finally some balance in the papers, page-4

Stockton, I think you may have missed the point. A racial slur is not the word that you, or I, or anyone other than the recipient perceive it to mean. For instants, a woman may well be offended if I were to call her a sl_t, yet if I were called a sl_t I would take it as a compliment. It is not the actual word that is the problem here, it's the meaning behind it. Roy has obviously taken offence to the comment as it was intended as a demeaning, demoralising, racial slur.

As for Ponting, if you truely believe that any bowler in world cricket bothers a man with Ricky's credentials as a batsman, you may have not watched enough test cricket.