Good points Bryan. Matty, I think the contradiction comes from the fact that for Lewis Hamilton and Zara Phillips there are two significantly different categories of voters here. I think Zara Phillips won the award last year because there's a section of Middle England which likes Phillips for who she is rather than necessarily for her sport. The type of middle class housewives - predominantly based in the Home Counties - who gave us 'Henmania' at Wimbledon. (I would have liked Tim Henman to have won Wimbledon, but I found some of his support embarrassing.) It is these type of people, royalist and generally conservative, who I believe broadly voted for Zara Phillips. She apparently polled around 32% of the 680,000 votes cast last year - so she roughly got about 225,000 votes. Clearly there's a significant section of Middle England in this country, but the two-thirds majority of people who voted didn't actually vote for Phillips. Most of the votes cast were actually against 'old Britain', as you call it. Alongside Middle England, there's also another significant category of people in this country. For want of a better description, it is the metropolitan liberal elite. Cosy liberals who like the modern and the new in society and have gained pleasure from watching the rise of Lewis Hamilton. The Zara Phillips voters and some of the Lewis Hamilton voters come under two different categories. There's a section of the liberal media which in my view has been overly positive towards Hamilton, based not just on his driving ability, but also for other reasons which I am probably no longer allowed to discuss in detail on these threads - other than to say that Hamilton has become symbolic of Britain's changing society which many liberals revel in. Hamilton is a talented driver, but he ultimately lost the World Drivers Championship and I don't believe that he deserved to win the BBC Sports Personality Of The Year Award ahead of Calzaghe. I was pleased that Hamilton came second in the voting. As for Zara Phillips, she competes in a minority sport, where few members of the ordinary public would know the names of any leading competitors. That was one of the reasons why her award was a joke. The average bloke in the street wouldn't have a clue who she was riding against. But a typical ordinary guy in the street would probably have heard of at least a couple of the competitors of Lewis Hamilton - such as Alonso, Massa, Raikkonen and Coulthard. The average bloke in the street would probably be familiar with the names of at least a couple of footballers, rugby players, cricketers and tennis players. But he wouldn't have a clue about the 'sport' that Phillips competed in - equestrianism. As I said earlier, she would not have won the award if she hadn't been the high-profile daughter of Princess Anne. The Sports Personality Of The Year award given to Phillips last year was a farce and an embarrassment for many true sports fans. Joe Calzaghe's win this year has restored at least a bit of credibility to the award.

I was pleased to see some sanity return to the "BBC Sports Personality Of The Year Award"' tonight. Last year it was a joke that Zara Phillips won. Let's face it, if she had been the daughter of a dustman instead of the daughter of a royal, she wouldn't have come anywhere close to winning the award. She won the trophy because of her royal connections and it was an insult to all true sporting fans. Joe Calzaghe's award tonight is long overdue. He's been a world boxing champion for an incredible ten years and is close to the record 25 title defences made by Joe Louis. Calzaghe is certainly one of the finest boxers Britain has produced and if he had not been given the "BBC Sports Personality Of The Year" award at some point during his career, then it would have been a shame, given Calzaghe's fine boxing achievements. As Barry McGuigan said of a young Calzaghe a decade ago: "He punches ferociously, moves superbly and has the best of the European technique and US aggression." Lewis Hamilton was the bookies favourite to be given the award tonight. I'm pleased that he didn't win. Talented rookie driver though Hamilton is, he ultimately lost the World Driving Championship from the position of having a commanding points lead. Also Lewis Hamilton raced for a team, McLaren, who were cheats. Kevin Keegan wouldn't have been given the Sports Personality of the Year award after Newcastle blew a 12-point lead in the Premiership in 1996, so why should Hamilton have been given the award after he had arrived at the penultimate Grand Prix with a 12 point lead and ended up blowing it ? I suppose that supporters of Hamilton would argue that engineers were at least partly responsible for him losing the Drivers Championship. But Hamilton also certainly made tactical mistakes in the last race in Brazil. In the year when team McLaren were exposed for the cheats they are (and Steve McClaren was exposed for the clown he is) , it would have been wrong in my opinion to have given the award to Hamilton tonight. Also, for Lewis Hamilton to have claimed that his move from Britain to live in Switzerland is nothing to do with tax, is misleading and it's treating the British public as fools. Hamilton says that he doesn't like the media attention in Britain. So presumably, that's why he's been happy to do TV adverts for Abbey Building Society, appear on Parkinson, Top Gear, and flaunt himself on other TV shows when he's keen to get the media attention and boost his bank balance. Just because Hamilton is young, photogenic, has plenty of female admirers and has got some gushing sycophantic newspaper coverage from the liberal media who revel in "New Britain", it doesn't mean that he deserved to win the "Sports Personality Of The Year Award" after he ultimately lost the Drivers Championship. Calzaghe, on the other hand, is a winner and has been for a number of years. I'm pleased, as I said, that after last year's ridiculous farce with Zara Phillips, a degree of sanity has been restored to the BBC's award tonight. Well Done Joe.

