Blind Obedience.... Rank Stupidity

Blind Obedience …Rank Stupidity

When I was 19 years of age, my world went horribly askew.

My brother who was 14 months older than I was killed on pushbike, by a hit and run drunken driver. This was devastating to my Mother and Father.

My brother David and I were born 14 months apart, we had grown extremely close as brothers and did everything together. We had joined the St. John’s Ambulance and progressed up the ranks over the years, I has become a sergeant and David a Corporal. He was posted to do Duty that evening, he had asked me to come with him. For what ever reasoning applied, I said no, I was not going to go with him. Two minutes from his destination he was struck and killed. The agony over the years: Why did I not accompany him? Could I have forestalled this accident? David was a little slow in many things, as he and my Father both had had polio when they were young.

These were questions I asked of myself time and time again and have never found an answer for them. Maybe in the fullness of God’s time, I may have an answer.

Things were extremely hard for me at home, I was 18 years of age just 7 months previously and my mother insisted I had to home by 9.00 PM at night. As much as I could appreciate my Mum and Dad’s loss, after all what parent ever wanted to see their child die before they died? I could not abide their rules. As they both knew that I had previously, desired to be a Doctor, I suggested I become a Male Nurse at a Geriatric Hospital, where I would be working night shift and live in the hospital accommodation. Mum finally capitulated and agreed in giving her permission to this transition.

I was not allowed to take my bike. That did not worry me. I was not enamoured with bikes at the stage of my life. As I was on Night Shift I was working Monday to Friday, off Saturday and Sunday nights. I was expected to come home most weekends.

Life settled down, except from those continual questions, I kept asking myself. There was more trouble brewing on the horizon in the Name of the Night Sister. This lady was to my immature mind, should have been a patient in the wards rather than the custodian of all the elderly men and women who lived in these wards.

The first trouble arose, when I asked her if she could direct her torch light out of the sleeping faces. She did not take kindly to my request and reported me to the Medical Superintendent. I was told that the Sister was in charge not Frank Shead. It did not seem to matter to those in authority that the ward became very unsettled after all of her visits which occurred three times a night. Still I had been told to behave myself.

Trouble kicked into gear on the day we had two new patients, two very elderly males. One totally blind with the most horrifying cancer across his face and was in extreme agony, all the time. The other Gentleman was cussed and deaf. He lived his life shouting when he was awake and snoring when he was asleep. The wonderful Night Sister was off for a week’s rest.

There was plenty of time for me to get both of the elderly men settled down to our routine and life continued on smoothly.

That was until Sister B arrived back to do her rounds.

Does anyone know? What QQH means in terms of medicine? This means to be administered every four hours. 10.00 am, 2.00 pm, 6.00 pm 10.00 pm ad infinitum. Some of the other patients had complained about the noises these two gentlemen would create, if they were disturbed. Obviously my advice was not sought.

Sister B woke both of the gentlemen up to give them a needle injection of Morphine, to settle them down and get them back to sleep. They did! Both went straight back to sleep. The other 15 people in this ward were all awake now, as both of those gentlemen were screaming and shouting at this witch out the dark. The ward went into shambles and every one was now screaming and shouting, getting out of bed and starting to wander around. That is apart from the two who were back to sleep in the drug induced state or morphine. When I asked this Sister WHY? She firmly told me

“That is what the doctor ordered!”

Blind Obedience …Rank Stupidity

I am not old enough to know when common sense should come into account. The Doctor who ordered this morphine injection was never there at night time. The screaming never happened when the Sister was off.

Cutting to the trace I applied to become the Mortician in the Hospital Mortuary. Permission was granted immediately. The Witch was out of my life for ever. Her story ended some six weeks latter. A young nurse had not put a patient’s false teeth back inside the mouth on death to the mortuary at 2.00 am. This Sister sent the young lady down to the mortuary to place these teeth into the dead gentleman’s mouth. This was horrifying to an eighteen year old new arrived nurse. I would not have liked to do it, if I was in that position.

Nurse complained to her father, who was a Member of the Hospital Board.

A Board meeting decided the Sister, who was well past her prime, should be put out to pasture.

You are excuse if you think I am rambling as that all happened in 1954.

Yes you are right. It was 54 years ago. Why tell you this. It means nothing in today’s World.

