Paul Little: Showbiz, not justice

If a jury anywhere on the planet could be expected to understand how celebrity works, surely it should be one in Los Angeles.

Everyone in that city is either in the entertainment business or trying to get into it. The latter group seems to include Judge Michael Pastor, who turned in quite the performance when he sent Michael Jackson's doctor, Conrad Murray, down the river for four years. Limelight-hogging Pastor stretched out his sentencing like he was announcing America's next top model. He whispered, he sneered, he dripped scorn and righteous anger.

He castigated Murray for practising "money for medicine madness", relying on alliteration, the last resort of the rhetorically challenged.

Murray, on the other hand, has no future in acting. His statue-like immobility made me wonder if he'd knocked up a dodgy prescription.

He is from Planet Celebrity, where people can have and do whatever they want as long as they stay famous and can pay for it. If you work for a star, your job is to make sure all their demands, no matter how self-destructive, are met. Murray's responsibility was not to safeguard Jackson's health. It was to do what he was told. And he carried it out to a fault.

THE HARD LINE ON BULLYING

Parents have this week been asking themselves how much force they would use if they encountered their child being bullied.

In any case of physical assault, there is a whole range of physical reactions possible - from using force to stop the assault to using enough force to put the perpetrator out of action.

One thing that doesn't work is saying: "Excuse me, could you stop hitting my child?"

Most of us feel we wouldn't hesitate to use force. Others would say a physical reaction "diminishes" the adult using force. Oh well. Any parent who can't cop a little diminishing to protect their offspring probably shouldn't have bred.

Unfortunately, getting physical with a bully is at one extreme of a scale that ends up with something more serious. Any reaction fuelled by anger can easily get out of control. Once you sign off on any use of violence, it becomes harder to define the point at which it has to stop. Which is why a ban on any use of force is still the best approach.

Still, when I ask myself whether I would use force on someone attacking my child, the conclusion I come to is yes, I probably would, against my better judgment, lash out. But I would be prepared to accept the legal consequences.

EUTHANASIA DEBATE

Loving husband Michael Palairet, 71, denied helping his wife, Eva, to die and has been acquitted in a case so complicated it took the police a year to decide whether or not to bring charges.

Loving son Sean Davison, charged over helping his mother to die, was found guilty and sentenced to home detention.

To some, euthanasia is the ultimate bullying. But an ageing population means this issue is only going to come up more frequently. To prevent our golden-years demographic from fretting about what their loved ones might be slipping into their Milo, our newly elected representatives should find the courage to revise a law that at best allows for serious inconsistencies.

There is a frequently observed risk in politics - especially with a small talent pool - that an ounce of charisma can be used to buy a tonne of success. The electorate is too easily bedazzled by a bright smile and hearty manner. A successful politician doesn't even need a quick wit - one that operates at walking pace will stick out like a female character in the Lord of the Rings.

The Labour Party, considering its leadership choices, has obviously taken this observation on board and has decided to avoid altogether the risk of having a leader with any personality.

WATCHING PAINT DRY

Well done, National Radio, on balancing the hard news with lighter pieces, such as this week's one on how fast the grass is growing. (No, really. They've filed the paint-drying story for a slower news week.) I wonder if, however, these could be more tightly edited. Learning that a mowing contractor now has six more lawns a week to barber did not exactly transform my day.