Pets are in the news again and this time it’s the old chestnut of dangerous dogs. After a number of high profile attacks this has been front and centre of the government’s agender and in the run up to an election it was surely inevitable that this would appear once again.

This time the government has raised the possibility that owners may have to take out insurance against their dog attacking passers by. So rejoice; if a pit bull rips your arm off at least your hospital bills will be cared for.

However, as so often, the plans fail to address the root cause of the problem – people. There will always be those who buy certain breeds as status symbols, as a way of intimidating others. They buy the dog and train them to be aggressive. You could do the same thing with any animal.

And they’re less likely to be responsible enough to own insurance – so even if this latest cunning plan works, then you’re still up a certain creek without a paddle… or a limb.

The solution lies in education. The dogs aren’t the problem – it’s the people who rear them to be killers. Prosecutions can help, but a better option would be to improve education and put measures in place to stop certain people getting their hands on a dog of any breed in the first place.

It is nearly upon us – the biggest extravaganza for corporate events in recent memory. I refer of course to the FIFA World Cup™. Some say it has something to do with football, but we know better.

Any major competition brings in a whole lot of business from the corporate world, with corporate events often proving the perfect opportunity to seal deals. However, in recent times that’s been a little subdued. It seems unseemly to be throwing vast sums of cash when we’ve been undergoing economic Armageddon.

However, the lure of the FIFA World Cup™ will prove too big to resist. Only the Olympics bring in more people from around the globe. As corporate events go – it takes some beating.

This year, the attraction is bigger than ever. For the first time the tournament is heading to Africa with South Africa the hosts. The entire continent is eager to show the world that it can emerge as an equal partner in global business.

For this reason, corporate events here represent a fantastic chance to treat existing clients and explore new areas of expansion.

With There.com closing, Therians are packing their bags and bidding farewell to their world as they know it, thoughts of pastures new will be consuming their minds: where to now? Where will my fellow Therians migrate to? Which other Virtual Worlds cater for us teens? Three words: Teen Second Life!

The recession has been cited as the main reason for There.com closing but Therians don’t care about the shortcomings of Makena, the owners and creators of There.com; they just want to continue living their virtual lives, meeting likeminded peeps and hanging out with friends, and Teen Second Life offers all this and the ability to fly!

Construct your own amusement park, design and build your own ride, take part in one of the many educational programs on offer (beats reading a book huh!) or simply explore with your customized avatar.

Live the dream online; create anything, share with friends, meet new people, explore a whole new world!

Although Teen Second Life is significantly smaller than Second Life, it offers a fantastic entry-level to Second Life as when teen users turn 18 they are rewarded by graduating to Second Life – they reach virtual Adulthood!

March 9th is a sad day for Therians but it need not be: look upon it as a new beginning, a new life. A Second Life!

Kathryn Bigelow’s excellent depiction of the US military bomb squad’s tense and sometimes fatal efforts in Iraq will go down in history as the film that finally honoured a female with the Best Director Oscar.

But it also symbolises the way in which the Iraq war has remained at the forefront of public interest for the wrong reasons. Mainly because the war itself was wrong.

This manufactured war has spawned many films, but The Hurt Locker has become the first Iraq war film to be honoured by the Academy, taking home six statues.

Grossing just $14.7million – small fry for a six-time Oscar winning movie – The Hurt Locker’s success surprised many around the world on Oscar night.

Yet the fact it has made such an impression to the Academy simply echoes the sentiments that people around the globe feel towards the Iraq war, the people of Iraq and those that have lost their lives serving for their country.

Bigelow dedicated her win to those dedicated Military personnel: ‘to the women and men in the military who risk their lives on a daily basis in Iraq and Afghanistan and around the world. And may they come home safe.”

Sometimes things just don’t work out the way you want them to and you end up moving to pastures new, hopefully to the job of your dreams. I had to do this recently, but unfortunately, the life of the geek is also the life of the hoarder. I have THREE retro NES systems because I keep forgetting that I’ve got one or not being able to find it, for example, and that’s not an isolated incident. This can make moving a bit of a pain, but with some storage in Leicester, I overcame it.

I find it hard to part with things sometimes, and I just didn’t have time to organise myself properly; I didn’t want to sell a lot of what I had, but I also didn’t want to take the three vans-full of stuff in one go, so I hired a self storage unit in nearby Leicester. It helped.

Not my place

Maybe I need some counselling or something, but the upshot of this is that until I get over this and manage to sell or throw away the things I don’t need, it’s going to be gathering dust in storage in Leicester.

The team from Inflatable film cover the latest screening

Here’s an event for your diaries, but one you might not have thought about. The sixth Rwandan film festival, nicknamed Hillywood, is set to celebrate all things African this July.

This is one of the smaller festivals on the global circuit, but undoubtedly one of the most remarkable. It comes in two parts. First a conventional festival takes place in the capital of Kigali, but what really draws in visitors are the travelling screenings that tour the countryside.

