The Edgbaston test match finished yesterday in a fairly predictable draw – given the amount of time lost to the weather this was always the most likely result.

I thought that this game generated a couple of issues worthy of comment.

Firstly the discourtesy shown by large elements of the crowd to the Australian captain who was booed every time he came to the wicket.

Now, Ricky Ponting isn’t my favourite person in world cricket but he is a distinguished, entertaining batsman with a remarkable record in test cricket and above all else he is the captain of his country’s team.

As such, he has a right to expect and should receive courtesy from English cricket “fans” and not the hostile reception he received from the knuckle dragging half wits at Edgbaston.

As a 34 year old Australian male I am sure that Mr Ponting is robust enough not to be unduly upset by the events at Edgbaston – indeed, I suspect that he was probably even more motivated to “up his game” by the booing.

Secondly, and in a similar vein, I thought that the incessant and tedious football style chanting of the aforementioned half wits added nothing of positive value to the atmosphere at the game.

I am no shrinking violet where it comes to cricket – in the 1980’s I was a regular attendee on the infamous “Western Terrace” at Headingley where opposition players would frequently receive a certain amount of ribald heckling from the predominantly Yorkshire crowd.

However, this didn’t degenerate into mindless chanting or equally mindless abuse – good performances from the opposition (even if they were Australians) were applauded and appropriate respect shown to the opposition.

Is it stretching things too far to say that the mindless behaviour of many in the Edgbaston crowd is a reflection of how wider attitudes and standards of behaviour in our society have deteriorated in recent years?

Well there's a surprise!

The High Court has refused Gary McKinnon's appeal against extradition to the USA to face trial for hacking into US government computer systems.

This hugely disappointing decision was fully expected – remember it was only a couple of weeks ago that the inequalities of the US – UK extradition treaty were debated in parliament.

Then and thanks to the spineless behaviour of 59 New Labour MP's, who kow-towed before the party whip, a very worthy attempt by the Conservative Party to force a review of the treaty was defeated by 54 votes.

Mr McKinnon is now almost certain to be extradited to face trial in the USA – one can only fear for his future health and wellbeing.

It seems utterly bizarre that a man with mental health problems is now to be extradited to face trial and up to 70 years in prison if (or is it when) found guilty.

Yet in British prisons we hold various terrorists and extremists who we refuse to extradite to their countries of origin in case we infringe their “human rights”.

Mr McKinnon arguably provided a service to the USA by demonstrating the inadequacies of the security of their IT systems – if he could hack in, then so could somebody with more sinister motives.

Sure, Mr McKinnon may have caused some damage to the American computers but isn't his real crime that he caused massive embarrassment to the military – industrial complex that so dominates the American state?

The attitude of the British Government towards Mr McKinnon has been reprehensible and the decision taken by the High Court represents a bad day for British Justice.