01:19 AEDT Tuesday 19 Dec 2006

I love the BBC. It's a cliche to harp on about the virtues of public service broadcasting, about the quality and range of radio and TV programming and internet content that Auntie churns out.

So perhaps the licence fee system is a little anachronistic and arguably the BBC stifles competition on the internet from commercial news providers. But I say that losing a couple of crappy web-based SME's is a small price to pay for an organisation with such a wonderful sense of humour as to put out these gems on the same day:

Of Alistair Cook's having scored four (count 'em, four) Test centuries before his 22nd birthday: "It's quite a record and clearly shows he has all the tools to be the first England batsman to hit 10,000 Test runs, if Kevin Pietersen or Ian Bell don't get there first."

Or of The Suffolk Ripper:

"Dr Stephen said the suspect was probably male, white, in his late 20s, 30s or 40s, and is someone who probably had been let down by women in his past. "

"Film-maker and criminologist Roger Graef told BBC Five Live he also believes the killer may have had negative experiences with women in the past."

I've had negative experiences with women AND English batsmen in the last year. The key thing is to have low expectations, thus reducing net disappointment when the inevitable happens. Though if they needed someone to strangle Geraint Jones...






PS Belated congrats to Keith The Camel on his result in Amsterdam. How the hell did Jeraint Hazan - 'JJ' from Gutshot, for heavens sake - cop 355k EURO for 2nd?