Book review: Snuff

Chanced upon this latest Terry Pratchett novel while shopping at Kino, and the wifely-person kindly bought it for me for Christmas. =) I know its not Christmas yet and i've finished reading my present, one of the benefits of being an adult i suppose. Hahahaha.

As usual, it is an enjoyable read, although I thought the title was a bit disingenuous and contrived, since only Vimes appears to regularly take snuff, which is an old-fashioned stimulant to be kept in elegant boxes and snorted gracefully in society, and does not add to the main plot. The downtrodden masses in this book (and main plot) concerns the goblins, who start off in the book classified as non-sentient beings until Vimes comes across them on his holidays, and is convinced to take up their cause after hearing them communicate via the universal language . With enough villians thrown in (at some points, it felt like the entire countryside was filled with them), Vimes managed to bluster through aristocrats and workmen alike using, tact and guile (not necessarily at the same time) that is characteristic of him.

The book also expounds on two characters merely touched upon in the past: Wilikins (Vime's butler) and AE Pessimal (sent by the Patrician and co-opted into the Watch), and fills them with such colour, that I wished such people existed in real life, just so you could shake their hand. Such is the detail and interest that Pratchett weaves and invokes.

Pratchett also introduces a new series of children's books (remember Where's my Cow?), which deals alot with poo. It somehow points to young Sam growing up an alchemist or researcher as the book goes on, although honestly, i'd rather just focus on Mr Vimes himself. LOL

Under table(-tennis) Corruption

I think there is something seriously wrong. When we were young, we were always told, "don't do illegal things, otherwise you get caught, sent to jail and will have to work as a road sweeper or toilet cleaner for the rest of your life". I always felt that we had a rather unforgiving society that did not give second chances, and that we should take and cherish all the opportunities presented to us.

Then I read today about a former Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) president who was charged with corruption. What stunned me was the final sentence, that this former president was a former MP for Jalan Besar GRC who served a two-week sentence in 1999 for issuing false invoices to help a family friend cheat a finance company. If they had known about this, why did they still hire him?

By Hannah TeohAsiaOneThursday, Dec 08, 2011
Two former employees of the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA), including the former president, have been charged for corruption and criminal breach of trust.
The first man, Mr Choo Wee Khiang, 57, was the president of STTA at the time of the alleged offences. The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) said in a statement that it received several anonymous complaints against Choo, alleging
that he had charged his personal airfares, expenses, and phone bills to the Association. Choo had also received gifts from Chinese coaches and players. In 2005, Choo received $1,500 from a former assistant coach of STTA, Mr Luo Jie, on behalf of Mr Liu Zhongze, who was a national team player at that time. The money was given to Choo in exchange for giving Liu more opportunities to represent STTA in table tennis tournaments.
Between 2003 and 2004, Choo also received US$600 (S$768.95) on two occasions from Mr Shi Mei Sheng, a former STTA coach, as a reward for approving the use of training facilities in China.
The second accused, Ms Koh Li Ping, 43, was the High Performance Manager of STTA at the time of the alleged offence. Between 2002 and 2003, Mr Luo Jie provided table tennis training to students for a local secondary school although his work pass only permitted him to work for STTA. Choo and Koh then allegedly arranged with the principal of the school to engage STTA in a new training arrangement with the intention to use the proceeds received to pay Luo
Jie. Subsequently, after STTA received the payment from the school, Koh
obtained approval from Choo to authorise a payment of $8,400 to Luo Jie,
even though the latter did not provide any training services under the
new arrangement.
Choo resigned from the STTA in July 2008. He had been with the Association for 20 years. Choo will be charged for three counts of corruptly accepting gratification and one count of criminal breach of trust. Koh will be charged for one count of engaging with Choo Wee Khiang in a conspiracy to commit criminal breach of trust.The maximum punishment for corruption is a $100,000 fine and five years' jail on each charge.
In 1999, Choo, a former MP for Jalan Besar GRC served a two-week sentence for issuing false invoices to help a family friend cheat a finance company.