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And no, that does not give me the right to rub people's noses in it, or the right to judge others - that is up to society.

But I am aware that by reporting their actions I am holding them up to scrutiny - the scrutiny of others.

But imagine a world where we don't know about others wrongdoings.

That is why the right to know is enshrined in English Law - what is justice if it is not seen to be done?

Only in banana republics are courts held in secret and the findings repressed for fear of repercussions - more often than not because those findings are flawed.

But here we put great faith in our justice system and it is, in theory at least, open to anyone who would wish to witness it.

Inevitably most people don't have the time to sit through endless cases and to that end we act as their eyes and ears and report cases of interest on our pages.

We also know that despite protestations to the contrary the court stories are well read and research show that articles from court are among the most popular in the paper after births, marriages and deaths.

Some of our readers are currently taking me to task for continuing with our name and shame drink drive campaign claiming that we are putting undue emphasis on it.

This brings me back to that punch and that woman. Apparently I ruined her life.

I didn't drive her car, I didn't mount the kerb in it, and I didn't fall out of her car when stopped by police.

She did.

Yes I did cover her court case and yes I did put her photograph on the front page. Do I personally have an opinion of her beyond that?

Until she hit me, no I didn't.

I merely reported her actions that put others lives at risk when she took the decision to get behind the wheel of a car one night.

Her actions, her responsibility, her consequences.

To her and everyone else tempted to drink and drive - the choice is yours.

Live with it.

Do you have a story about the regional press? Ring 0116 227 3122/3121, or
e-mail pastill@nep.co.uk