THERE was a time when going on a television game show provided the chance to win a cuddly toy, a toaster, pots and pans, and other assorted items small enough to fit on a conveyor belt.

Then came the chance to win a holiday or even a car. Now, the prize is up to £1m in the name of prime-time entertainment. What next?

Alternatively, you can win £14m on the National Lottery. All you need is six matching numbers.

That's what North-East taxi driver Bob Frazer did, and his days of driving a cab around the streets of Newcastle are well and truly over.

His long lost son will be an instant millionaire too, if Bob can track him down - and we suspect there is a pretty good chance that he will.

Bob's smile on the front page of The Northern Echo today is in stark contrast to the bitterness pouring out of disgraced Army major Charles Ingram, who is clearly a man who doesn't know when to crawl under a stone.

The nation watched him blatantly cheat his way to £1m and then he has the nerve to accuse television bosses of greed. Why? Because his own unbelievable avarice and stupidity have presented them with a golden opportunity to become instant millionaires themselves by selling the movie rights.

Unbelievable, and yet we shouldn't really be surprised, should we? When such obscene amounts of money are put up as prizes, is it any wonder that blind greed raises its ugly head?

We do not begrudge Bob Frazer his £14.2m, but does anyone really need that much money?

Alongside the story of his immense good fortune on our front page today is the news that the bereaved families of four men, killed when they fell from a motorway bridge because of inadequate safety procedures, have been awarded £1.3m between them.

When a needlessly lost life is not even worth the second highest prize in a television game show, doesn't it make you wonder about the cock-eyed world in which we live?