MR PENDLE: Does unpublished report show Burnley General A&E Department should never have closed?

Firstly, it was on the matter of the honours list and the handing out of gongs for political services.

And now, he finds himself agreeing with Gordon on the thorny issue of the return of the accident and emergency department at Burnley General Hospital.

In one of his regular emails to Mr Pendle from Canada, where he seems to spend a lot of time these days, the former MP asks why there has been a delay in the publication of a pilot study about the possible return of full A&E facilities to Burnley, three and a half years after they were controversially transferred to Blackburn.

The study, says Gordon, was completed in January - if not before - but no date has been set for the publication of its findings.

And he - like Mr Pendle - is baffled by the delay.

The cynic inside Mr Pendle wonders if someone, somewhere, has decided the closure decision in 2007 was wrong and there will have to be an awfully deep hole dug for those responsible to climb out of and a lot of egg to be wiped from the faces of those who told us the change was for the better.

The wording of this reversal decision will also have to be carefully drafted in order that any embarrassment felt is reduced as much as possible.

Whether that is the case remains to be seen - but Mr Pendle, like Gordon, would like to see the findings made public sooner rather than later so we all know where we stand.

A NEW sporting initiative is to be launched this summer to teach children how to lose graciously in sport.

The Spirit of Cricket Initiative is being set up by the MCC and Cricket Foundation after a survey suggested the British are a nation of bad losers at sport.

But why just target children?

Why not get all the so-called role models whose tantrum-throwing exploits and rantings and ravings are seen by millions of youngsters on television to mend their ways?

After all, aren’t these the sportsmen who are said to set the example by which many of their adoring fans are then supposed to follow?

And if they were to show a greater deal of respect for match officials and accept defeat without throwing the toys out of their prams, their followers might just follow suit, shake hands at the end of a game and say “Well played” as though they meant it.