Blind Obedience …Rank Stupidity

Read on from here and tell me if it is not similar to the old Sister doing what she has been told to do by a higher Authority. Not using her brain or thinking outside the square. Can she not see if a patient is a sleep? Whether she should wake them up to send them back to sleep. Does a sick person old or young need morphine if they are asleep? One appreciates they have to be woken if the injection is fighting disease or infection. This was given to make to go to sleep.

Damage control, the rest of the ward is now awake and will be at least two hours before the go back to sleep.

We have a Judge saying he is not aware of other damaging information pertinent to the case. If he knew that the other material was available, he would have certainly changed his view of the whole matter. How come this Judge did not know there was other information being talked about in all the press around the World? Has he been living at the South Pole for the last month?

Why did the pertinent information not get sent to the Judge?

January 29, 2008

The International Cricket Council has cleared Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh of racial abuse, reports from India say.

Harbhajan was originally suspended for three matches after being found guilty of racially abusing Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds during the second Test at the SCG.

The Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) told Reuters the more serious charge of racial abuse had been downgraded to a lesser charge of using abusive language at today's appeal hearing.

"The racial abuse charges have been dropped," BCCI board secretary Niranjan Shah said.

"It is finished. The punishment is only for using obscene language."

The decision means threats by the BCCI to cancel the rest of the Indian tour of Australia will no longer threaten the one-day international tri-series involving Sri Lanka and the hosts.

ICC appeals commissioner, Justice John Hansen of New Zealand heard the appeal from Harbhajan and Indian hierarchy against the spinner's ban for allegedly calling Symonds a "monkey" during the second Test.

Justice Hansen heard about five hours of evidence at the Federal Court in Adelaide from key figures in the controversy including Harbhajan, his teammate Sachin Tendulkar, Symonds and Australian captain Ricky Ponting.

Board of Control for Cricket in India vice-president Lalit Modi today told reporters in New Delhi today that India's tour would be abandoned if Harbhajan was found guilty.

"If a clean chit is not given to Harbhajan, the Indian board's decision is to call the team home," Modi said.

India, who completed a four-Test series yesterday in Adelaide, is due to play a Twenty20 international against Australia in Melbourne on Friday.

Australian Cricketers' Association chief executive Paul Marsh declined to comment on the result of the appeal.

ICC under attack from both sides

Alex Brown

February 1, 2008

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INDIAN cricket secretary Niranjan Shah has called for a complete overhaul of the International Cricket Council's code of conduct following the Andrew Symonds-Harbhajan Singh row.

Shah's comments coincided with ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed making the embarrassing admission that his council had supplied New Zealand High Court judge John Hansen with inaccurate information - paving the way for Harbhajan Singh to escape suspension - and Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland expressing his disappointment at the outcome.

Speaking to the Herald from India last night, Shah, the Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary, said the ICC's code of conduct needed to be changed to avoid a repeat of the damaging racism controversy which has besmirched the game's image.

"This is sport, and you do not want a situation where an argument between two players becomes a big legal battle in a courtroom," Shah said.

"Two individuals were swearing at each other, and it became a massive exercise involving the whole system. That should not happen.

"You cannot have a situation where a lot of pressure is placed on the whole system because of one word.

"The code has to be changed. The role of the referee needs to be greater, so he can calm down these situations before they go bad. And the umpires should also do more to calm the situation when players have an argument."

Shah's comments will presumably not impress Australia's cricketers, given their insistence that the "one word" to which he refers was racist in nature.

Australia remains angered at the result of Harbhajan's appeal, and with the actions of their own board, which they believe placed undue pressure on them to accept a move to downgrade Harbhajan's initial charge.

CA operations manager Michael Brown said yesterday the board would be demanding an explanation from the ICC over its handling of Harbhajan's appeal.

Harbhajan successfully appealed against a three-Test suspension after CA and the BCCI reduced the severity of the charge by mutual agreement. But the spinner could still have faced a suspension had the ICC provided Hansen's assistant counsel, John Jordan, with all four of Harbhajan's previous disciplinary charges, as opposed to just one.

"It is very unfortunate that human error led to Justice Hansen not having the full history of Harbhajan's previous code of conduct breaches, and the ICC accepts responsibility for this mistake," Speed said, in yet another black eye for the ICC.

