What do they know of cricket..............?

Yesterday I decided to catch the final days play at Lords. Well, with Bangladesh putting up such a spirited defence and free entry for the under 16s and over 65s it seemed foolish not to. Mind you, I thought that four quid for a pint was a bit strong but you can't have everything. Anyway, I had a mooch about (or perambulation as we call it at Lords) during the lunch interval and found that bat makers Gray-Nicolls had a stand with one of their staff sculpting a bat out of half a willow tree. Watching real craftsmen at work is always a pleasure so I hung around for a bit before picking up a leaflet and wondering off to watch the final session. The response from others has been surprise that we still make bats. "Aren't they all made in China these days?" I think it's what the pointy heads call a "self fulfilling prophesy". We assume that nothing is manufactured here and lo it comes to pass. The truth is that we still have a skill base in UK and we still have youngsters who would like to make living doing something more satisfying than staring into a computer screen all day and gambling with other peoples lives and money. It seems all the rage these days for politicians to lecture us about how important is our industrial base. Pity their predecessors didn't think about that thirty years ago. It might be a step in the right direction if politicians, teachers and parents stopped looking down their noses at people who use their hands (and get 'em dirty) to make a living and recognised once more the real value of practical skills.