[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xnk9aqih8o[/youtube]

German soccer blogs are not a place I usually go to for a story about religion, but an interesting one has popped up on the forum of the Eintracht Frankfurt team. The team let its fans vote over the Internet late last year to pick a 2008/2009 season jersey among 16 proposed models. Despite the fans' enthusiasm for this innovation, Eintracht has ignored the result and chosen to use the runner-up design. As the team explained on its website:

After a close examination, we have decided that the winning jersey with the cross unfortunately cannot be used because the symbol on the front has a religious background. Inter Milan, an Italian club with a long tradition, has appeared in the current Champions League competition in a similar jersey and been strongly criticised for it. So after careful consideration, Eintracht Frankfurt has gone back and chosen the second jersey, which came in a close second in the vote.

The runner-up that came out on top has what Eintracht calls "hints of eagle claws on the front and a stylised eagle on the shoulder". The city's coat-of-arms has a red eagle that also figures on the Eintracht team logo.

So why the change? It turns out that a Turkish lawyer (and Fenerbahçe fan) asked UEFA in December to invalidate an Inter Milan victory over the Istanbul team in the Champions League last November because the red cross on the Italian jerseys recalled the Knights Templar crusaders. Shortly afterwards, the Barcelona daily La Vanguardia reported that fake FC Barcelona jerseys were on sale in Saudi Arabia with the crossbar removed from the cross on the team's emblem. Eintracht doesn't mention this Christian/Muslim angle explicitly, but it takes only a few clicks to find it.

Eintracht's fan forum erupted with comments. The main thread on the jersey is up to 1,728 and climbing, many defending the loser as simply a better design. Almost 500 fans have signed a petition against the winner. The religious angle seemed irrelevant to most of them.

Do you think that teams should pay attention to possible religious overtones on their jerseys?

Noddy and Big Ears had their makeovers years ago -- now it's the turn of the Famous Five.

In a new Disney Channel series, the sons and daughters of Enid Blyton's four adventurers are back in manga cartoon form as multicultural, techno-hip dudes on the trail of eco-evil with the ever-faithful dog Timmy. No room for ginger beer and jolly japes here.

What next? Richmal Crompton's "William" as an asbo-carrying hoodie?

Were you a Famous Five fan? And what do you think of the idea of updating them for the 21st century?

The idea of a boycott of this Summer's Beijing Olympics in protest at the handling of events in Tibet is not yet an official policy of any government or major human rights organization.

But actor Richard Gere, chairman of the International Campaign for Tibet, has told Reuters he believes it would be "unconscionable" to attend the Games if China fails to deal with peacefully with the latest unrest.

Do you think Britain -- or Britons -- should boycott the Games over Tibet?

Britain has long regarded Tibet as autonomous while recognising the special position of the Chinese there but has often been criticised by activists who accuse it of being supine over the issue, preferring not to rock the boat by, for example, allowing the Dalai Lama to meet the prime minister on his visits to the UK and refraining from trenchant public criticism of Beijing over human rights in Tibet. The Dalai Lama next visits Britain in May.

With international attention increasingly focused on China ahead of the Games, has the time come to take a stand, or would such a move merely aggravate the lot of the Tibetans?

The idea of a boycott of this Summer's Beijing Olympics in protest at the handling of events in Tibet is not yet an official policy of any government or major human rights organization.

But actor Richard Gere, chairman of the International Campaign for Tibet, has told Reuters he believes it would be "unconscionable" to attend the Games if China fails to deal with peacefully with the latest unrest.

Do you think Britain -- or Britons -- should boycott the Games over Tibet?

Britain has long regarded Tibet as autonomous while recognising the special position of the Chinese there but has often been criticised by activists who accuse it of being supine over the issue, preferring not to rock the boat by, for example, allowing the Dalai Lama to meet the prime minister on his visits to the UK and refraining from trenchant public criticism of Beijing over human rights in Tibet. The Dalai Lama next visits Britain in May.

With international attention increasingly focused on China ahead of the Games, has the time come to take a stand, or would such a move merely aggravate the lot of the Tibetans?

The government should look at ways of opening communication channels with groups like al Qaeda and the Taliban if it wants a long-term political solution as well as a security solution, a former senior aide to Tony Blair says.

