Australia works hard at attracting British people to move here. There is sometimes an element of over-projecting an image of Australia as the land of milk and honey but most Poms who move here don’t regret it. The quality of life is better here for most of us.

If there’s one thing the Aussies love to crow about, it’s their sporting success. Beating the Poms is their greatest ambition. Reading a press release from the Minister of Immigration (Senator Amanda Vanstone) a few days ago made me smile. She said:

“People arrived from more than 200 countries, with the largest influx coming from the United Kingdom. A total of 18 220 now call Australia home – maybe keen to be part of a successful sporting nation!”

http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media_releases/media05/v05164.htm

I hope the minister and her advisors are more on the ball with immigration matters than they are with sport because – whisper it- The Poms beat Australia in Sydney to take the Rugby World Cup in 2003 and we’ve just won back the Ashes.