Just when women’s sport is finally achieving some serious recognition, along comes the suggestion that pole dancing could be an Olympic sport.

Yes, dancing around a pole, which started out in strip clubs, has now been recognised by an international sports body so therefore could be included in the world’s biggest sporting event.

I am aware that ‘pole fitness’ has risen in popularity in local gyms and leisure clubs, and I am sure working your way around a pole shows off impressive core strength; but its background remains seedy.

And, at the risk of being called an old prude (and, to be honest, not really caring), out of all the sports we could encourage girls and young women to take part in, should one of those be a former activity used by erotic dancers?

While my heart soars at the sight of the British women’s hockey team bagging an Olympic gold, or the determination of Jessica Ennis-Hill to be a winner, it is depressing to think young females think swinging around a pole is deemed the way forward.

A couple of years ago, Sport England had a brilliant campaign to encourage women to start exercising with catchlines such as “sweating like a pig” and “I kick balls, deal with it”.

It aimed to get across the message that women, of all ages and sizes, should not have to give a damn about how they looked, so long as they were moving and feeling healthier.

How refreshing, women just being allowed to enjoy their bodies without being judged.

Isn’t this great I thought, if a 40-year-old woman, who doesn’t fit into size 10 Lycra and can’t be bothered to wash her hair that day, fancies going for a run because it makes her feel better.

Or what about a 10-year-old girl who wants to make friends and boost her confidence by joining a football team where for several hours a week she can keep away from social media which bombards her with images of people with ‘perfect lives’.

For centuries, sport has been instrumental in transforming the lives of men by encouraging competitiveness, leadership, teamwork, resilience, fitness, and self-belief.

I have no doubt that those who enjoy pole fitness will argue it is a sport and deserves a place alongside athletics, swimming and hockey.

But surely at this point in history, women could just be allowed to take part in sports without it being connected to anything sleazy. Just saying.

WHAT would the British do without our weather? I know as a reporter that nothing excites us more than stories about changes in temperature.

Monday’s greenish/red sky however elevated the whole weather obsession to another level. There we all were around 10.30am, with the sky a strange colour wondering if the world was coming to an end.

So freaky was it that if an alien ship had landed, I’m not sure any of us would have been surprised.