News Round Up

There have been a couple of interesting news stories this week. The first features the man who told his GP he believed his son had tried to kill him and his wife in an 'accident', only to be shot by his son the next day. It's a shocking story that instantly raises questions about the son's motivations, but I find myself wondering about what must have been going through his father's mind.

The other is, of course, the ongoing Oscar Pistorius case, which continues to throw up surprises. The lead detective was shown by the defence to have apparently tried to make the evidence against Pistorius fit his pre-formed theory but, even more bizarrely, he has himself now been charged with attempted murder.

To quote Mark Twain: 'The difference between fiction and non-fiction is that fiction must be absolutely believable.' A writer making up either of those two stories would have a difficult time making them credible. Nevertheless, both cases have been noted in my journal for future reference!

But here's one now that will make your scalp itch - it's a video clip of the charity group 'Jump4Heroes' BASE jumping off the Eiger. Just the part where they climb from the helicopter onto the perilously perched outcrop was enough to get my skin crawling, but then they stood on the edge peering down at that long rocky drop and I had to resist the temptation to hide behind my chair. Impressive flying, from both the BASE jumpers and the helicopter pilot, and all for a fantastic cause.