SOMETIMES it takes just one lone voice to give politicians the jolt they need. And not just the politicians. Last week, it was the voice of Samantha Roberts, widow of the sergeant who died in Iraq after he had to give his body armour back. With the release of her husband's audio diaries, she has reminded us sharply what those politicians' assurances over equipment problems really mean - a man sent into war inadequately protected, and a wife who's now a widow.

This story actually appeared some months ago - but was lost in the small print and vague answers. Then Samantha spoke up in person. Fed up with the way the situation was ignored, the beautician from Shipley spoke up clearly, with bitterness and dignity. And suddenly we all started to listen. She follows in a long and honourable line of people - usually women - cutting straight through the smugness of politicians.

Remember the wife who tackled Tony Blair outside a hospital? The Prime Minister was telling us that the NHS was wonderful and she angrily demanded to know why her husband was not getting decent treatment.

Or the woman who challenged Margaret Thatcher about the Falklands War? She got through the Iron Lady's defences as no professional interviewer had managed. And now a medical student, Julia Prague, has put Tony Blair on the spot over top-up fees.

Be honest - most of the time when politicians talk, most of us stop listening. We let their familiar phrases and reassurances wash over us. Blah blah blah, we might say, there they go again.

Interviewers ask them questions and they reply with the ritual phrases of avoidance. They know what they're doing. The interviewer knows what they're doing. The listeners know what they're doing. It's all a bit of a game, really, or a choreographed sword fight, done for show with no real damage.

And then someone like Samantha comes along and speaks up so clearly and boldly that we wake up and take notice. We realise what all those empty words and phrases mean, that they will eventually affect ordinary people trying to get on with their lives. Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon should certainly take notice. Politicians generally should take notice. And it's a lesson for the rest of us that we should never switch off and stop listening - especially to politicians.

CHARLOTTE Church (left) gets her hands on her £16 million fortune next month when she is 18. It's her money. She's earned it and she's vowing to "spend, spend, spend". Well, wouldn't you?

SO what did those children in the school near Sandringham think that pheasants were for? They were reportedly very upset when the Sandringham shoot brought down some birds next to their playground and, encouraged by their teacher, they wrote and said so.

Oh dear. Yes of course we must be careful with our children's sensitivities. On the other hand, we can't let them carry on thinking that meat is born vacuum packed on a supermarket chill counter. I wonder if that caring teacher has told them how their battery eggs are produced, or how their cheap bacon is bred overseas.

We seem to think we are doing our children a kindness when we blur the link between a dead animal and their dinner. But we're not, we're just encouraging sentimentality, which doesn't do much to improve the world.

Butchers don't have those charts on their walls any more - the ones with a picture of a pig or a lamb or whatever, with all the joints nicely ringed. They upset too many people apparently, those who didn't like reminding that their beef burger once had big eyes and long lashes. Well maybe we all need reminding - before we forget completely.

AMONG my Christmas presents was a jolly book called Footpaths of Britain, published by Parragon, "200 of the most beautiful walks in Britain". It rightly emphasises the importance of using Ordnance Survey maps "the most accurate and up-to-date in the world".

Well yes. But it's a pity the book compilers didn't look more carefully at the maps themselves. In the description of the walk from Keld to Muker at the top of Swaledale, they say: "At Keld you have the chance of taking a nostalgic trip on an old steam train, the North Yorkshire Moors Railway."

Just a bit awkward then, that there's no railway within miles of Keld - and that the North Yorkshire Moors Railway runs from Grosmont to Pickering - more than 75 miles away. Oops - better get the map out.

www.thisisthenortheast.co.uk

/news/griffiths.html