Brazil has in recent years been my favourite holiday destination. Not your normal package holiday living in hotels and being herded around by tour reps but staying with Brazilian friends and living the Brazilian life.

I’ve been to five of the 26 states and many cities over the last seven years. Only this year did I get to the beach for the first time. But it doesn’t matter where you visit, Brazil is a very beautiful country and it’s people are most welcoming.

So why is beautiful Brazil dangerous and violent? Not everywhere of course but big cities in particular do have no-go areas. Foreign visitors should show caution by not parading expensive cameras and jewellery or flashing bundles of cash in public places.

A large proportion of the population are poor. Really poor. Work is hard to come by and well-paid work even harder. Housing for the poor is pitiful and I have witnessed people living in conditions that you wouldn’t keep farm animals in.

Basic education is free but higher education is expensive and beyond the means of the poor. It is therefore impossible for most poor people to obtain the qualifications to get a decent job. They are in an education trap.

No education; no well-paid job. In order to keep people who live in the poorest areas from applying some bosses require qualifications from applicants for menial jobs. The salaries of course are miserably low. So the poor have a choice; no-job or a ‘work-your-nuts-off’ poorly paid job.

Buying a home is impossible and rents in ‘normal’ areas are more than the minimum wage that the ‘lucky’ ones earn. Many of Brazil’s poor migrate to the favelas (shanty towns). Generally these are the no-go areas, run by a drugs baron or renegade police who terrorise the residents. Not all Brazil’s poor live in the favelas but millions do.

Some of Brazil’s poor turn to crime to survive. Drugs barons recruit both children and adults to sell drugs to Brazil’s rich and of course the gringos (tourists). The same people could be selling you illicit drugs one day and robbing you the next.

This mix of poor education, unemployment or low-paid work and lack of decent housing, all basic human rights, inevitably result in a proportion of the disaffected population becoming violent criminals.

Can you blame these people when they are denied all basic human rights? Is poverty the only reason for Brazil’s violent society? I will explore these questions in part 2.

The W…. err…. Bankers squeal like stuck pigs

For years banks have levied penalty charges against customers who, for one reason or another, go overdrawn without their Bank’s permission. These charges are an illegal rip-off. One bank charges £39 for even minor infringements.

If an individual were to impose fines like this on captive customers they would probably find themselves charged with extortion and jailed. But these *ankers are the pillars of society and they think they are above the laws applied to the ‘little people’.

Thousands of ripped-off bank customers have demanded their money back, with interest and won! This was hurting the banks and they were squealing like stuck pigs so several banks agreed to submit to a test case by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). In return the OFT, a body who is supposed to be protecting the public, allowed the banks to put settlements on hold until the test case was decided in the High Court. However, no restrictions were put on the banks to reduce or suspend the illegal charges.

Test case result announced

The test case started in July 2007 and the result was handed down on 24 April 2008, This case wasn’t about an individual claim but was to assess legal principle. It centred around two points: whether bank charges fall under unfair contractual terms laws and if they can be considered penalties.

The High Court came to a mixed decision but did decide that consumer contract regulations, known as ‘Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations’ do apply to bank charges. Click this link for the full judgement.

So what’s next? A case conference is scheduled for May 22 and both parties will reconvene to decide how to proceed. This case isn’t over yet and being the *ankers they are, the pillocks-of-society, will continue to levy these penalties until it is. It could take years.

That shouldn’t stop you claiming though. Experts are of the opinion that the eventual decision of the OFT will go against the Banks. Putting a claim in immediately will ensure that you are can claim up to six years of charges from the day you claimed.

Martin Lewis of MoneySavingExpert.com has a very comprehensive section on his site explaining just how to claim. He has template letters you can download and an interest calculator. Oh and just for fun click on the Bank Charges Song below.

For more on the “Bank Charges Song” click here.

Links to organizations mentioned in this article

Money Saving Expert

PDF of the 119 page Judgement

Office of Fair Trading (OFT)

The way the Banks treat the majority of their customers is appalling. Of course the well-heeled won’t have a clue what I am talking about here. The rich are treated differently and will not only experience lower fees for their use of the bank but are also clued-up as to where to buy cheaper financial products.

The pressure put on the lower-paid to buy over-priced and often useless products is enormous. If you think your bank wouldn’t lie to you think again. Next you at your branch ask the account manager if Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) is good value for money. The correct answer is “No, It’s a scam!”

My experience with HSBC Bank plc and the PPI they sold me is a living example of why no bank customer should ever buy payment protection from a bank. But I may prejudice my case against HSBC if I expand on this story so for the time being click through to this article. Time To Clean Up This Swindle!

When I read of the atrocities perpetrated against innocent people in various African states, the torture and wholesale executions by China, not only the people of occupied Tibet, but the Chinese people also. The Austrian monster who imprisoned his daughter in a cellar and raped her for 24 years and the barbarians that traffic people into sexual and domestic slavery. It shocks and angers me.

I am also angered when I witness or hear of ill-treatment of the less intelligent creatures that share the planet with us. But my priority will always be the human. It is why I am a member of Amnesty International and the main reason I have started this blog.

It is a surprise to me, therefore, that my introductory post is to be about the inhumanity of a so-called artist towards a dog in Nicaragua.

The artist’s name is Guillermo Vargas Habacuc and in 2007 he captured a stray from the streets of Managua, Nicaragua, tied him to a rope in art gallery and starved him to death in the name of art. Over several days, the artist and visitors to the exhibition view the shameful masterpiece based on the dog’s agony. Eventually the dog died.

Apparently there was an outcry at the time and the matter was investigated by the Humane Society and the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) the ‘artist’ Habacuc and Juanita Bermúdez, the director of the Códice Gallery deny the dog suffered or died.

If the denials are true how is it the prestigious Visual Arts Biennial of the Central America has decided the ‘installation’ art and invited Guillermo Vargas Habacuc to repeat his cruel action for the biennial of 2008.

This exhibition must NOT go ahead, Habacuc must be told his interpretation of art is NOT acceptable. PLEASE sign this petition. It’s free of charge and it will only take 1 minute to save the life of another innocent creature.

Links to organizations mentioned in this article

WSPA

Humane Society

Amnesty International