Arise Sir Geoff ?

Congratulations to Geoffrey Boycott who celebrates his 66th birthday today. It is a shame that the English Cricket team did not pay fitting tribute and beat the Aussies in Jaipur today. Instead, they went out of the Champions Trophy. Oh well lads, put this mickey mouse tournament out of your heads because the Ashes are looming....

Anyway back to Boycott, it is high time that this legend of the game was given proper reward and given a Knighthood. He has never received any award for an amazing career which saw him make 151 centuries and 238 fifities.

He has been a controversial figure on and off the field, but I have never believed the accusation of assault that Margaret Moore made against him. Geoffrey Boycott said he would never hit a woman, and many of his worst enemies in the cricketing world agreed with him. Anybody can injure their own body to make a little cash, and temporarily destroy someone's career in the process. The accusations of him being selfish are also irrelevent, you have to be, if you want to be a first class batsman. End of story.

After his retirement, Boycott has battled hellish cancer, and become a superb outspoken commentator. You might not always agree with what he is saying, but his genuine love of the game really shows through in his commentary - remember his outburst when The Umpires stopped day 4 of the final 2005 Ashes test for bad light. He was livid, despite being English.

Also, who can forget his criticism of Kevin Pieterson as a showpony, KP then responded in the deciding Ashes test by hitting brilliant form, and producing an Ashes winning innings. Cricket needs characters like Boycott who are not afraid to cause controversy and speak out. Boycott's banter with the other Channel Four commentators was a joy to watch in Summer 2005. His love/hate relationship with Tony Grieg was classic comedy.

Finally, like him or loathe him, Boycott was the first England player ever to pass 8000 runs, and for this historical fact alone, its high time, he had his appointment with The Queen.

Phantom Flan Flinger in Teaching Shocker!

It has been reported today that the Phantom Flan Flinger has been found teaching at a school in the United Kingdom. The devout follower of the Tiswas faith cited that moves to sack him were "Anti Tiswas" and that if neccesary, he would retaliate with "custard pies".

Now to be serious for a moment, I would consider myself as one of the most unracist and most tolerant people you could meet. I have even gone on anti-racist marches (with the added incentive of seeing The Levellers for free). Being an enthuiastic Labour supporter, I greatly applaud the way Britain is a free society, free to follow whatever religion one chooses or does not. Personally, I worship at the church of Wetherspoons, but I do not force this down people's throats, accept at the weekend.

Across the board religious freedom, however, cannot be extended to include wearing a full Burka veil in the classroom, this is just common sense. When someone is teaching youngsters, facial expressions to get the message across are vitally important. If this was a Muslim only school, perhaps it would be a different matter, but this incident is taking place in a multi faith school. The teaching assistant should not be seeking to illustrate her religion when teaching the cirriculum, to be blunt, her religious conviction could get in the way of what she is supposed to be teaching. What has maths to do with God? when it's obviously to do with Satan ! .

I also do not accept her solution, that she could take off the veil when teaching female students, but keep it on when male students are around. Should a tolerant modern society, ever pander to such sexist claptrap. Of course we should not.

As a compromise, she should of course be free to wear whatever she wants to and from the school. Mind you, this too could cause controversy, and set a bad example, in light of the fact that schools are so very keen on expelling children for hair-cuts,short skirts and girls wearing trousers in winter.

Labour MP Phil Woolas is wholly right to call for her dismissal. This is not about Islam, it is about respect for the children, the woman is supposed to be teaching, and being professional in the workplace. There would be a national outcry if the Flan Flinger was caught teaching, so I am afraid that whether it's a question of religious faith or not, the same rules must apply to the unfortunate Asiah Azmi.