"Big Sam facing a revolt from senior players" Sam is obviously not happy that news of dressing room discontent has got into the papers. Is there a mole within the club who has been leaking news stories to the media ? Rovers may have had similar problems towards the end of Graeme Souness's reign. A few more comments below that I read today on a Newcastle United fans website. The Geordies certainly aren't happy at the moment.... "Allardyce had the summer to buy players and he did have cash to spend. He then had the whole pre-season to work with the squad, and we are now in December with the holiday period looming large. We have been outplayed by Derby and Sunderland for God's sake! Sam has to go now before he destroys any confidence our players may have left and completely wrecks the season." "I have well and truly lost faith in Allardyce now. The guy doesn't know what he is doing. We have a better set of players than lots of teams and this guy has no idea how to play them." "Another game on Saturday, another formation change, players out of position. Allardyce is worse than Ranieri and Benitez for tinkering. I'm also left speechless at some of the managers comments in the local press today. Apparently he's finding it difficult to grasp the pressure that is building on Tyneside. Well Sam, try to attack teams instead of trying to nullify their threats and concentrate on our teams strengths. Then you might win some games and relieve some pressure."

Big Sam given until Christmas before he gets the boot Newcastle have gained only one point from their last five Premiership games - a somewhat fortuitous draw against Sunderland - and the Geordie natives are getting restless and unhappy at their recent displays. After their shambolic 4-1 defeat at home to Portsmouth last month Newcastle were roundly booed off the St James' Park pitch. Newcastle's 3-0 defeat at home to Liverpool was an atrocious display, with Alan Shearer suggesting it could easily have been six or seven nil to Liverpool. Big Sam's team didn't have a single shot on target during the whole match. The Match of the Day cameras showed a number of Geordie fans, their faces contorted with anger, chanting at Sam: "You don't know what you're doing". (Apparently other chants recently heard at St James' Park include "Big Sam for England" and "You should have stayed at the Reebok.") After Newcastle's 3-1 defeat against Rovers on Saturday there was another rash of calls to radio stations from angry Geordies calling for Big Sam's head on a plate. It's not just the results that the fans are unhappy with, they are also less than enamoured with Sam's preferred long-ball style of play. At Bolton under Big Sam the style of play was ugly but effective. At Newcastle, Sam's style is ugly and ineffective. I was interested to have a look at a couple of Newcastle fan websites recently. The opinion of the fans has certainly firmly turned against Allardyce. Amongst the comments I read about Sam were "Terrrible manager, terrible tactics. He has to go." and "We're even worse than under Souness". Another Geordie fan posted: "There is no flair in the team and no established pattern of play. Everything in black and white at the moment looks a shambles. I dont think Big Sam is able to produce a team performance which in any way resembles a Premiership outfit and frankly he is out of his depth at Newcastle." The Geordie continued in his rant: "Some pundits say that Sam has only been at the club for a few short months - give him time. Time for what, to take us further into disaster ? The guy just cant hack it. His teams lack direction, there is no leadership on the field and we look like a ship lost in the sea. Sam brought in several players and to date their impact has been dismal, great salaries paid to several players who are keen on taking a last pay deal at Newcastle's expense." "Sam's tactics are awful, his team selections and deployment of his players even more awful. The good players we have are going backwards. We have not improved with his coaching methods and if he stays no doubt we will sign more over-rated players in the window and waste more good money" Another posted: "We can't afford to wait until May. Sam has to be sacked NOW. Negative, inept, hopeless, we're an absolute disgrace. It is embarrassing to watch such poor football. Mike Ashley needs to make a decision before the transfer window opens in January: we need to try to salvage something from the season by replacing Sam and spending real money on a real manager. Sam is not the answer for Newcastle." It will be interesting to see the reaction of Newcastle fans should they lose at home to Arsenal on Wednesday. If Big Sam does get the boot, unfortunately Rovers fans will probably have to endure speculation about Mark Hughes going there - even though Sparky has recently extended his contract at Ewood. In my opinion Hughes would be crazy to leave Rovers for the turmoil and turbulence at St James' Park, where the fans can easily get on a manager's back if a few results don't go their way. The Geordie fans are "vicious" according to Joey Barton. True, but a clear case of the pot calling the kettle black from Mr Barton.

