HOCKEY BY BILL COLWILL Cannock are none too happy with this weekend's double header. Missing the Scottish junior, Jon Christie, who has gone north for index a training weekend, they visit Kidderminster this afternoon for a rearranged National League game against Stourport, then travel to Exeter for tomorrow's cup quarter- final against Isca.Reflecting on previous double headers when they have faltered on the Sunday, php the president, Alan index Mayer, said: "We are not good at two games although we accept that it has to be - but it is hardly level ground index at Isca, who are not playing on Saturday." Even so, Cannock, riding high in the First Division, should be too strong for their Second Division opponents.The cup battle between Southgate and Teddington should reg attract a large crowd to Broomfield School. It is time the MoD stopped treating members of the armed forces like school children and allowed those men and women prepared to die for their country to make their own decision about whom they wish to sleep with. It is not the business of admirals, generals, civil servants or ministers to dictate what these men and women do in the privacy of their own bedrooms.The writer is reg author of `We Can't Even March Straight', Vintage, May 1995.. For once it would be good to see the Government reg index pre-empt another php embarrassing ticking-off reg in Europe by giving Jeanette php Smith her job back, and replacing the current blanket ban with a sensible sexual conduct policy.The Government reg index should steer well clear of the confused US model and introduce a sensible policy, like the Australian one, which outlaws sexual relationships in the workplace, in uniform or on company time.Rules like these can surely apply equally to hetero- and homosexual members of the armed forces. Most of php the men and women sacked from Britain's armed php forces have said the lifting of the ban would be compensation enough for them - the issue of compensation payments is a red herring. But if the MoD insists, like the US Department of Defense, on being dragged kicking and screaming through the European Court of Justice, then the possibility of compensation becomes very real.

In civil rights issues "compromises" never work, and President Clinton is now faced with about 130 cases before the federal courts challenging the legality of his "don't ask, don't tell"policy. conducted openly in the communal environment of a mess or barrack block".The US provides us with an example of what can happen if politicians avoid the issue and try to strike a compromise. None of these countries, whose personnel regularly exchange with our own, has experienced any problems with lifting the ban. Australia is pleased with its "sexual conduct policy," which outlaws "public flaunting and the advocacy of a particular sexual proclivity, causing offence to members of the group and thus liable to provoke a breakdown in group cohesion" Also banned are "sexual relationships ... Perhaps there was a worldwide liberal conspiracy that missed Britain out; but I think it more likely that the MoD is just a few years behind on the issue, as it has been coming to terms with equality for women and ethnic minorities. But even if we accept this argument, that still leaves Australia, Canada and New Zealand to deal with.Those countries ran policies of exclusion much the same as ours until 1992 They all lifted their bans at about the same time.

They also say that in countries with conscription, banning homosexuality would provide an easy way out for unwilling conscriptees.It is unlikely that many heterosexual young men would want to brand themselves "queer draft-dodgers" for the rest of their lives in order to avoid a year's employment. must be excluded"? The MoD says other European countries have different types of military structure and often a different role - Britain, for example, has had responsibilities in Northern Ireland - and these differences, they argue, mean Britain must discriminate. None of these officers, with almost 50 years' service between them, had anything other than exemplary records. Loss to the Navy in training and experience? Probably at least £3m.So why can our European allies save themselves these kind of bills, when the MoD states that "the divisive influence of homosexual practices ...