APPARENTLY last week it was Blue Monday . Although that may sound like the name of a tribute event for synth-music legends New Order, it is in fact the date in the calendar which scientists deem to be the most depressing of the year. And I think it s fai

APPARENTLY last week it was "Blue Monday".

Although that may sound like the name of a tribute event for synth-music legends New Order, it is in fact the date in the calendar which scientists deem to be the most depressing of the year.

And I think it's fair to say that this has generally been a particularly miserable time in terms of news. Every day seems to bring a new batch of pictures from Haiti, where islanders are coming to terms with the aftermath of the terrible earthquake which struck earlier this month, and last week we read about the twins who were jailed for torturing two other youngsters in the Doncaster area.

This is a truly horrific crime, and my heart goes out to those involved, but there's no way I would support the perpetrators being "named and shamed", as one Sunday newspaper (I'm sure you can guess which one, the title rhymes with fail on Monday) demanded yesterday.

I think if some people in this country had their way we'd go back to the medieval methods of putting miscreants in the stocks and allowing the general public to chuck rotten fruit at them. These boys have done a terrible thing, but they have been judged by the court and will serve the sentence deemed appropriate by the judge in question.

Although this is obviously an emotive crime, it doesn't mean they deserve to be punished for it for the rest of their lives. They have to be given the chance to mend their ways, and if they were named in public, there's no way they would be able to do that.

I'm a Cambridge United football club fan, and it's fair to say that so far it hasn't been a vintage season for us. Mid-table obscurity is looming large for the not-so-mighty U's.

However, since working for The Crow I have also acquired a soft spot for Royston Town FC, so I was delighted to hear that they had given me something to smile about in the football sense by beating Tipton Town 2-1 at Garden Walk in the FA Vase.

With another home tie in the next round, a trip to Wembley is starting to look like a realistic prospect, with The Crows now just four games from an appearance at the national stadium.

What a tremendous boost it would be for the town if they could go all the way, and I would urge anyone who can to get down to Garden Walk for the next game to cheer Paul Attfield's men into the quarter finals.

After bigging up North Herts district council last week for collecting my brown bin ahead of schedule, I now have some back tracking to do.

It has come to my attention that only certain roads in Royston were cleared last week, with many residents having to wait until this Monday, as was originally announced.

I can only apologise for this over-sight and thank the readers who have brought this mistake to my attention