The perils of doing it with footballers, and mums crippled by their Jimmy Choos

When I first read that Faria Alam was suing a married man from the Football Association for sexual harassment, I assumed it was another publicity stunt from a woman whose career has hit the withering heights of catalogue modelling in northern suburban shopping malls. But, no, 'tis true. The secretary who bedded Sven-Goran Eriksson (who hasn't?) and the FA chief exec Mark Palios (she denied rumours of a third at the FA) wants £30,000 compensation.

The sexual discrimination laws were brought in to protect vulnerable women from predators. I am not sure how far Alam counts as vulnerable and, without knowing more about the FA, I do not know how many predators it may have. But Alam should think more of the effect of her actions on her family. She has admitted that her family wasn't made distraught by her affairs or by her selling her story. The problem was that her highly educated mother could not believe her daughter would stoop so low as to do it with football folk.

And while we're on the subject of predators, the wonderfully robust Ofcom has ruled that the pig pleasured by that other kiss-and-sell madam Rebecca Loos, live on Channel 5's The Farm, did not feel degraded by the experience. Sadly, 37 viewers did. Even more sadly, that was almost the entire audience.

Proving there is honest work for former spin-doctors, my old colleague Nick Wood, who worked with me on William Hague's behalf, joined fellow New Statesman columnist Charlie Whelan on Julian Worricker's Sunday Service last weekend. I once called it the "Sunday Sermon", due to Worricker's tendency to the serious, but I'm pleased to report he has lightened up. Charlie and Nick were a listener's treat, showing a deep understanding of sports and politics.

Radio 5 Live's Victoria Derbyshire was clearly desperate to talk about anything other than David Blunkett's affair in recent days. Seldom have I heard a presenter - especially one as good as Derbyshire - so ill at ease with her subject matter.

"It doesn't affect his ability to do his job," she barked as listener after listener, clearly thinking it did, rang in on her call-in programme.

Could her discomfort have anything to do with the fact that she started an affair with the husband of her then friend and colleague Fi Glover just months after they got married?

At least this affair had a happy ending. Derbyshire has just had a baby with Glover's ex, Mark Sandell. And Glover's show on Radio 4, Broadcasting House, is simply excellent.

And finally, an apology to all those 4x4 mums who park their gas-guzzling, environment-destroying, road-hogging tanks in Hampstead when the school run is on. Last Wednesday, I counted 11 at one prep school, four of them displaying disabled stickers. I'm ashamed to say I suspected foul play from these least civic-minded of people. But I was wrong. Seeing the mums arrive back at their cars, I could see it was no scam - those Jimmy

Choo stiletto boots would cripple anyone.

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