The Government in India is under a lot of pressure at the moment to change a nasty widespread male attitude towards women following the recent horrific attack upon a young medical student. She was abused for hours then thrown from a bus. She died days later in hospital.
Fortunately, the vast majority of Indian men respect women and huge numbers of them have joined women on the streets of that country to show how outraged they are about the situation.
And there is not only the rapes, but also the burning of women alive if their dowries do not meet their husband's family expectations. About 2500 women a year are burned alive.
Indian prosecutors have gauged the public mood and have called for the bus attackers to be hanged.
So they should be.
It should be done in a public place so that would-be rapists will think twice before becoming a pack of animals and attacking women just because they feel the urge to.
SO, THE new skipper of the Black Caps reckons Kiwis should grasp the positive aspects his side could take out of the first test against South Africa.
If you'll remember, as masochists would, that test ended in abject defeat by one entire innings. In layman's terms South Africa only had to bat once to beat New Zealand's score from two innings.
It began with the new, more aggressive Black Caps all out for 45 runs. Yes, you read it right, 45 runs. That innings was the Kiwis' third lowest in NZ test cricket history and the 12th worst of all time.
It was the shortest innings by a side that elected to bat - good call Brendon "Brutus" McCullum, great start for the new skipper - and the worst total by a test side in the past 39 years. Now you also have to remember a lot of the really shocking cricket test innings were played on uncovered "sticky" wickets, not the pampered pitches of today.
Why am I getting stuck into the Black Caps?
Well, I couldn't believe the outrageous way in which the previous skipper Ross Taylor was shamefully knifed out of the job by those at the top of NZ Cricket. Talk about being Julius Caesar in the Roman Forum. Crikey, there was no room in his back for any more knives.
Taylor is NZ's best player and, given time to learn captaincy, would have been a great leader.
Now all NZ Cricket has is the bloodied ghost of a former skipper, a captain - McCullum - whose faults have been shown up and should resign, a coach Mike Hesson who should do the same after playing favourites to the national team's detriment and an emasculated test side that needs to harden up.
But I guess Kiwis can be pleased with the maiden test hundred for Dean Brownlie who deserves applause for his gutsy four-and-a-half hour, second-innings knock.
THERE are many wonderful inventions in the hi-tech world that not only make our lives safer, but also make them easier.
One thing that does ruin the technology benefit line is the automatic checkout at major supermarkets. I don't like using them for several reasons, number one being eventually they will mean the loss of jobs.
After that I hate the annoying voice of the damned things.
It has an irritating tone and is more impatient than a grumpy waitress at a back-blocks cafe.
There is never enough time to key in what you want before AutoCow is saying "please do this" or "please do that".
I can never quite manage to pick up the item and place it on the tray before the command comes "please put your item on the tray" and woe betide you if something rolls off it because that throws the machine into a tizz and she goes from impatient to strident.
I apologise to anyone behind me when I am trying to use AutoCow because I have taken to talking back to her when her demands are unreasonable. It's along the lines of "Please shut up" or, in extremis, "Please censored by the editor."
