The Ashes

Sport has indeed become a substitute for war!

Thank goodness then for immigration (yes that dirty word) enabling Pietersen's critical contribution to England's victory over the 'convict colony's' cricketers.

Katrina

New Orleans represents not so much a natural disaster, as it does a man-made catastrophe.

All informed opinion suggests that the concerted attempts to scapegoat the victims of the disaster are at least as reprehensible as the calculated indifference which permeated preparations for this long predicted calamity and the lack of any co-ordinated or timely relief effort.

A valuable lesson may well have been learnt, not just in the United States, but globally.