Hansen revealed that the communication breakdown with the ICC had prompted him to consider revising his decision, but the council's rules provided no such recourse.

"Singh can feel fortunate he has reaped the benefit of these database and human errors," Hansen said.

CA chief executive James Sutherland said his board felt let down by the ICC's mistake. "Judge Hansen says the penalty would have been different if he had had facts in front of him," he said. "From that point of view, that's disappointing, I'm disappointed, Cricket Australia is disappointed, it sounds like the judge is disappointed, too.

"The judge's decision is final, we accept that. There was an unfortunate error in circumstances that led to him not having all the facts in front of him at that time, but that's gone. That's unfortunate, but that's the way it is.

"From all of our points of view, these are unfortunate circumstances, and it has been a very complex issue. It's unfortunate that it has gone on so long … it's an opportunity to reflect and to learn from this and we will, but now's the time really to focus on what's really important and that's the game of cricket."

Sutherland conceded that Symonds, who has been cast as the victim and villain in the racism saga, would have cause to reflect on the behaviour that led to the altercation with Harbhajan.

"Andrew Symonds is a brilliant cricketer. He's a tough, uncompromising cricketer in terms of the way he plays the game," he said. "He plays the game like most Australians are brought up to play.

"There's no doubt for Andrew … there are probably some things for him to reflect on."

The race row and its protracted aftermath will be discussed in detail at a Cricket Australia board meeting, which is scheduled to conclude in Melbourne today.

Players' letter of protest to CA

FRUSTRATED Australian players will present Cricket Australia with a letter expressing their disappointment at the perceived lack of support offered to them during the Harbhajan Singh appeal.

The Herald understands that the players, through their representative body, the Australian Cricketers' Association, will formally air their grievances to an employer they believe pressured them into accepting a move to downgrade a charge of racism against Harbhajan.

The players feel pressure was applied by CA on two fronts.

Firstly, CA outlined the financial repercussions that would be incurred if India withdrew from the one-day series, as they had threatened if Harbhajan's appeal against a three-Test racism ban was unsuccessful.

The cricketers were told CA, the tournament host, could be sued for up to $60 million by ESPN, the company which purchased the rights to televise the series into Asia, if India withdrew. CA further advised that such a loss would take up to 10 years to recoup.

Players also felt pressure in the form of legal advice from CA, which told them that by downgrading the charge against Harbhajan from a 3.3 to a 2.8 - in effect, reducing a charge of racial vilification to one of verbal abuse - the Australians would have a better chance of successfully prosecuting the controversial Indian spinner. The players grudgingly agreed to the downgrade, which resulted in Harbhajan escaping suspension and incurring a minimal fine.

The decision of New Zealand judge John Hansen shocked and angered the Australians, who were adamant Harbhajan had called Symonds a "monkey" during the Sydney Test, as well as a one-day international in Mumbai last year.

The Herald understands cricketers' association chief executive Paul Marsh is particularly angry that, as a result of the charge downgrade and Hansen's decision, Australian players were portrayed as the guilty party. The association feels the board displayed hypocrisy in having espoused a commitment to stamping out racial vilification from cricket, only to sweep it under the carpet.

The move of the players to complain to CA in writing has the support of association president Darren Lehmann, who clarified his position after initially expressing satisfaction with the disciplinary process.

"Post-hearing, we are very disappointed with the outcome and the subsequent unwarranted fallout for the Australian players," Lehmann said yesterday.

Australia's players have declined to speak publicly about their anger at CA, reluctant to further inflame a situation that some feel has already affected the quality of their play. But in sending a letter to their employer, the cricketers will leave little doubt as to their feelings.

In the aftermath of the regrettable events in Sydney, the BCCI also did an excellent job of manipulating easily inflamed public opinion, with emotive statements about India's stance in the anti-apartheid days. That should have surprised no one. After all, the man who succeeded Dalmiya as Indian cricket's primus inter pares is a career politician who is currently Union Minister for Agriculture. The days of veto might be long gone, but little can happen in the corridors of power in Dubai without India nodding assent. With its wheels oiled by an endless queue of cash-rich sponsors - Nike shelled out $US43 million to kit the side for five years, while Air Sahara coughed up $US68m to have its name emblazoned on the shirt sleeve - the BCCI has become sport's biggest juggernaut. The New York Yankees and Manchester United may generate revenue on the same scale but are not backed by the kind of political muscle that can subvert a game.

