De MALMANCHE

Antony de Malamche got 15 years jail for drug trafficking into Bali. He got lucky. He could have easily been carted off to an island and shot.

The defence was he was set up. He met a "Jessy Smith" online and she paid for him to fly to China. After meeting men he believed to be Jessy's staff in China, he was flown from Hong Kong to Bali, with 1.7kg of meth in a backpack.

Another defence plank was that de Malmanche has a mental illness and a low IQ. That would figure. You'd have to be a bit slow to fall for this.

Its possible that de Malmanche was set up - but I don't know.

The Indonesian courts are not New Zealand courts. Indonesian judges see the evidence as - stopped at airport, searched, sweating so much his jacket was "soaked wet", a large plastic bag of meth in an almost-empty backpack discovered. Gotcha ! No debate.

No evidence was produced to verify the China drug ring connection. It may be all true, but no evidence, unlikely to ever be evidence.

I think its risky appealing this sentence. Unless something is produced to prove his innocence, an appeal runs the very real risk of de Malmanche's sentence being increased. You can't rule out the death sentence.

Out in 10 years could be as good as it gets for de Malmanche.

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GREECE

I wouldn't bet on where this Greece financial crisis will end up.

The socialist government is looking desperate and might have cornered themselves.

They want the Greeks to vote NO - probably meaning an eventual exit from the Euro.

The government is getting jittery because the Greeks might actually vote YES to stay in the Euro. The middle class can see their savings being cleaned out. The last thing they want is a return to the drachma and the devaluation that will go with it.

The Greece government is now scrambling and want to re-negotiate further with the IMF and ECB.

Staying in the Euro will require implementing the reforms the lenders are demanding and are mild compared to what an exit would mean.

Greece is now in default, unless this gets sorted, and soon, the Greece financial basket case is going to get a whole lot worse.

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RUGBY TICKETS

People are still going off about the Super Rugby tickets and the scalpers.

I see the Herald in an editorial is calling for regulation. This is nonsense. Its simple supply and demand. The tickets were sold below their market value -clearly.

Regulation won't stop scalping.

There are tickets available in the secondary market at a price -but you can get them.

What is needed is a legal secondary market where the sports bodies get a cut of the action.

The Minister Steven Joyce agreed last night on this programme.

Its up the sports bodies to instigate.