Jonathan Powell, who served as Blair’s chief of staff between 1995 and 2007, told the Guardian newspaper that such a policy helped secure a peace deal in Northern Ireland.

He was quoted as saying that a secret back channel between the British government and the IRA, first opened in the 1970s, was one of the key factors that contributed to a peace deal three decades later.

“It’s very difficult for democratic governments to do - talk to a terrorist movement that’s killing your people,” he was reported as saying.

“[But] if I was in government now I would want to have been talking to Hamas, I would be wanting to communicate with the Taliban; and I would want to find a channel to al
Qaeda.”

The Foreign Office said it was “inconceivable” that it would ever seek to reach a mutually acceptable accommodation with al Qaeda, and has called on disaffected Afghans to renounce violence.

It has also told Hamas “dialogue is impossible so long as one party is dedicated to violence and the destruction of the other”.

Can peace be achieved without dialogue, and if not, at what point do you begin talking?

Once, kids had to work hard to become famous.

Whatever their chosen route, it would usually involve endless hours of practice -- be it in the gym, on the pitch, at the keyboard or on the stage.

Now, with the advent of the reality TV star and the explosion of shows like the X Factor, America's Next Top Model, Laguna Beach and the like, it seems anyone can do it and earn themselves millions in the process.

In the meantime, the media obsession with celebrities like David Beckham and Paris Hilton reinforces the yearning for stardom.

No wonder then, perhaps, that many children think it's hardly worth bothering with their studies any more, as a survey of teachers by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers found.

"Celebrity culture can perpetuate the notion that celebrity status is the greatest achievement and reinforces the belief that other career options are not valuable," the Association said.

Are kids becoming dangerously celebrity-obsessed these days or do they still have their heads screwed on? And if it really is a problem, should schools be trying to counter the trend more actively?

Silda Wall Spitzer stood beside her husband, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, as he resigned on Wednesday amid a scandal over a $1,000-an-hour prostitute. The mother of the governor’s three daughters also stood by her husband’s side at a news conference on Monday where he admitted he had violated his obligations to his family and his “sense of right and wrong.”

The public reaction to Mrs. Wall Spitzer’s stance to “stand by her man” has been mixed at best, New York Magazines notes . Political blog from N. Dakota, “Say Anything” , said it would have paid to see Silda Spitzer punch her husband on the podium.

Others were not as generous. “What’s more disgusting than a lyin’ no good, cheatin, hypocritical, political man? Their wives that stand by looking dumbfounded as their unfaithful husbands apologize to the public. Do these women have no pride?” wrote New York City Moms blog. Dr. Laura went so far as to blame Mrs. Wall Spitzer for the scandal.

She’s not the first wife to stand silently by her husband as he apologizes or confesses. Dina Matos McGreevey wrote a book called “Silent Partner ” about her life with her ex-husband, the former governor of New Jersey, who resigned after announcing he was a homosexual.

What are your views? Can we or should we read much into the private decisions of a wife of a public figure?

Lord Goldsmith's suggestion that students swear allegiance to the Queen when they leave school has prompted a fierce reaction.

Civil rights lawyer Baroness Kennedy said the proposal made her groan and described it as a risible and empty gesture.

Teaching union boss John Dunsford of the Association of School and College Leaders told the BBC it was "a half-baked idea that should be left to go mouldy".

Goldsmith says he welcomes the debate, noting that similar cynicism greeted the introduction of citizenship ceremonies for new immigrants in 2004, which he says have been a great success.

He says it is up to the government -- if it accepts his recommendations -- to decide what form that ceremony should take.

But he told BBC radio on Tuesday that he personally favoured students swearing their loyalty to the Queen.

The ceremony would be just one of a number of measures to reverse a "diminishing sense of national pride", which include a national public holiday along the lines of Australia Day.

Has the reaction been too swift? Is there a place for an American-style oath of allegiance in our schools? Or is that just not the British way?

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has informed his most senior administration officials that he had been involved in a prostitution ring, the New York Times reported on its Web site. The newspaper, citing a source, reported he was wiretapped arranging to meet a prostitute at a Washington D.C. hotel last month.

“I failed to live up to the standards I set up for myself. Now I stand to regain the trust of my family,” Spitzer told a packed room of reporters. He said nothing about possibly resigning.

What do you think is next for the New York governor?