The government's decision not to remove laws that protect the local publishing industry miss the broader picture.

Protectionism is bad. It’s hard to find anyone who would argue otherwise. Subsidies for unprofitable crops are met with cries of “unsustainable farming”. Tariffs for imported vehicles are charged with “propping up local industry”. It’s also credited with extending and intensifying the Great Depression when global trade collapsed following the introduction of the Smoot-Hawley Act, which was ostensibly designed to protect jobs in the US.

So it is with a considerable degree of skepticism that one must view the government’s recent decision to ignore the recommendations of the Productivity Commission and leave in place book import restrictions that ensure that consumers are worse off and that domestic book publishing remains a sheltered industry.

Firstly, I must reveal my own hand. As an author I stand to be affected by the removal of the existing law, which prevents the parallel importing of books within a month of its local release. Logic decrees that more competition from overseas means less domestic publishers. Less domestic publishers means less Australian authors. I guess that means the great Australian novel I’m working on is never going to find a home.

According to Chinese tradition, when a baby is 100 days old, a big celebration should be held. In this episode, a 100-day-old baby celebrates his special day at teh West Lake Restaurant and is given a special sword and mirror to fend off any monsters or evil forces in his future life. A strange ritual is also held in which a live carp is made to kiss the baby on his lips to make him articulate and eloquent when he grows up. Then a huge crowd noisily celebrates the symbolically important day in the baby's life while he is fast asleep in his pram. The restaurant is also celebrating a special day. Its third birthday. Owner, Mrs Qin, has invited 1000 guests including her old friends, loyal clients and suppliers, and government and local officials.

What France captain Thierry Henry did against Republic of Ireland was blatantly wrong. Under the same circumstances would I have owned up? No.

Just as I was gearing up to tell you all about the flight home from Oman, Thierry Henry decided to practice his volleyball skills during the France v Republic of Ireland World Cup qualifiying playoff second leg and in the process , helped his side into the finals.

I actually heard about the incident before I had a chance to see it and I thought “well that happens quite often.” But when I saw the vision I realised how blatant it was and came appreciate the fallout.

Not only did he intend to keep the ball in play, he actually appeared to take a controlling touch (with his hand) to guide the ball back onto his foot.

Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has had a limited career due to many different factors [GETTY]

In the twilight of his career one of cricket's most maligned talents may still have time to make a change for the better, writes Jesse Fink.

Can it get any more humiliating for Shoaib Akhtar?

The Rawalpindi Express, a man who instilled crotch-wetting fear in the hearts of
the world’s best batsmen and bowled the fastest delivery in the history of cricket in the process, has become a byword for comedy.

France captain Thierry Henry's soul has already been damned for his "Hand of Frog" that sunk Ireland's World Cup hopes. But there’s still time for FIFA to save its own.

What’s so galling about that insufferable cheat Thierry Henry is not his deliberate handball, or both of them, that put France through to the World Cup this week at the expense of Republic of Ireland, but that he could stand straight-faced after the match and tell people he didn’t mean to do it.

“The ball bounced and it hit my hand,” he said, referring to handling skills that would do Benji Marshall or Gary Ablett proud. “Should I stop and tell the referee and then cross? No. That is very funny.”

Funny? Who’s laughing in Ireland? Does this man have a decent bone in his body?

Thierry Henry admitted he handled the ball during the World Cup play-off against Ireland. (AAP)

Twenty-three years after Diego Maradona’s hand-ball effort at the 1986 World Cup lead to England’s quarter-final exit, up steps Thierry Henry to become the new poster boy for unrepentant cheats everywhere.

Back then, Maradona was coyly evasive, claiming he scored the goal "a little with the head……and a little with the hand of God."

No prizes for guessing which description stuck all these years later.

Henry went one better when asked for his opinion about his goal this week which saw France qualify for the 2010 World Cup at the expense of Ireland.

"I played it. The ref allowed it. That's a question you should ask him", said the France striker.

Pun-tastic headlines: "Luck of the Irish as Henry hands France a World Cup spot" [GETTY]

Henry hands France a World Cup spot, Argentina wants Messi hair, and how not to drive a Ferrari. It's all in The Circus.

Hand it to Henry
There's nothing like a good war to stir the blood of the English tabloids. Take the newly-declared conflict between Ireland and France over the dodgy result of the World Cup playoff in France. Thierry Henry's handy assist for William Gallas' extra-time equaliser has seen England line up firmly behind the Irish, which is not something that can be said too often.