Whilst I remain very unhappy about the rule changes to this messageboard, I've decided over the last couple of days to carry on posting about football. (Probably much to the annoyance of those who were hoping to get rid of me!) I completely disagree with the rule changes. It feels like I've been gagged and I don't like being gagged.... However, onto Joey Barton, who is a disgrace to football in my view. After the 'cigar incident' in which Barton pushed a lighted cigar into the eye of his former Man City team mate Jamie Tandy, (who doctors say was fortunate not to lose his sight in one eye) Barton claimed afterwards that he was a changed man and that he had learned lessons from the incident. Yeah right.... I suppose the phrase to use in Barton's case is "Once a toerag, always a toerag". Since the 'cigar incident', Barton has been arrested for assault and criminal damage following an altercation with a taxi driver in Liverpool, he has been involved in an incident on the Man City training ground when he apparently punched team-mate Dabo several times in the face while he was on the floor, he's been involved in dreadful stamps on players like Tugay and at the Stadium of Light on Saturday he made another appalling challenge on a player, with his studs going into Etuhu's thigh. After the cigar incident, a snivelling Barton claimed in the media that he was "a changed man". What a load of rubbish! It's not just in the world of football that we have thugs though. A rugby player in Wales has today been jailed for 15 months for stamping on an opponent's head. Link: Rugby player jailed for stamp

Glenn Roeder named as the new Norwich manager. Given that Mr Roeder took Gillingham and Watford to the bottom of the league, was relegated with West Ham in 2003 and during his 15 month spell in charge at Newcastle they didn't score a league goal at St James' Park in over eight hours of playing time - Newcastle's worst run since 1951 - I don't think that Norwich fans should have high hopes about Roeder's appointment.... If Roeder manages to avoid relegation with Norwich this season he'll be doing well compared with his previous managerial record. Certainly Norwich fans shouldn't start dreaming of the days when Mark Bowen and others were scoring for the Canaries against Bayern Munich and Inter Milan in Europe.

"England are like a school team under McClaren," says Beckenbauer "There is no life in this team," says Beckenbauer. Doesn't the England manager have a responsibility to ensure that there is life in the team - that players are communicating properly on the pitch ? If we fail to qualify for Euro 2008, will Brian Barwick have the balls to admit that he made a mistake in appointing McClaren ?

Take drugs and get free golf clubs and new sportswear at the taxpayers' expense We live in a country where many British people have been denied effective life saving cancer drugs due to limited funds within the NHS - and yet it seems that there's no problem in funding junkies to get free golf clubs and sportswear. Have we really got our priorities right as a society ? What about poor young people in the community who would like free golf clubs but are law-abiding and behave themselves ? Why can't these people be rewarded or do we just have to reward the junkies to try to get them away from committing more crimes ?