Every year a series of events with a large inflatable screen heads off around small villages in the countryside. It is a remarkable event and draws in thousands from miles around. For many it is the first time they have seen a film let alone one in their own language of Kinyarwanda.

It is a remarkable sight, especially considering the country’s dark past. However things are moving forward rapidly. The films are growing in sophistication and are becoming more accessible to a wider audience. Leading the way is Africa United, a British/Rwandan coproduction which is currently in development.

It’s theme of a group of kids walking from Kigali to South Africa to take part in a skills tournament at the world cup is far removed from the war torn image of Africa, but it fits in with the theme of this year’s festival ‘Africa Celebrated.’

If you’re even remotely interested in film then this event is one of those must-see experiences. It is one of the most beautiful countries in the world and its burgeoning film culture is bristling with imagination and creativity.

For a glimpse of what it’s like visit the website of Inflatable Film http://www.inflatablefilm.com This Seattle based production company is currently working on a documentary going behind the scenes of the festival. They’re about to enter post production and a trailer is up on their site. It’s well worth watching. Meanwhile the festival itself starts on July 11. Visit www.hillywood.org for more information.

So this year’s London Fashion Week has just been and gone and it is seems that the trendy audience has yet-again changed. Yes, as always, there was the typical fashion brat-pack in the front row; the too-cool-for-school up-and-coming DJ’s/models/daddy’s famous crew.

But now there is a new generation squeezing their way through LFW’s exhibition stands by any means necessary – and they are the bloggers. Yes – it is geeks that are now getting themselves some of the most sought-after seats in LFW – in the front row alongside Anna, Kate and Alexa.

One cheeky blogger insisted that she was a staff member of Harper’s Bizarre magazine to gain entry. She would have got away with it too if only the real ticket holder hadn’t showed up. Experienced journalists have turned up to the catwalks been shocked to find quiet little Emily the work experience girl sat bang in front of them in the front row gathering blog fodder. Tickets have been stolen, bouncers escaped from and exhibition stands pushed aside to allow in these fashion bloggers.

Last year, twenty two per cent of the press accredited by British Fashion Council was bloggers, this year the percentage has jumped up to thirty three per cent. Once they have been accredited they then have to convince the designers’ PRs that they will generate enough interest with their blog and earn their seat at LFW.

No matter how much it peeves the old-school journos who earned their trade fair and square, this shift  highlights how internet media is quickly adapting to being a part of every industry, and how blogging, rather than traditional print media, has taking over as the new voice of all things fashion.

Newspapers love nothing more than when they’re spreading oodles of alarm and recently they’ve been targeting pet owners.

These are always a soft target. Maybe the ordeal of loving something small and furry makes them go a bit soft in the head, but even so they didn’t deserve the barrage of terror sent their way this week.

Pet owners were killing their pets rather than face sky high vet bills. That at least was the gist of the stories. Digging a little deeper we find that, according to the reports, the credit crunch meant that thousands of people would be forced to choose between the health of their bank balance and the health of their pets.

It all seemed rather terrifying until you take into account the fact that these news pieces came from a press release issued by a leading provider of pet insurance. The not so subtle undertone was this: buy insurance or your pet will die!

It is a case of scaremongering that has become all too common in the modern media, but it’s not their fault. They only reflect what we want to see and it seems the determination is this: terror sells.

If you’re sending your children away on holiday you might want to shift them onto temporary car insurance to keep costs down.

As soon as they’re legally able to, these days, kids learn to drive. They spend the first few years of their driving life attached to their parents’ car insurance. Considering the premiums for younger and more inexperienced drivers, the cost of this can be considerable.

And it is something you shouldn’t need to put up with once they go to university. Remember; they will be away from home for two thirds of the year meaning you only need coverage for around three or four months of the year.

In such circumstances it is much cheaper simpler to place them on temporary car insurance while they’re back from uni. That way they can visit friends and head off to do whatever it is young folk do.

This is becoming more popular and the major companies are offering a range of more competitive deals. Whatever your needs in temporary car insurance shop around to find the best deal. It might take some time and be a bit more hassle, but your bank balance will thank you in the long run.

It appears that the economic downturn hasn’t affected the travel industry as badly as the media would have you believe; as recession hit the UK, the first thing that many families were said to sacrifice was their holiday but that wasn’t necessarily the outcome as self catering holidays have become more popular than ever.

Lavish holidays at 4 star plus exotic hotels may have been shunned for more modest self catering holidays, and with amazing value on offer, many may have turned their back on half board and all inclusive holidays for good.

Self catering holidays offer more flexibility; you’re not bound to the same menus on offer at many inclusive hotels and you have the choice of preparing your own food if you so desire, or dining at whatever type of restaurant your destination has to offer.

Variety is the spice of life as they say and it would appear that us Brits like to try new cuisines.

Or, conversely, it could be true that the British are stuck in their ways and prefer self catering holidays so they can cook their own food exactly as they like!