SO tragic was the life of Paula Yates that news of her death at only 41 somehow came as no real surprise.

The tone of her life was set in an depressing and unstable childhood, when she felt unloved and unwanted by the man she had been led to believe was her father, Jess Yates.

She was shocked to discover that she was, in fact, the daughter of Opportunity Knocks presenter Hughie Green and was conceived weeks after her mother married Yates.

By 14 she had experimented with sex and drugs and by 19 she was posing nude for Playboy. She found love with Bob Geldof and carved out a television career but her marriage ended in bitterness, recrimination and a court battle for custody of their children.

She found happiness again with another rock star, Michael Hutchence, but it was cruelly short-lived, ending in his death - an apparent suicide she could never bring herself to accept.

By her own admission, her grief sent her mad. She sought solace in other brief affairs, but Hutchence's loss continued to tear her apart to the extent that she tried to take her own life two years ago.

Now she has left four children who have hardly had the benefit of the stable childhood she had craved for herself. For them, it is truly heartbreaking.

Paula Yates will be remembered as a flawed and and tormented human being who developed an unfortunate reputation as a sexual predator, drug-taker and someone who could never get her life under control.

History may not be kind to her but did she ever really have a chance?

GEORGE Reynolds has announced to Darlington fans that his promised new football stadium is about to become a reality, with a deal being completed over the weekend.

Despite the controversy over its location, we welcome the investment in Darlington's future.

The doubters who predicted it would never be built may have been placated for now, but many will still believe it is destined to be a white elephant.

The fight over George Reynolds' 25,000-seater stadium may be won, but the real challenge starts now. A stadium is a lot easier to build than a team capable of filling it.