IN these times, when people shy away from breaking up a fight or tackling a mugger and find the only way they can vent their frustration is to post anonymous rants on internet sites, it's comforting when someone is prepared to put their head above the parapet and speak out regardless of the consequences.

But at what cost? This week two women claim to have suffered as a result of speaking out because they felt compelled to do so on moral grounds.

Dinner lady Carol Hill, 60, was sacked for telling a pupil's parents that their daughter had been attacked by playground bullies.

The child's parents had received a letter saying their distressed seven-year-old daughter had been `hurt in a skipping rope incident'. The reality was that the vigilant dinner lady had seen the little girl tied up and whipped by four boys at break time.

Mrs Hill only told the girl's mother when it became clear, in a conversation, that she did not know the whole story. The boys' parents had been called in but the victim's had not.

Great Tey Primary School, in Essex, has sacked her for gross misconduct in discussing a pupil outside school and Mrs Hill is preparing to take legal action.

At a time when parents are having to undergo rigorous police checks for the privilege of ferrying kids around, it's a revelation to hear that there are still a minority of stalwarts who are prepared to kick PC-ism up the jacksy and do what's right.

Most schools are deadly serious about playground bullying but the establishment that refuses to accept it's happening, then gets rid of its key witness, deserves a full-scale investigation.

The second case is that of senior nurse Jenny Fecitt, who has worked for the NHS for 21 years. She has been telling a Manchester tribunal how she was allegedly subjected to a hate campaign after she blew the whistle on a male nurse she thought was not qualified to do his job.

She told the tribunal that the colleague at the Wythenshawe NHS centre had claimed he was qualified to work with both children and adults but, allegedly, he only had qualifications to deal with children. She insists that she reported him `for the greater good' of patients and as a result she became the victim of bullying and intimidation.

The case is proceeding and we have yet to hear the other side of the story - but it does raise the important issue of whether it is advisable to make a stand when you could end up in court or sacked for your trouble.

Posh goes back to the future as new Hepburn

VICTORIA Beckham may have been lauded at London Fashion Week for her new collection but I'm getting a distinct feeling of deja vu.

To put it not so nicely, I've seen it all before - the 50s satin swing dresses, the fitted tulips, the short cropped hair - but on a much classier and naturally beautiful lady with real talent. Yes, you heard it here first, Victorian Beckham is the new Audrey Hepburn, like gold is the new black, or at least for this season.

One gets the feeling that she's leafed through a coffee table tome on celluloid goddesses, seen a glamour shot of Audrey and asked: "Oi, David, do you fink I look like Audrey 'Epburn?" "Of course you do, darling," would have been his reply, while lining up the yoghurt pots in the fridge.

Next season she'll bleach that crop blonde and re-invent herself as Twiggy. Fashion, it's so creative, darling.