WAS anyone really surprised by the survey published this week that revealed people put pets before family and friends?

As I have said before, if I ruled the world I would ban dogs. But even dog lovers would have to agree that dangling over a cliff on ropes to rescue a dumb mutt stuck on a ledge 100ft down is foolhardy. Especially when it bites you on the hand for your efforts.

Yet the coastguards who took part in this dramatic rescue at Port Mulgrave, on the North Yorkshire coast, have just been awarded certificates of commendation by the RSPCA.

I know the owner must have been delighted by their valiant efforts, but wouldn't it be more appropriate to knock them over the head with an award for being daft beggars?

I saw a similar rescue during the summer at Robin Hood's Bay, where a man risked his life scaling down a crumbling cliff to rescue his dog as huge waves crashed below them.

Maybe his wife and children wouldn't have minded if he perished, as long as the dog returned home safely. Perhaps they were among those in the survey who confessed their dogs were more important than close relatives.

But as I looked on, I couldn't help wondering which one, exactly, was the dumb animal. Of course, if it had been a cat, that would have been a different matter.

WHO came up with the brilliant idea of asking 80,000 York residents how much council tax rise they wanted to pay, giving them options ranging from a little to a lot? Just think, if the council hadn't wasted £10,000 on this survey, residents could have offered to pay even less.

THIS week's Love Child ITV programme, about young unmarried women having their illegitimate babies taken away, was one of the most upsetting things I have seen. Women in their seventies sobbed as they talked about babies they gave up. Some were threatened with a mental institution if they didn't comply. One said she had looked at the only photo she had of her baby son every day for the past 50 years. It was hard to believe this happened in Britain as recently as the 1950s and 60s. I'll remember that next time someone starts talking about the good old days.

THE General Medical Council's rather complacent statement that "it is our view it would not be in the public interest for surgeon Richard Neale to be restored to the medical register", adding "we expect we would instruct lawyers" to that effect will send many women into a blind panic. Because it implies he might, just might, have a chance. The disgraced gynaecologist, who butchered women in a series of botched operations at the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton, despite having been struck off in Canada, can apply for reinstatement in July. What a shame the GMC, a body that seems to have the interests of doctors, rather than patients, at heart, can't bring itself to reassure us with words like "never, ever." Failing that, "over our dead body" would do.

BRAD Pitt and Jennifer Aniston announce their marriage is over by telling us they "love" and are "committed" to one other. It would be so much more believable if she called him a lying toerag and he said she was a selfish pig. They might have given up on marriage, but they're clearly clinging for dear life to the lucrative "brand" they've built up as a couple.