Steve McClaren has claimed that his tactics were spot on against Russia last week and that it was only the ref's decision to give Russia a penalty which cost England the game. Whilst I'd accept that the penalty decision was wrong, you also have to ask serious questions about England's tactics and query why Steve McClown tried to protect a 1-0 lead rather than looking to score a crucial second goal which could have killed the game off. As Guus Hiddink said after the match: "When you put pressure on England they drop back like a handball team around their area." England retreated back to defending in front of their 18-yard line and these negative tactics invited Russian pressure onto us. Did Steve McClown not learn the lessons from recent major tournaments such as Euro 2004. when England tried to protect a 1-0 lead against Portugal in the quarter-final instead of attacking the Portugese and going for a crucial second goal. With just six minutes of that game left in normal time, Helder "two goals all season" Postiga was able to head in an equaliser because England had retreated back and were defending far too deep on the edge of their penalty box. Frank Lampard scored in extra time, but of course we ended up losing on penalties after a 2-2 draw. Steve McClown sat on the bench with Eriksson on that warm night in Lisbon three years ago. He should have heeded the lessons about not being negative after taking a 1-0 lead. But sadly England's Euro 2008 qualification hopes are now in severe danger and rest on Israel getting a result at home to Russia next month. Link: Scotland on the verge of overtaking England in the FIFA world rankings. Under Steve McClown we have fallen outside the top ten in the world. I understand the views of those who say the FIFA world rankings aren't entirely accurate - but what isn't in any doubt is that if England don't qualify for Euro 2008, we'll have certainly gone backwards under McClaren. Russia and Croatia are two decent teams, but with England possessing several world class players, we shouldn't have had any problems qualifying from this group. The damage was first done during England's feeble 0-0 draw at home against Macedonia - when England didn't have a single shot on goal for the first 40 minutes at Old Trafford. Perhaps it shouldn't just be McClaren who ends up losing his job. Brian Barwick, the man responsible for appointing Steve McClown, ought to do the honourable thing and offer his resignation if England fail to qualify. But I doubt he will. It was Barwick who claimed in the summer of 2006 that McClaren had a fine managerial CV and would bring "a touch of style and class" to the England job. Most of the English public knew that appointing Steve McClown - the man who had blown tens of millions on players like Michael Ricketts and Massimo Macarone and had ended up with mid-table medicority at Middlesbrough - was completely the wrong move for the FA to make. Lest we forget that during McClaren's last year in charge at Boro', fans were invading the Riverside pitch to tear up their season tickets in disgust at the tripe they were watching on the pitch. They lost 0-4 at home to Aston Villa and 7-1 away against Arsenal. "McClaren for England," chanted the Boro' fans. They were the only set of supporters in the country who wanted him to get the job!

"Lib Dem leadership contender can't remember calling for Class A drugs to be legalised" Chris Huhne wrote: "The considerable number of students at this university who drop acid [LSD] are well-balanced, highly intelligent people." But my view is that 'dropping acid' can be highly dangerous. Syd Barrett - the ex-guitarist with Pink Floyd who died last year - being one example of somebody for whom the psychedelic experience seems to have done much damage.

Rooney might have to be careful in the future

Sometimes it's not just the blokes our kids need to be careful of....

That was last year. Let's hope Mark Bowen does the same thing again this year and turns down any possible further approach from Norwich. The Norfolk club announced today that they have parted company with manager Peter Grant after almost exactly a year in charge at Carrow Road. I would expect Bowen to stay at Ewood - even though he is something of a fan's favourite at Carrow Road, having scored in Norwich's UEFA Cup win against Bayern Munich in 1993. Those heady European days are firmly over for Norwich now and the only way they'll ever go back into Europe is on an EasyJet trip for their summer hols. Norwich - who won the 1985 League Cup but were denied a place in Europe the following year due to the Heysel tragedy - are currently in third from bottom place in the Championship, which doesn't make them an attractive proposition for Bowen. Sounds like you were wrong last year Jim.... Hopefully there will be nothing in it this year either. Peter Grant leaves the Canaries by "mutual consent"

