The Argus, news, sport, events, jobs, homes for Brighton, Hove and Sussex

Jo Chipchase is a professional writer who divides her time between East Sussex and Spain these days, after first moving to Brighton in 1997. She’s a mother of two lively little boys, enjoys acerbic humour and likes to have ‘fun’.

Most Annoying Media Obsessions of 2009

An ironic look at the biggest media hypes and obsessions of 2009, from Swine Flu and sleaze to snow.

There’s no business like snow business...

As the Big Freeze continues, is it engendering community spirit or are we becoming risk assessment-obsessed wimps?

New Year's Freeze?

More inclement weather is forecast for this week. Will New Year's Eve turn into New Year's Freeze, with party-goers slip-sliding in their unsuitable footwear, and where is all the salt anyway?

A lack of passion for 80s fashion

A lot of 80s fashions are appearing on the high street. Jo Chipchase isn't convinced that they were great first time round, nor that they have especially improved with 'age'...

How to budget for Christmas? Save yourself the bother...

Do people really need to 'budget for Christmas' - what's wrong with the concept of 'its the thought that counts' and having a festive season that falls within your means?

How to put teens off pregnancy: why not expose them to births and screaming infants

Official attempts to curb teen pregnancies are failing: clearly, dishing out advice and condoms isn't doing the trick. Jo Chipchase suggests a new approach of exposing teens to painful births and screaming infants to put them off pregnancy.

Brown is in firing line over Afghanistan but misspelled letter fuss did tabloids no favours

An outcry is currently raging over the payment of bonuses to MoD personnel at a time when more equipment is needed for squaddies in Afganistan. Meanwhile, Gordon Brown has only just escaped the firing line over his misspelled letter of condolence to the mother of deceased guardsman, Jamie James. However, from a PR point of view, in the case of "misspelled lettergate", the tabloids shot themselves in the foot, while the PM gained Brownie points.

Crossing Jordan: I won’t be slinging mud

The newspaper reading public is constantly cussing Jordan but are other women simply jealous of self-made successes and keen to shoot down convenient targets?

Naked human X-rays in airports: do we really want this technology to take off?

Manchester Airport has recently installed a human X-ray machine as an alternative to body frisking when passengers reach security. However, is this a harmless technology to speed up the process and avoid queues or is it an example of 'Big Brother' taking over in Britain?

Why Sharon Shoesmith should Win a ‘PR Spade and Shovel’ Award

I avidly followed the Baby P case after it exploded into the headlines in November 2008 and was, from the start, surprised by the lack of PR sense and humility displayed by Sharon Shoesmith, the ex-head of Haringey children’s services who was sacked after shortcomings in her department’s child protection systems came to light.

Ponderings on Brighton’s parking palavers

For the last few years, parking in Brighton and Hove has proved a nightmare – to the point where it fuelled my urge to spend time in the backwoods of Andalusia, where the locals can’t execute a reverse parking manoeuvre to save their lives (or their clutches) and some of the streets are designed for mules, not Transporter vans. But at least there aren’t wardens wandering around waiting for long-suffering motorists to remain stationery on the ‘wrong’ spot for too long so they can slap a little something on the windscreen.