NAOMI Campbell is right. She IS entitled to some privacy. Gosh, I never thought I'd say that... The model - not, shall we say, renowned for her sweet good nature - is suing a paper which pictured her outside a clinic and wrote about her being treated for drugs and drinks dependency. If that doesn't work, she is apparently going to use the new Human Rights Act.

She has a point. When things are bad, even superstars are entitled to sort it out in private.

When Naomi Campbell was in court for thumping her assistant, she had no right to privacy. Come to that, as she makes her money looking a damn sight better than the rest of us, I would only cheer if a photographer caught her on bad hair/fat/spotty day. These are the rules of the game.

But illness... well, that's different, even if it's self-inflicted.

It was the same with so-called It-girl Tara Palmer Boom-de-ay who was famous entirely on account of being well-known. She made a complete idiot of herself on television - tough, she should have known better. But when she finally checked into an American clinic, did we really need photos of her looking so frail and vulnerable, so clearly ill?

Who would want to look at that other than ghouls who must be pretty sick themselves?

When actor Gorden Kaye - Rene in 'Allo 'Allo - suffered a terrible head injury, paparazzi smuggled a camera into his hospital room and took pictures of him unconscious on the pillows. To what end?

We would hate it ourselves. When we are ill we are at our most pathetic, our most vulnerable, we can hardly bear our nearest and dearest to see us like that, leave alone to have the readers of the tabloid press having a good gawp.

It was the same with Norman Tebbitt being lifted out of the rubble of the Grand Hotel, Brighton in his 'jamas, or Michael Heseltine, after his heart attack in Venice, pictured in his nightie - such vulnerable white legs - as he was carried into the ambulance.

If we are ill, we have enough to cope with, without the added problems of an audience.

There are times, many times, when we are right to invade people's privacy - when we are looking for double standards and deceit. People in the public eye who have something to hide, need to be nervous.

But when we are ill, then we are all entitled to be ill in secret. Yes, even Naomi Campbell.

THE really baffling thing about the new Labour logo (you know, the one that looks as though it's been scribbled by a three year old) is what they plan to use it on - cappuccino cups and cufflinks.

What sort of people want Labour logos on their cuff links? Or their cappuccino cups come to that?

Oh, don't you wish the election was over..?

A MEMBER of a Japanese film crew had to be airlifted from a cave on the Isle of Mull after collapsing with hypothermia in a survival game show for Japanese TV. Some game.

Meanwhile, the BBC has announced a new game show based on SAS selection techniques. Are You Tough Enough? it challenges.

Where will it end? We've already had Gladiators. Which leaves us only one option left in the hunt for ever more challenging game shows.

Christians v Lions. Should lift the ratings nicely, though they might have trouble finding volunteers for a long run. Gosh - it could almost make you nostalgic for Bruce Forsyth's Generation Game. Almost...

A HUNT saboteur tried to rescue a fox and the ungrateful fox bit him. The fox escaped, the sab ended up in hospital. What did he expect? A grateful lick from a real live cuddly toy?

WELL yes, I have a certain amount of sympathy for all those London commuters caught out by the tube strike. Hard luck - especially if you're coming in from distant suburbs.

But for all those hanging round the main line stations, waiting hours for buses to take them to their offices - have they no legs? Could they not walk?

The best way to get round London is on foot. It's a damn sight quicker than waiting for a bus, a tube or a taxi which can be bothered to stop. And it's always interesting.

So next time you're in the capital, don't bother with the underground map - get an A to Z and put your best foot forward.

Unless of course, you want to wait for hours in the stale air to cram on to a smelly tube train, pressed up against strangers who try a good grope. Suit yourself.

BAD luck, Spennymoor. And another blow to its image. In the latest John le Carre novel, The Constant Gardener, one of the villains - a nasty piece of work - escapes justice and gets ennobled. Guess what title he chooses? That's right - Lord Curtiss of Spennymoor.

LAST year, mothers who stayed at home and didn't go out to work were blamed for their children's low ambitions - lack of a positive role model and all that.

This week it's all changed. Now mothers who go out to work are blamed for their children's bad exam results. No point in asking where are the fathers in all this, because we all know whether it's in the kitchen or at the computer, a mother's place is in the wrong.

Look, just do what's best for you and best for your family. And one day, the experts will be on your side.Until the next time.

www.thisisthenortheast.co.uk/news /griffiths.htm