George Michael -- Jailed...

It was only a matter of time before someone sent Georgios Panayiotou, or as he prefers to be known George Michael, has been sentenced to eight weeks in prison.

It is expected that Michaels will do four weeks and then be released on special conditions. Michaels was sentenced at the Highbury Magistrates Court in North London for a car crash on 4 July 2010. At the time of the crash, Michaels was under the influence of cannabis.

Judge John Perkins told Michaels that he had no choice but to send him to jail as this was a culmination of too many drug and driving offenses. Perkins noted that Michaels' addiction was no longer merely a danger to himself, but that it was now very clearly a danger to the public.

This goes to show, once, again, that celebrities are no different to the rest of us; they have demons, they have addictions,they have problems that they have to stare down each day. Some days are good days, and some days are not so good. That is life. But more than anything else, this case highlights that sooner or later your demons take over and the law will catch up with you and you will be punished.

Prison is no summer camp. Irrespective of whether Michaels is separated from the general prison population and enjoys the comforts of an individual cell, there is no doubting that his freedom will be curtailed. He simply will not be able to come and go as he pleases or do whatever he wants. This, let me assure you, plays with one's mind. It affects different people in different ways.

In addition to the jail time, Michaels has been banned from driving for five years and fined about 2000 dollars.

Hopefully, this incident was the wake-up call that Michaels needs.

Good luck George!

Drink and Drive -- Stupid!

I have written on the subject of drinking and driving a few times. It is a stupid thing to do and the risks are too great. If you are drunk and you have to get to somewhere else take a cab or use a designated driver system.

The Australian University Games are currently underway in Melbourne this is not only a serious athletic competition it is also an opportunity to get together with other students and enjoy the camaraderie.

Unfortunately, these games have been marred by tragedy and stupidity. The end result is a dead student, a severely injured student, a severely injured car passenger, and a not so injured drunk driver. The dead and injured students are from Griffith University and members of the water polo team.

The dead student and his friend were leaving their hotel to meet up with some other athletes at a different location when the car mounted the curb and collected them at high speed. I am assuming high speed. But, I think this is a reasonable assumption having a look at the condition of the car.

The police are of the same opinion and the Sergeant on the scene is quoted as saying this is definitely not a 60km/h crash. This seems to be some what of an understatement considering that the passenger door on the car was pushed in some 40cms.

Interestingly, the report specifically states that the driver of the car is a 19-year-old living in Newport but that he is not a citizen. It also notes that the on the scene tests for alcohol were positive. The driver escaped this crash with an injured wrist.

Hopefully, he will not escape so lightly with the law. The police say that they are going to charge him. The charges should be manslaughter, dangerous driving occasioning death, or whatever the current terms of art are for this kind of offence.

Tragic, stupid, and completely unnecessary!