This week two very different men have been in the news, for two very different reasons.

Dr Shaun Russell proudly watched his daughter Josie go off to her new school, giggling about boys with her friends.

Despite his own agony at the horrific deaths of his wife and youngest daughter at the hand of a hammer-wielding maniac, Shaun has somehow managed to pull his severely brain-damaged child back from the gates of hell.

None of us can imagine his suffering, but we can all see the miracle he has performed.

Josie is now a happy, laughing, lovely little girl, ready to go out into the world again, with her future looking hopeful, and the past fading away. Now that is a man.

Then we have James Hewitt.

A person who is about to destroy the lives of two young boys, to fill his pockets. Two young boys who also lost their mother in ghastly circumstances.

Anyone who buys Hewitt's grubby little book is as worthy of contempt as he is.

The only thing Hewitt's autobiography will have, that he so obviously has not - is a spine.

Ella Hirst,

Coggan Close,

South Bank,

York.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.