Owen on a collision course with Big Sam On a slightly different note, last year in September 2006, following the BBC Panorama 'bungs' programme, Sam announced: "I am planning to sue the BBC over the false and highly damaging allegations. I have instructed my lawyers to prepare my case against the BBC." But Allardyce (and Harry Redknapp) have both missed the deadline to sue the BBC. Under libel laws, proceedings have to be served within a year of publication and the deadline passed last month without even a whimper from Big Sam. This indicates to me that Sam is full of hot air. He hasn't put his money where his (big) mouth is and hasn't been brave enough to go ahead with the legal action he said he would take. Sam doesn't speak to the BBC anymore, but I hope the next time he's interviewed after a game on Sky TV, someone will ask him: "Why did you say last year that you were going to sue the BBC when you haven't done so ?" Mind you, the last time somebody from Sky asked about the Panorama allegations, Big Sam threw a wobbly. When presenter Jeff Stelling asked him last season if the allegations against him were true, Big Sam flew into a rage and said: "You're bang out of order Jeff". Sam spits his dummy out of the pram at anybody who dares to question his integrity. But if Sam had actually gone ahead with legal action against the BBC and cleared his name then nobody could question his innocence. But when he promises one thing and then does another, there'll always be a doubt hanging over him. If the BBC had made "false and highly damaging allegations" according to Sam, why hasn't he sued them ? A link to last season's comments from Allardyce - when he said he'd be suing the BBC - is HERE

Before the start of tonight's match Mark Hughes said: "If we're going to view ourselves as a team that can cope with European football then we've got to overcome Larissa." The shambles over two legs against Larissa have clearly shown that we can not cope with European football. We have been failures against a Greek outfit that has only won once in their league this season. The Rovers players certainly have to take their share of responsibility for the disgraceful debacle in Greece a fortnight ago, but I also think it is perfectly valid to question the coaching and tactics of our management. I hope that Mark Hughes remains our manager for years to come. I happen to think he's the best manager we've had since Kenny Dalglish, but Hughes is not infallible, he does not get decisions right all of the time, and after last season's failure to get past the last 32 of the UEFA Cup, followed by the embarrassing shambles this season, I feel entitled to question the tactics of our management. I don't believe that Hughes should be in a sacrosanct position where he is immune from criticism when it is due. The manager rightly gets the plaudits when things go well, so it's only fair that some of his decisions should be questioned when things go badly wrong. Three posts in particular on the main Larissa thread sum up my views tonight....

Do you think Benni is upset at the moment that his hero Mourinho has gone from Chelsea and so there's little chance of him getting a "dream move" to Stamford Bridge in January. Or was he just being a stroppy mard arse ? Either way, I've been very disappointed with Benni since the 0-0 draw with Chelsea at the Bridge. As Tim Sherwood rightly says, McCarthy hasn't looked interested. For a professional footballer on a multi-million pound contract with us, that is not acceptable.

"Benni McCarthy wasn't interested," says Tim Sherwood Another disgraceful performance today from our South African striker. I think he should now spend some time on the bench until he bucks his ideas up. No passion, no pride, no work-rate and no hunger. (Admittedly a number of players were the same today. It was a shocking display from the team.) I think today was worse than the Trelleborgs and Gencler shambles. It was that bad. A horrendous performance and a shameful day for our football club.

When I was a little lad my Dad told me they were better sprinters because of the lions and tigers in the jungle. :ph34r: When I next see my Dad at the weekend I'll have to explain to him that he's completely wrong and it's all to do with the ankles.... Anyway - moving swiftly back on topic now to discussing Benni McCarthy - so there's no need for people to get their knickers in a twist, I recall a couple of quotes from Benni in March this year when he said: "The manager is always telling me that you can be the best player in the world, but if you don't do the dirty work, the hard yards, it means nothing." McCarthy went on to say: "The manager has told me I'm probably one of the most gifted and skilful players he has ever played with, or has had in one of the teams he has managed, but that I can be even greater. I can do much better things if I can adapt to the English way of thinking – the hard work and chasing the balls down. If I can do that with my skill and ability then I can be a complete player." A link to those quotes from McCarthy HERE I'd respectfully suggest that on Saturday evening at Stamford Bridge, McCarthy did not do the things he talked about. He didn't do the dirty work, the hard yards and the chasing of balls. Instead he resembled a rather statuesque figure. One other quote from Benni in that article is striking: "I've been climbing up the ladder and I'm doing a couple of miles a game now," said McCarthy. Benni seems to think that running a couple of miles in 90 minutes is doing well - or at least doing better than he did before. Let's face it, pub players performing on a Sunday morning after a night out on the town, can run a couple of miles in 90 minutes. Prozone stats suggest that the average ground covered by Premiership players is around 11km per game (or roughly seven miles). Midfielders, not surprisingly, cover the most ground in a match. Centre-backs do the least running but even they average a fraction under 10km per match (approx 6.2 miles.) To paraphrase Benni - he needs to climb up the ladder further. Or as Mark Hughes told him: "If you don't do the dirty work, the hard yards, it means nothing."

