A teacher today tells us what it was like working at East Brighton College of Media and the Arts. It does not make happy reading.

All highfaluting notions about media and the arts went out of the window for many teachers at this struggling school.

The main problem seems to have been keeping discipline for pupils who bothered to turn up for lessons. This account dovetails with a report from education director David Hawker, which was suppressed, saying there were serious defects there.

College principal Tony Garwood is going, saying a new head is needed to make the necessary improvements. By the sound of this he must be right.

The new head will have to be someone who can command the respect of the pupils and employ staff who can do the same. This is a tough school which has had serious problems ever since it was founded. The fresh start ordered last year does not appear to have worked.

It's essential to get order and discipline back in the school first of all. Without that, nothing will work and the school will fail again.

Parking points

Traffic expert Roger Tym says Brighton and Hove Council should consult business over its parking schemes and he's right.

After a slow start, the council is making efforts to find out trade views on extensions to its controlled parking areas.

It's essential business needs should not be stifled by new schemes and that both customers and delivery vehicles should have reasonable access to their premises.

But the council should not be seduced by the commonly-held business view that nearly all trade is car borne. This is patently not true since people who walk or take buses to shops are spending customers too and there are plenty of them.

Post haste

Postman Chris Stott normally walks along George Street in Hove every day as part of his round.

But he was seen running up and down it 16 times in a row yesterday. And there wasn't a dog in sight.

Curious passers-by contributed to the cause when they found big-hearted Chris was doing it for charity.

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