On television the other day, Richie Benaud said that cricket reflects life and I have to agree with him.

But it’s not just cricket, it’s all sports.

The way the crowds behave is a true reflection on the way society in general behaves.

Booing Australian captain Ricky Ponting was bad manners, bad sportsmanship, and a disappointment to all true cricket fans.

We like to think the playing fields of England are a bastion of the sporting behaviour of English men in the true sense of the word, but alas not so, They say ‘manners maketh the man’ but it goes much further than that.

I would go so far as to say they ‘maketh not only the man but the country.’ If we got back to the code of honesty and good manners the country would be on its feet in no time.

Can you believe that parents are sending children starting school wearing nappies?

And then, these children are classed has having ‘special needs’ and assigned special care costing the country fortunes until there is no longer ‘a need’.

I remember one of my children being a little late at grasping the potty habit and my mum said: “You don’t understand Margo, having a warm wee in a big fleecy nappy is not unpleasant.

“But put him in green Westholme knickers with elastic in the legs and when he finds out being wet and cold is uncomfortable he’ll soon change his mind!”

She was right it took just three days.

So ‘special needs’ people take note, or better still I hope mothers do!

Taking an untrained infant to school brings us back to good manners, because it shows the complete disregard for the feeling of other people, and the lack of embarrassment on the part of the mother just beggars belief.