Very competitive and pretty good really.

One Brownie was exceptional. Fastest swimmer in any age group by my reckoning. Shame she will be too young for London 2012.

Which makes me think that there must be loads of Olympic hopefuls out there that only people in the sport know about. If the public were more aware I think that more people would support their performances which sounds like a plan.

Twenty/20 is fantastic entertainment. Every ball counts, every run, every stop, every wicket.

It’s all energy and excitement and great TV or live entertainment. Bringing the best International players together makes for great entertainment. Include massive crowds and its the way forward.

Incredible fun – catch it on Setanta.

I was quite upbeat (given that the alarm didn’t go off) but reading the paper makes you fel dirty and depressed!

They had a good dig at the Olympic Torch trogging through London yesterday. The situation in Tibet is unacceptable, but probably far less severe than in Zimbabwe or Darfur. I don’t see anyone pressing for those areas of human rights abuses in quite such a public way?

I’m sure that trade links and the success of the 2012 Olympics have some part to play in the reception of the flame for the 2008 games. And the torch in itself hardly counts as a ringing endorsement of China’s human rights record – it’s an Olympic Torch not a Human Rights Abuse Competition.

The other thing that they were fretting about (frothing at the mouth by the reading of the articles) was the issue of Faith Schools.

Aparently Faith Schools raise funds for ‘religious education’ or ‘security measures’ so Ed Balls (described as a Stalinist for some reason I can’t quite work out) was unjustified for calling into question the admissions policies of the schools that bend or break the rules.

I know there are faith schools that apply the rules appropriately. It also doesn’t surprise me that there are schools out there that bend the rules. The pressure to pass the 11+ tests forces some schools to make cramming a way of life in Year 6. The fact that most schools srick to the rules is good. The ones who don’t make the education system suffer so take action.

The stupid thing is that the pressure cooker of expectation that kids live in these days isn’t any fun. Schools should do their best to give kids a decent education but why do we measure success in exams and University places? Why not judge schools by the quality of input and the added value given?

There are lots of schools out there doing a great job. There are some that are failing. There are some that ‘cheat’.

Let’s sort the wheat from the chaff and address the cheats. Then, maybe, kids can get the education they need rather than another pointless set of SATS, GCSEs or unwanted Uni-time.

And the presence of Monty is a great story. He’s a good bowler. He works hard and improves his game. But he’s still Monty by all accounts and still loves taking wickets.

Any cricketer who takes such joy from the game and is an example to us all has to be good news and deserves a better tag.

Thanks for bringing a smile back to the game, Monty. It makes the game enjoyable again!