Difficult to find an irrelevant human being.

This is a good attempt though.

N Wilson, bourne, lincs

surely paris leaving prison is considerably more newsworthy than pete and kate picking up a video? especially if she really has changed (the other one has bells on, incidentally).

one wonders why the likes of mike orme and bethany gleave bothered opening the link to this story (either secretly adicted to celebrity gossip or to pointless whingeing or both). I am sure they were quite excited to see their names in print and to delude themselves that someone might care what they think. they should probably give themselves a slap for wasting time when they could be writing more letters about iraq and darfur, though.

jem, london, uk

I think paris hilton should have been given a community service instead of prison, we all make mistakes,and I think she was punished a bit severely because of her wealth.

Sylvia , Manchester, England

just another trashy female on the make...

Tez, Derby, UK, UK

I live in America, and I would like to know exactly what a, "black people carrier" is? I am going to hope that something just got lost in translation.

Vanessa, New York, USA/NY

She is useless! Everything has been handed to her on a golden platter and yet she still has no socially redeeming qualities to go along with all that cash. You can't buy class! Has anyone heard her utter anything resembling intelligence? That's hot! Wow, she's a Rhodes Scholar! The press needs to do us all a favor and stop covering this facade of a person.

Realist, Hollywierd, USA/CA

Paris Hilton?

On second thought, I think the Meurice or George Cinq may be a better choice.

Patrick Legris, Toronto, Canada

Justice never works where it touches a rich person. Such is the unjust world we live in. Innocent poeple die under capital punishment in the States because they were even too poor to hire a decent defence lawyer.

gms, göteborg, sweden

Paris Hilton is a spoiled brat. She flaunts her wealth in the faces of the world where so many people are starving and homeless. I hope she learns something from this-like humility and shame.

Kathleen Erickson, Saratoga Springs , Utah

I think you wll see a new Paris...One that we ALL will be proud of.
Just watch her helping others.

James , Colorado Springs, Colorado

What a ghastly person! There is no justice in America.

Watts Taylor, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

I believe Mike Orme is a naive and does not appreciate that all newspapers, including The Times, are out to make money. The 'relevance' that Mike is referring to is always relegated to the periphery of what the editor's consider to be 'real news'.

Unfortunately, we live in a society where most of the population is barely literate. Therefore, stories about Big Brother and Paris Hilton are considered 'news' by the media as they know the general population will pay to read stories about such issues.

If you go into the street and ask someone about Darfur they will look at you with a blank expression. Do you think you would get the same response if you asked them about Big Brother or Paris Hilton? I think not.

GTR, London, United Kingdon

No - you are all conspiracy theorists with short-sighted views. We have tens of thousands of media staff (and wannabe's) do you honestly believe we can only focus on one news topic at a time? There are people in the media who specialize in celeb. news, while others focus on war, and others on cooking, home improvement, etc. The argument of "why do we focus on this instead of the news" is silly - we can do more then one thing at a time

Avi, PA, PA

I bet $100,000,000 that Paris Hilton will not drive drunk again.

Larry, LA, USA

In answer to Mike Orme's question, Paris Hilton offers light relief, attracts attention from the people interested in her and ultimately sells newspapers. As worthy as Darfur is of our attention, if that is the only kind of story the public had to read non-stop, it would soon become gloomy, repellent and counter-productive as it would actually put off the very readers needed for the necessary action on it. So people like Paris Hilton serve their purpose in grabbing the attention, albeit momentarily, so that the really important stories can maintain their impact.

By the way, no one is ever 'irrelevant' in the scheme of things. Everyone will always matter to someone else, no matter how insipid they might appear to us. Just because we might not value that person does not make them any less intertesting to those who care about them. Dismissing what might not appeal in pompous derision merely reveals our own prejudices and narrow minded approach to the infinite diversity of our world.

Elaine Sihera, Maidenhead, United Kingdom

What a joke. People go to jail every day for similar offenses. What makes her so special?

Bill Alldredge, Fort Collins, Colorado, United States

Paris gets all the attention from the media because she is rich,naughty,and young.

Enrique, Tallahassee, Fl

Pais is the Peoples' Princess!

Mark, Dallas, Texas

Now is the time when Paris Hilton does warrant our attention. Here is a story of a human being finding herself face-to-face with the unhappy reality she has created for herself, and forced into a situation of acute stress. Perhaps she will change and gain a bit of wisdom, perhaps not, but in any case, I'm finally interested in Paris Hilton.

Rod, Baltimore,

Paris Hilton story is a waste of ink, trees as well as television time.

Lets get on with something that is not sot stupid as this %^*&&
story. She should have served her time just like a NORMAL US citizen.

ada gott, MKT, USA

right on paris you made it i hope next time you take the time to call a cab. do the right thing don't drive while under a suspension. where was her chauffeur? why don't people understand that sometimes the rich deserve their own laws. how come they stopped her? she should be able to do anything she wants she's rich.

big k, nanaimo, canada

anyone who thinks Paris Hilton is an idiot is totally jealous.She is smart beautiful and she knows how to play the crowd.

dkenny, boston , massachussetts

The media needs to retain their job by writing about trash- if you ever watched jerry springer, you will realize there is alot of thrash out there. As Shakespeare once wrote- Paris and the like is "much ado about nothing."

jmt, annapolis, md, usa

To claim Darfur and Iraq are more important news that Hilton's release is absurd. This is what people should be focusing on, not death and evil. Let the rest of the world implode upon itself and we americans can get on with our lives.

Robert Loblaw, Wenatchee,

Thanks for your opinion non-American.

Anthony aka Gorgeous, New York, New York

Why does this dreary story about somebody who has done nothing in her life get so much attention from the media? Is it to distract the public from more serious issues such as the illegal war in iraq?

Bethany Gleave, Plymouth, England

What is so disgraceful about this is that so many column inches and so much airtime have been devoted to such an irrelevant person/subject when so many infinitely more important issues are virtually ignored, Darfur being a case in point. She's as insignificant as Big Brother - but at least that's covered in The Sun which has never been anything more than a daily comic. It's just a shame that we're seeing similar editorial standards applied to The Times.

Mike Orme, London, England

Why cannot she serve her time like a normal person just because she is famous she should be treated differently this is wrong!

M, London, United Kingdom

So the circus starts again. The press is to blame for glamourizing a talentless scrounger. i am sure she'll now make millions from TV appearences etc.. Its a sad society that we live in!

Hamad lone, Thornton Heath, England