PLATELL'S PEOPLE: Why Fergie is a national disgrace and should hang her head in shame 

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Fergie is suing over a tabloid sting in which she was caught red-handed on film six years ago offering access to her former husband Prince Andrew for a princely £500,000 

Few things make people more angry more than a blatant miscarriage of justice.

And nothing was so blatant as the way the BBC gleefully broadcast a live 2014 police raid on Sir Cliff Richard’s Berkshire penthouse before he’d even been interviewed, zooming in on officers investigating alleged historic sexual abuse as they rifled through the star’s belongings.

Sir Cliff has, of course, been cleared of all sex assault claims. Yet he was forced to endure 27 months of ‘living hell’ following the broadcast, before being told he would face no charges.

Yesterday, we learned he is suing the BBC and the police for £1 million. Good on him — he deserves every penny after the torture they put him through.

Coincidentally, we heard about another law suit being prepared yesterday. Royal hanger-on Fergie is suing over a tabloid sting in which she was caught red-handed on film six years ago offering access to her former husband Prince Andrew for a princely £500,000.

Fergie was a victim of the News Of The World’s ‘Fake Sheikh’ Mazher Mahmood, who was posing as a businessman prepared to pay to meet Prince Andrew, and claims she deserves compensation because the expose was unfair and lost her millions in potential work and endorsements.

Never mind the fact that Mahmood’s undercover film showed the Duchess very drunk and offering to arrange meetings with her ex. Or that she was caught on camera scooping into her briefcase $40,000 in cash that had been given to her by Mahmood as downpayment.

The fact is that Fergie was exposed as a shocking royal leech prepared to sell her ex-husband’s connections to the highest bidder.

And now she’s got her grasping hands out again, joining other victims of the Fake Sheikh who plan to lodge law suits for compensation after he was found guilty this week of perverting the course of justice in a case involving singer Tulisa Contostavlos.

No one can condone Mahmood’s behaviour. He had tampered with evidence relating to Contostavlos’s prosecution for brokering the supply of cocaine, leading to the collapse of her trial in 2014. Rightly, he faces prison.

But Fergie’s brazen opportunism — when she was caught bang to rights by Mahmood in a truly scandalous case of ‘cash for access’ — is shocking even by her standards.

Her decision to sue could not be more different from Sir Cliff Richard’s law suit against the BBC and the police. The only scandal in his case is that they have got away scot-free for ruining his life by plunging him into a legal nightmare.

Sir Cliff is a national treasure and we should back him all the way in his efforts to achieve justice. Fergie, by contrast, is a national disgrace — and should hang her head in shame.

Just get wed, you silly Sheila

Kylie Minogue says she will not wed her fiance Joshua Sasse, 28, until they legalise gay marriage in her native Australia 

No doubt paying homage to her huge LGBT following, Kylie Minogue, left, says she will not wed her fiance Joshua Sasse, 28, until they legalise gay marriage in her native Australia.

I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you, Sheila. Those Aussies are a red-blooded bunch. You’re 48 and you’ve never married — get that wedding ring on your finger quicker than you can sing I Should Be So Lucky!

Karma with $100m Gere 

The new girlfriend of Richard Gere, 67, says it wasn’t stardom that drew her to him

The new girlfriend of Richard Gere, 67, says it wasn’t stardom that drew her to him, but karma (they’re Buddhists). 

‘We have known each other over the course of many lives,’ coos Alejandra Silva, 33 (pictured with him). 

Their 34-year age difference disappears when the cosmic destiny is right, she adds. 

I’m sure Gere’s $100 million fortune helps, too.

Bros back for Mum (and cash)

When asked why the Eighties boy band Bros were making a comeback, twin brothers Matt and Luke Goss said they were doing it for their mum, who died two years ago. Her absence brought Matt close to a breakdown.

‘Family has become a priority now,’ he says. Nothing to do with the millions they’ll make from the reunion, then.

Last word goes to their mum Carol, whose mantra was: ‘Stay strong and keep moving, left foot, right foot, but remember to dance along the way.’

And, yes, they will dance — all the way to the bank.

So distraught is Kim Kardashian after she was tied up and robbed of £8 million of jewellery, friends reveal, that she is ‘questioning everything — how she dresses, what she does’. 

Given that the reality TV star wears next to nothing and does nothing except appear on social media, it will be a very short, dark night of the soul.

Harrogate is the latest NHS group to deny routine surgery to people who smoke or are overweight unless they quit puffing or stuffing their faces with cream cakes. And about time. 

Given that nearly one in five Brits still smokes and one in three is clinically obese, it’s a simple yet effective way of cutting the waiting lists.

Actor David Oyelowo, once tipped to be the new James Bond, laments the lack of black actors in UK movies

Is Nige to blame?

Actor David Oyelowo, once tipped to be the new James Bond, laments the lack of black actors in UK movies.

He says people of colour have been ‘wiped out of Britain’s history’ as there are lead parts for black actors in only 13 per cent of all our movies.

Given that black people make up 3 per cent of the UK population, that makes them more than four times over-represented.

As if Oyelowo’s gripe wasn’t enough, yesterday on the Radio 4’s Today programme the actor David Harewood blamed discrimination against blacks on Brexit.

They’ll be holding Nigel Farage and his 40-a-day cigarette habit personally responsible for global warming next.

The BBC’s Radio 5 Live devoted an entire segment this week to the effect of menstruation on female athletes’ performances. 

Former England World Cup rugby player Maggie Alphonsi wants to raise awareness of the issue and says coaches should have a diary of each woman’s cycle so they can accommodate their individual needs each month.

And they wonder why so few of us are interested in women’s sport.

Prince Charles is trying to pave the way for Camilla to be crowned queen when we tragically lose our Monarch and he becomes king. 

Insiders are still concerned as to how the woman who destroyed Diana’s happiness will be accepted on the throne. 

A committee dubbed Operation Golden Orb has been set up to examine the question. Mission Impossible would be a better code name.

Scientist Michael Kosterlitz, who won a Nobel prize this week, says leaving the EU is a disaster and he doesn’t want to be associated with a country that is ‘so insular and narrow-minded’.

Given that this tiny island, with its relatively small population, has produced 122 Nobel prize winners — more than any other country except the U.S., where Kosterlitz lives and works — I don’t think we need any lectures from ex-pat nerds about Britain’s future.