Of course it is a chance for the English tabloids to have a few pot-shots over the Channel at the French. They might not be the number-one target – that's the Germans, as in the infamous football chant, "Two world wars and one World Cup, doo dah, doo dah" – but those cheese-eating surrender monkeys will do in a pinch.

That's why it has all been so bitterly disappointing.

This week's episode is an unending torrent of filial piety.

West Lake Restaurant's manager Qin Linzi fills us in on her ongoingrespect for her parents despite her harsh upbringing. Qin's daughterdoes the same only with the caveat that her mother throws money at her.A waitress lives seven to a room in the restaurant's company dorm andremits 1000 yuan ($A220) of her 1200 yuan wage to her parents.Waitresses get teary as they sing about their obligation to theirprogenitors. A birthday party for a 70-year-old occurs and is of thescale that only the Biggest Chinese Restaurant in the World couldhandle. The 70-year-old mother looks somewhat bewildered throughout asthe MC shouts away.There is not much food to be seen but the birthday party reveals anarray of longevity foods: chow thought to lengthen one's life.Longevity noodles are a simple dish that turns up on birthdays andChinese New Years, generally consisting of a bland chicken stock withnoodles topped with a fried egg. They are comfort food at its best. Thelongevity buns (shou tao) shown are steamed buns filled with sweetlotus seed paste and shaped into rough peaches.

Then there is the turtle dish. China's appetite for turtle isstripping Asia (and possibly, the rest of the world) bare of itsherpetological abundance in the name of prolonged human existence. Theperception that long-living turtles can bestow a longer life on whoevereats them is a popular myth in China that is eradicating the world'sturtles. In an article in Time Magazine last year, Paul Van Dijk from Conservation International comments:

"We have seen the Chinese trade vacuum out one region after another— Burma, Vietnam, Borneo, Java, then Sumatra," says van Dijk.Typically, the trade follows a three- to five-year boom and bust cycle,van Dijk says, adding that 75% of Asia's 90 species of tortoise andfreshwater turtles now are threatened. Worldwide about 40% oflong-lived, slow to mature species are at immediate risk of extinction,according to CI."

We all love music...but we don't all love the same. (Unless we're pretentious wannabes.)

What we like says a lot about who we are, and where we come from. And most people judge others by what they like...Just like they judge the radio station they are listening to.

So what do you like? And what would you like to hear on SBS Radio?

It is easy to love AND hate the music on SBS Radio. It is not only linguistically diverse. You should hear the music we pump out on any given day across our channels. Oh, sweet, sweet cacophony. Sweet soundtrack of multicultural Australia. You are the real world music.

Our new Director, Dirk Anthony, is known to comment on whether he likes what's playing at any point in time. What he is in to I am yet to discover, though I suspect the Rolling Stones are in there somewhere. Or take Trevor Long, our Business Affairs Manager. The guy is a John Farnham fan.

Me, I prefer Bavarian folk, Gregorian chant, ...and Powderfinger. But I am hopelessly devoted to the music of a band called Tocotronic (check out the videos here! And the German/Hebrew accents in the interview on Jerusalem student radio! And - err, nevermind, you get my point.

Forever blowing bubbles: Katy Perry shows good support for West Ham United [GETTY]

Katy Perry shows good support for West Ham United, and we meet a mixed martial arse. It's all in The Circus.

Basquing in the spotlight
West Ham United may be having a season to forget in the English Premier League, languishing as it is in the relegation zone with its skint Icelandic owners fighting off financial doom with a few frozen haddock. But relief may be at hand – on the balance sheet if not the scoresheet – in the lovely form of American songstress Katy Perry.

Ms Perry, who kissed a girl and liked it but liked kissing UK comedian, actor and professional Cockney Russell Brand even more, was persuaded by her Hammers-supporting paramour to wear a West Ham "basque" when hosting the recent MTV Europe Awards. The object in question is not, as one might think, a costume made from the skin of a WHU fan from that particularly stroppy region of France, but a form of corsetry.

It created such a stir that the bean counters at West Ham decided to whip up a few and flog them off for a hefty 300 quid each. Just 50 will be made, so get in early if you want to look like a right slapper at the next Upton Park home match.