Today I've been listening to the new albums by Razorlight, Snow Patrol, Plain White Ts and 30 Seconds to Mars: all of them good albums and well worth a listen. I've also recently come across a singer/songwriter called Brett Dennen, who writes pleasant little tunes, however the artist I can't stop playing is Jack McManus - this bloke is a genius! However, I digress.

As I munched on my breakfast and scanned a tabloid I read one of the columnists' comments on Lewis Hamilton. She said that she couldn't cheer him as a British Champion because he doesn't live in Britain.

Now this is a young lad who was born in Stevenage and works for a British F1 team (albeit with the name of a New Zealander) so despite where he lives he'll always be British.

I wonder whether this journalist will be jeering Kevin Pieterson - born in Pietermaritzburg, Natal, South Africa - when he leads the England cricket team this winter and (presumably) next summer in the Ashes? Had Pieterson not been overlooked by South Africa because of their racial quota system would he have made the move to England?

Similarly I wonder whether she'll be wholly disinterested when Riki Fluety - born in New Zealand and played for NZ Maoris - touches the ball when playing for the England rugby team?

Personally I think the issue of nationality has nothing to with where you live but where you were born and the joke that is qualification in all sports these days complete turns me off international sport. If that means some of the greatest players in a sport can't play for a "big" nation so be it. Let's face it, George Best was clearly a better player than Northern Ireland could ever have deserved. Perhaps he should have lived in Brazil for seven years so he could play for them under some form of residency status!

The biggest farce I'm aware of was when Irish footballer with 88 caps, Tony Cascarino, announced after his retirement that he wasn't Irish at all because his mother was adopted and therefore her "Irish" father wasn't related to her at all. Had qualification been based solely on where a player is born, Cascarino could only have played for England.

I think I'll only ever feel passionate about an international sporting encounter when the players are playing for "their country" and not a country in which they think they'll prosper.

In my mind Lewis Hamilton is a true Brit and someone of whom we should be proud. If you have any doubts, listen to the quality of his interview when asked about the recent comments made by Bernie Ecclestone over the racist taunts Lewis faced in Spain earlier this year. He knew Ecclestone was making a fool of himself but he did nothing to exacerbate things and showed real maturity.

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