MIKE Tomlinson is telling us nothing new when he says that teacher shortages are at a dangerously high level.

Too often in recent times we have seen reports of schools having to rely increasingly on supply staff. Some have had to recruit from overseas. Some have even had to cancel lessons.

The problems are so acute they could well undermine the investment and efforts being made to improve standards in our schools.

The precise causes of the shortage are not easy to pinpoint. Pay is one factor. The cost of housing, particularly in the South is another. These are problems which cannot be solved overnight.

Another factor is the status of the teaching profession. For generations, teachers were among the most respected members of our community. They no longer enjoy such high esteem. Until their status is restored, we will find it difficult to recruit and retain quality teachers in sufficient numbers.

It is ironic that the latest warning on teacher numbers comes from the chief education inspector.

It was Mr Tomlinson's predecessor, Chris Woodhead, as head of Ofsted, who did and said so much to lower the public's respect for teachers, and thereby exacerbate the recruitment crisis.

THE serious allegations of sexual assault against Neil and Christine Hamilton prompted a debate over the question of identification in such cases.

News that the case against them has been dropped will undoubtedly fuel calls for a reform of the current law, which permits the identification of the accused and respects the anonymity of the accuser.

There is some merit in an examination of the law on this particular issue.

But we must not refer to the Hamiltons case during the course of the examination.

This case has been far from typical. It has been played out not, as it should have been, behind the closed doors of a police station, but in the full glare of publicity.

If there is any lesson to be learned from this affair, it is that never again must our system of justice be brought down to the level of a media circus.