House prices can be trouble, Beating bullies, Keeping it clean

House prices are rising faster in Brighton and Hove than almost anywhere else in the country as the towns enjoy a boom.

It's fine for those who own a house but it's bad news for those who do not, as our feature today explains. Local people who want to buy homes of their own for the first time are finding they cannot afford them as house prices soar ahead of wages.

Landlords are finding it more profitable to sell than to rent, pushing more people into grotty bedsits or on to the streets. This puts extra pressure on Brighton and Hove Council which has to try to house both homeless people and those on the waiting list.

There's little officialdom can do about soaring house prices but there is action that can be taken to help the homeless. First and foremost is the need to

provide more land for putting up new homes or finding buildings to convert into flats.

After that the Government must allow more of them to be provided by housing associations as affordable homes. Unless this happens, Brighton and Hove will become a town of two halves, those with decent housing and those without.

Beating bullies

Nurses are usually under great pressure at work dealing with sick patients, often in old buildings and with staff shortages. The last thing they need is bullying from their colleagues but regrettably this sometimes happens.

Now Brighton Health Care NHS Trust has introduced a policy outlining what these victims should do and spelling out that bullying is not acceptable.

The trust doesn't have a major problem with bullying. But it's good to have guidelines which will assure anyone who is being threatened that help is close at hand.

Keeping it clean

A play about a Roman Catholic virgin and her experiences with a washing machine has been banned in Wadhurst because of its content.

It's also proved too strong for Tunbridge Wells. But it's been booked without any problems in Brighton. Audiences at the Komedia will doubtless have a good broad-minded laugh at her antics.

But on the Kent and Sussex borders, any plays about washing machines have to be kept clean.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.