Many Indians are discomfited by the board's greed and naked displays of strength but there's also a new, prosperous brigade that takes perverse pride in sticking it to the old world. The voices of reason look at the lack of facilities in small towns, ramshackle stadium and haphazard itineraries and wonder where all the money goes. Those that burn effigies and parade donkeys on the street couldn't care less.

Nearly a century ago, MK Gandhi returned from South Africa to lead a motley crew of princely states into the modern world. He did so with humility, common sense and an unshakeable belief that truth would prevail. Indian cricket awaits a similar statesman.

Inderjit Singh Bindra, the former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, has been short listed for the ICC's chief executive position, despite having yet to officially announce his candidacy. It is widely acknowledged, however, the veteran Indian administrator has the support of those charged with replacing Speed, prompting the Hindustan Times newspaper to last month publish the triumphal headline: "India set to rule world cricket."

The prospect of a leading Indian figure at the helm of the ICC may perturb those member nations outside the Afro-Asian bloc - many of whom would view the move as further proof of India's stranglehold on the game - however it might also provide the bridge so desperately needed between the Dubai-based council and its most powerful member.

Increasingly, the ICC has appeared subservient to the whims and wants of the BCCI - despite Bindra's claims to the contrary - and a leader with the ability to ameliorate that relationship and restore a semblance of balance to the game, it is argued, could save it from future skirmishes and, possibly, an all-out split.

Certainly, Bindra would appear to match that job description. A powerbroker within the BCCI at present, and the current Punjab Cricket Association president, the erudite administrator possesses the contacts and the experience necessary for the job. And, in an interview with the Herald this week, Bindra gave the distinct impression he had the vision, too.

"India fought hard [in 1993] in opposing the veto powers of England and Australia at the ICC, and there is no interest to hand India a veto of sorts now," Bindra said. "That would totally be against the principles we have stood for. Cricket does not need hegemony.

"I would say that 95 per cent of those at the BCCI share that opinion, however the loud minorities are the ones who have tended to show up in the media. That is not necessarily the media's fault, but also that the BCCI has not projected the right image.

"India is in a position where it can grow the game. It should be seeking greater responsibility, not more power. By using its resources wisely, and not just trying to impose a dictatorship, everyone should benefit from India's position in the game."

Cricket can only go on if the teams consent to be governed. Once any team refuses its consent, the game is ungovernable. As Sri Lanka did in 1999, the Indians have allowed the righteousness of their motives to overload the force of their response.Bindra will decide in the coming weeks whether he will nominate for Speed's soon-to-be-vacated position, but his comments this week certainly had the ring of a campaign launch.

Officially, Bindra said he would need to resolve several family and professional hurdles before standing for the chief executive's post - to be decided at a board meeting next month, with input from European recruiting firm Egon Zehnder International. But those close to the former BCCI president suggest he has both the desire and the numbers to replace Speed, who will end his seven-year tenure at the helm of the ICC in June.

"It is a job that I find very exciting," Bindra said. "And I believe I have the necessary experience to equip me for the job. I just have to find a way through some of these problems I am facing.

"Whomever gets the job, I hope money would be the last consideration behind their appointment. India just came up with $2 billion without [the IPL] even being launched. That shows that money is easily available to India. But it does not necessarily mean there is greater brain power there because of it."

Bindra held a series of meetings last week with Cricket Australia chairman Creagh O'Connor during the Adelaide Test to steel board relations against the racism row that prompted much anger and resentment between the Australian and Indian players.

He has previously proved instrumental in converting India from a latent force to perhaps the most powerful sporting organisation in the world, and was also among the highest profile whistle-blowers to speak out during the match-fixing saga.

Throughout, Indian sources say, he has retained a passion for the game far deeper than that of his power-driven contemporaries. That certainly appeared to be the message when he addressed India's cricketers before the contentious Harbhajan Singh appeal hearing in Adelaide.

"It is their job to bring glory and grace to their country," he explained. "When they wear the Indian colours, it is their duty to reflect the sentiments of the country and serve as true ambassadors of the game. Hopefully, lessons have been learned."