Did Benni actually break into sweat on Saturday evening at the Bridge ? As Revidge Blue suggested in the main match thread, McCarthy seemed more interested in hugging Mourinho before the start of the match. It was a hugely disappointing performance from the South African. I accept that the service to him from midfield wasn't great, but I'm sure that Craig Bellamy would have been making more runs and making a general nuisance of himself. McCarthy just strolled around as if it was a gentle training session. Mark Hughes rightly substituted McCarthy after 68 minutes. Nobody - irrespective of whether they are a 'big name' player - should be immune from being substituted or dropped if their performances are poor. Despite scoring plenty of goals last season, McCarthy seemed to have several "can't be arsed" performances last term - particularly during our defeats against clubs in the bottom six, away at Upton Park, The Valley and at Vicarage Road. McCarthy says in that piece: "The key thing is that they don't just depend on me". Well it's a good job the other Rovers players didn't depend on him on Saturday. We had other players who were willing to put their bodies on the line for the Rovers cause. McCarthy wasn't one of them. Fife Rover has alluded to McCarthy having a bit of an attitude problem at times. I'm just wondering whether Saturday was another of his 'can't be arsed to make runs and hold the ball up properly' performances or whether there was a deeper reason for his statuesque display ? Perhaps deep down Benni still has the hump that he didn't get his 'dream move' to Chelsea in the summer and on Saturday wished that he was lining up in the Chelsea shirt for Mourinho. A while back Jan suggested that Rovers fans are only critical of Benni because he's black. Well irrespective of whether he's black, white or yellow with purple spots, McCarthy's performance on Saturday was poor and frankly unacceptable. And I'm sure if he had played like that for Chelsea, his idol Mourinho wouldn't have been happy with his lack of movement. I hope that Hughes told Benni after the match that he can and should be doing better.

Savage's timing hasn't been the best in this case. He's chosen to launch his latest attack on John Toshack on the eve of a game in which Wales have recorded their biggest away victory for 11 years. Toshack says that he's delighted with the performance of his Welsh players in Wednesday night's 5-2 win over Slovakia, with Craig Bellamy coming in for particular praise - Toshack describing him as "scintillating". Bellamy scored two on the night and was denied a hat-trick towards the end when he hit the post. Given that Slovakia are 35 places ahead of Wales in the FIFA rankings, it was an impressive result for the Welsh tonight. Perhaps Savage should just concentrate on playing well for Rovers and not worrying about continuing his feud with Toshack in the press.

"Robbie Savage called me a faggot and a queer," says Le Saux Whilst not condoning the gibes, I feel that Le Saux is right when he says in his book: "I took things more seriously than I should have done. I reacted to gibes when I should have laughed them off." Le Saux made the situation worse IMO by taking the gibes too seriously. His former Chelsea team-mate Tony Cascarino used to be called a poof by other players because before Tony started his career at Gillingham he worked for his Dad in a hairdressers. Cascarino used to laugh off the gibes and didn't let them worry him. Earlier this year a guy in the pub tried to start winding me up by calling me a poof. I was half-tempted to smack him in the mouth, but the best thing to do is not to react and not to take these sort of things too seriously. Le Saux is right when he says of Paul Ince: "He was a prime example of someone who could dish it out but could not take it." I've always had that impression of Paul Ince. He's got a big mouth and plenty to say for himself on the pitch, but if anyone has a go back at him he'd go ballistic. He's someone with a big chip on his shoulder who likes to dish it out but can't take it.

