http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11704802

old boss of mine got mugged in Brazil by 6 blokes – he had no money on him and had dressed so as to not look wealthy but had forgotten to take his watch off

Yer, just read this – think I might avoid Sao Paulo for a few……lifetimes!

I was supposed to move there in Sept. Disappointed that it fell through. However I heard plenty of stories worse than Jenson Button’s little adventure – rider shot during an MTB race in a city park, people ‘taken’ shopping to buy gifts for gangs until their cards are all maxed out!! Still wish I was there though.

I lived there for 3 years, fantastic city in many ways but always an undercurrent of nastiness, and knew several people who were victims of some kind of crime. I managed to avoid it and would live there again given the chance.

That’s what happens when you have extremes of wealth and poverty in close proximity to each other. A going trend, which affects much of South America, parts of Africa, the Far East and Eastern Europe. Not to mention pockets of the US.

Brazil is becoming ‘wealthier’, but this simply means larger and larger numbers of people suffering economic inequality. People don’t like feeling powerless to improve their economic situation, and will resort to more and more extreme means to ‘redress the balance’.

My friend there has been kidnapped twice, she calls it the tax they pay for inequality….

I have many Brazilian colleagues on circiut in London, this is part of the reason some of them are here not there.