ANDREA Hill is clearly a very talented chief executive having already run Colchester and Bedfordshire.But after being offered the top job at Suffolk at a salary of £220,000 the question has to be asked why it is necessary to pay her 50 per cent more than the outgoing chief Mike More.

ANDREA Hill is clearly a very talented chief executive having already run Colchester and Bedfordshire.

But after being offered the top job at Suffolk at a salary of £220,000 the question has to be asked why it is necessary to pay her 50 per cent more than the outgoing chief Mike More.

Most people would consider the original salary offered of between £156,000 and £174,000 as more than generous, so why on earth did councillors think it was necessary to lift the cap?

It is easy to see why Mrs Hill is considered the best person for the job, but it is puzzling why councillors were prepared to offer her such a huge sum.

It isn't as if they have to poach her away from a high-flying council.

Bedfordshire county council is being abolished, and as it disappears into history so does her current job.

While she was clearly never going to be unemployed for long, that fact hardly put her in a strong bargaining position when it came to salary negotiations - but the councillors at Endeavour House gave in anyway!

And, of course, there is the very real chance that her new job will go the same way as that in Bedfordshire as the government reviews councils in the area.

Most people expect the current two-tier structure to be abolished once the government has concluded its review at the end of the year, and that could leave Mrs Hill looking for yet another new job.

DARRELL Lambert has been a menace stalking the streets of Ipswich for many years.

The 21-year-old is a feral nuisance with no sense of right and wrong who is prepared to lie through his teeth when caught by the police.

He has now been sentenced to another three years in prison for yet more driving offences which he committed just two days after being released from his previous spell in a young offenders' unit.

Lambert really is someone who appears to be beyond the reach of the authorities in the sense of whatever punishment is handed to him, he simply does not care.

If he is free he will commit offences.

The latest sentence of three years may seem fairly light - especially in the light of the fact that he will be eligible for release after about 18 months.

But the fact is that the police will be aware of when he is due for release. They will also be aware of the fact that he is likely to commit further crimes within days, if not hours, of his release - and they will be waiting for him.

So at least society can be assured that when he does come out of jail next time, he is unlikely to have much opportunity to cause havoc.

WHAT an extraordinary FA Cup we have seen this season, with only one top-flight club left in the competition at the semi-final stage.

For Manchester United, Chelsea, and Middlesbrough to all bite the dust in the same weekend was real Boy's Own stuff.

Of course the big heroes were Barnsley - the gritty South Yorkshiremen who ended Ipswich Town's 100 per cent home record this season.

The Tykes may have to look back nearly a century for their last FA Cup triumph, but in the grim streets of this former mining town, the fans are starting to dream big today.