. "I have been called every name under the sun," he told survivors of his putsch in NSW. "But I have acted nonetheless in the belief that it would have been a grave failure of leadership on my part if I had remained silent. I will gladly face God as my judge of these actions." Advertisement: Story continues below The language of the battles within St Vincent de Paul is magnificent: biblical prose mixed with exhortations to the society's founder, the blessed Frederic Ozanam. All sides accuse each other of failing to live by Gospel values as they manoeuvre over the big issues at stake here: culture, money and power. The belligerent anonymous letters that provoked the latest corporate bloodletting came signed: "Yours in Christ". Once a big wheel in the Victorian power industry, Tutton is a man known to take a firm view of the prerogatives of his office. It is not an unfamiliar attitude in the St Vincent de Paul Society, where ranks and titles are fiercely defended. At the heart of this often murky story is a confrontation with Ryan that Tutto Rosetta Stone seems to have found extremely uncomfortable. It all began with a couple of anonymous letters denouncing the society's NSW branch. But first the back story. By any measure St Vincent de Paul is a big corporation. In NSW it has net assets of $380 million and an annual income of more than $100 million. A quarter of that money comes from government. But it has a ramshackle structure, deeply loved by diehard volunteers, that allows for no public oversight. It is accountable only to itself. For over a decade, reformers have been battling to incorporate the NSW operation, particularly to demonstrate that government money is being well spent. Brian Murnane, a former national president of the society and one of the chief proponents of bringing its work under company law, told the Herald: "If you want to be truly open and accountable, you have to follow the laws of the land." Other charities have faced this. It is always a slog. Incorporation of St Vincent de Paul in NSW requires 11 separate fiefdoms - one in each of the Catholic dioceses of the state - to cede authority to the centre. After bruising battles the fiefdoms finally conceded control of the purse. Last year, for the first time in its 130-year history in NSW, St Vincent de Paul was able to produce consolidated audited accounts. But a few of the fiefdoms - each with its own president and executive officer - won't go the next step and cede management control to the society's state headquarters in Lewisham. Most had been brought over the line after Ryan brought in a professional mediator earlier in the year. She believed incorporation was only months away. Then Tutton swooped, dismissing her and suspending all the NSW councillors. Tutton afterwards claimed his takeover would "return the society in NSW to the grassroots members out of respect for their magnificent dedication to the mission on the ground to people on the margins". Justifying himself to the society's hierarchy in Paris, he claimed the incorporation plans were "inconsistent with the rule of the society" and would allow the society to be run by its employees. Ryan was shocked to read this. She swears it is the first she ever suspected that Tutton was worried about the incorporation.

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