I REALLY want to believe that the infamous young North-East criminal Tommy Laws, named Spiderboy after numerous escapes from justice, is a reformed character.

For Tommy's sake, and his family's, but most of all for the sake of his victims and those people living in his hometown of North Shields, where he terrorised neighbourhoods for years, I truly hope he has given up on crime.

But nobody knows, because the 21-year-old, a thief with 55 convictions behind him by the age of 14, is still in prison, awaiting release this summer.

That is why it is nave of the church charity Cedarwood Trust to offer him a substantial sum to star in a film about his life, in an attempt to steer youngsters away from crime.

Spiderboy is well-known for revelling in his notoriety. There is a big risk that paying him money to be a small screen star will simply glamorise him and his past activities.

The Cedarwood Trust is undoubtedly well-meaning. But that will be little solace if even a few impressionable youngsters walk away from this film with the belief that crime does pay.

AT times, the news can appear so depressing, littered with reports of murder, betrayal, self-serving brutishness and man's general inhumanity to man. But one story this week stood out as particularly heartening. Bob Geldof reminded us of the true warmth of human kindness when he explained why he has taken on the now orphaned child of his ex-wife Paula Yates and INXS singer Michael Hutchence. Paula left Bob for Hutchence, and relations were strained. When both Michael and Paula died in tragic circumstances, we all wondered what would happen to Tiger Lily. Bob felt there was simply no decision to make: "Here's this little sprog without a mum or dad, you gather her up and bring her to the family. Where else would she be?" The tabloid nickname, Saint Bob, has never seemed more appropriate

BIG Breakfast TV star Donna Air wants a plaque to honour her in her native Newcastle: "After all, I'm the biggest star to come from here," she says. Not to mention the most modest.

VETERAN broadcaster Terry Wogan is angry that the BBC has dropped him as a regular presenter. "I have no loyalty to the BBC. The BBC only uses you while you remain popular." Does it surprise Terry that viewers might actually think this makes sense?

SCIENTIST Carl Hepburn says he has designed a magic formula to encourage people to click on to his Physics website - he has plastered it with images of pop princess Britney Spears and received more than two million hits in a year. "Most of the images of Britney relate to physics in some way," he says. That must be the same age-old law of physics that newspaper sub-editors applied this week when plastering most of the front pages with huge pictures of scantily-clad popstar Andrea Corr to illustrate the story about the Trafalgar Square concert honouring Nelson Mandela. Pictures of the man himself were either very small or on an inside page. Carl's "discovery" is not as new as he thinks.

CHANGING Rooms star Carol Smillie admits she enjoys it when couples hate their home makeovers and says they deserve it because many just come on the DIY show to be famous and appear on telly. So why exactly are Carol, Laurence and Handy Andy on the show then?

SLIM popstar Geri Halliwell says she will strip off for £10m. But there isn't much of her super toned flesh that we haven't already seen. What would we have to pay to persuade her to keep her clothes on?

Published: 04/05/01