Those board members who believe in legalising drugs may be interested in a programme on Friday evening on Channel 4, where a guy called Clive Froggatt will put forward his views that heroin should be prescribed on the NHS - so that the supply of drugs in his opinion will be taken out of the control of criminals. I don't agree with Mr Froggatt's views on legalisation. I don't believe that the state should be prescribing dangerous drugs like cocaine and heroin which in some cases can lead to death. The British Medical Association says of cocaine: "It can have a variety of adverse effects on the body, with complications involving the cardiovascular system and strokes. It also raises the body's temperature and adrenaline levels, and can cause convulsions, seizures and respiratory arrest. Overdose can lead to death: it can cause heart attacks in otherwise fit, healthy young people, and the number of individuals dying from cocaine-induced heart failure has increased in recent years." The BMA says of heroin: "It can cause comas and respiratory failure, and there is a danger of inhaling vomit as the cough reflex stops working. Injecting can cause damage to veins and lead to gangrene. There is also a high risk of infection with bloodborne viruses including HIV and hepatitis from sharing needles." I know that the argument from drug liberals tends to be "Alcohol is legal and can lead to deaths too" - but that doesn't mean in my view that drugs like heroin and cocaine should automatically become legal too. I feel that alcohol is a seperate issue. As the BMA also says: "If heroin and cocaine were legal in the UK there is likely to be an additional burden on the health service resulting from an increase in the number of drug-related illnesses." Do we really want our young people to become state-sponsored junkies, as well as placing an additional financial burden on the NHS from treating their drug-related illnesses ? For anyone interested - "The Insider - Heroin on the NHS" is on Channel 4 at 7.30pm on Friday.

Bafta award-winning actor Chris Langham found guilty of downloading child porn. As Ken Goss of the Crown Prosecution Service said: "They were horrific images, still and video clips, of children being sexually abused. Chris Langham actively searched for those images." I think the jury have reached the right verdict on those charges.

Judges who are out of touch.... Judge Julian Hall gave a two-year sentence to a window cleaner who raped a girl of 10 in a park. Keith Fenn, a 24-year-old window cleaner from Oxfordshire, could be free in just a few weeks though after he served eight months in prison awaiting sentence. He could have been jailed for life, but the judge said that the girl had dressed provocatively, had worn a frilly bra and looked older than 10. Judge Julian Hall also hit the headlines earlier this year when he sentenced a 71-year-old sex offender to a fine of just £250 for putting his hand down the knickers of a six-year-old girl. "If it buys her a nice new bike, that's the sort of thing that might cheer her up," said the judge. The message from Judge Hall seems to be that it's okay to put your hand down a six-year-old girl's pants as long as you buy her a bike afterwards. Judges like Julian Hall should be told they are completely out of touch. "Award-winning actor downloaded pre-teen hardcore porn." Actor Chris Langham, who won a Bafta for his performance in the BBC series "The Thick of It", has admitted in court to downloading clips of child porn described in court as Grade 5 - meaning the most serious, extreme and sadistic form of child porn, involving young pre-teen girls. The clips featured girls as young as seven being raped and tortured. Langham claimed that he didn't commit a crime, because he was downloading the clips for "research" - to find out about sex offenders for a BBC series called 'Help'. But surely there is no acting job in the world which justifies watching seven-year-old girls being raped and tortured. It is completely warped and there is no justification at all for it. (The producers and fellow actors of 'Help' knew nothing at all about Langham downloading the clips.) I hope personally that the jury does not believe Langham's dodgy excuses and is not influenced by the fact that he's a celebrity on TV. Unfortunately, I suspect that in certain cases some jurors are influenced by celebrities, giving them the benefit of the doubt. As the prosecution said in the trial: "If you deliberately download these type of images, you are guilty of an offence. It is no defence to say that you are doing it for research." The prosecution described Langham's excuse as a "spurious explanation". It will soon be up to the jury to decide whether or not Langham is guilty. Link: Jurors in Langham's trial see distressing images

Maureen not happy It will be interesting to see if Mourinho has a full-scale bust-up in the coming season with Grant - the Jewish Director of Football, hand-picked by Abramovich. It's been reported that Grant will be given quite wide-ranging powers - including involvement in coaching, signing players and their recruitment. Roman's desire to appoint Grant in January was said to be one of the reasons for the big row between Abramovich and Mouinho last season, who apparently has threatened to walk out on Chelsea in the past if there was any interference with his backroom staff. A fragile truce between Jose and Abramovich might be shattered before long. It couldn't happen to a nicer club - well maybe apart from Man United. I fear that Fergie will win the Premiership again next season.