Archive

  • Let down

    I hold no brief for Nicholas Hoogstraten. I and at least one other member of my family have been victims of his ruthless shadow companies. However, I must say I would have been more impressed with Voice of The Argus and coverage (July 22) had you been

  • One size fits one

    Seeing pictures of Nicholas Hoogstraten's half-built palace, Hamilton Place, near Uckfield, I cannot be alone in wondering at the efficacy of the planning process that permitted this vulgar pile, "the biggest folly of the 20th Century" to come into existence

  • Best of care

    In May, you were kind enough to publish a letter from me regarding the wonderful service my wife received during her three-and-a-half months in intensive care at the Princess Royal Hospital. The letter was read by many old friends who had not realised

  • Surgeon has his own op

    After four years of performing corrective laser surgery on eye patients, surgeon Christopher Liu has finally had the procedure himself. When he discovered he had to wear glasses at the age of 13, young Christopher Liu vowed to become an eye surgeon. After

  • Praise be

    There have been many letters regarding the Fatboy Slim concert. Praise has been given to police, paramedics and so on but there has been no recognition for the large group of British Red Cross volunteers who were posted at the bottom of West Street, on

  • Pitiful cityful

    The Argus weekend edition (July 20) on the Fatboy Slim debacle reinforces my recent appeal to the leader of Brighton and Hove City Council to drop the idea of European Capital of Culture. In addition to the endemic violence in the clubs and on the street

  • Hospital boss jailed

    A former Eastbourne hospital boss has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for a series of financial offences. Clive Robinson, 37, pleaded guilty at Hove Crown Court yesterday to 13 charges including false accounting, making false instruments and using

  • Redirect it

    The Government intends to help elderly people by giving them direct payments to provide their own care at home, thus avoiding bed-blocking. Sounds good, doesn't it? Look a bit closer. It does not solve the problems for people who are too frail to organise

  • Advice sought

    Ian Hills is quite wrong to assert (Letters, July 23) that Brighton and Hove City Council is pushing for an Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) to manage its housing stock. In fact, several members at the housing management committee, including

  • Tory canyon

    I was moved to write after reading comments by the Conservative councillor Brian Oxley (Letters, July 22). As a former resident of Portland Gate, I know why Councillor Oxley is keen we do not look back. Let me remind him. I lived in misery and squalor

  • Welcome to Addicts' Alley

    Sitting on a burnt-out sofa, surrounded by filthy litter and needles, a heroin addict prepares himself for another hit. This is the scene at an abandoned car park in the North Laine area of Brighton, which has become a dangerous den for drug addicts.

  • Return of a fiasco

    I read with interest "Rescue bid for King Alfred" (July 24). Is this the same leaseholder of Benfield Valley and former director of Wilsco 294 Ltd who wanted to build a Harvester in Benfield Valley? Who now wants to build a casino on the King Alfred site

  • Feedback, with Simon Bradshaw

    A letter published last Friday caused needless offence to two families and we must take more than our fair share of the blame. The letter from S L, from Lewes, was a strongly-worded attack on motorcyclists for the way he or she alleged they drive on our

  • Think Of It This Way, by John Parry

    Whatever one's thoughts on Tony Blair, his choice for the new Archbishop of Canterbury is intriguing. The arch manipulator has appointed a very clever Welshman who, it seems, has no intention of being manipulated. Even more endearingly, Dr Rowan Williams

  • July 25: Warks v Sussex (CC)

    Tony Cottey provided more batting ballast just when Sussex needed it most at Edgbaston yesterday. The Welshman scored his second successive Championship century, reaching 104 not out as Sussex, needing 344 to avoid the follow-on after Warwickshire had

  • A TV vote

    People who rang a classified ad in The Argus found they were helping Jade to win the Big Brother final tonight. Many of them rang a number advertising what seemed like a tempting price for a TV and DVD player. They found it was a Big Brother voting line

  • Unfair eviction

    Two giant companies have fallen into a dispute, resulting in real hardship for 20 small businesses. All the firms which occupied Eastman House at Fleming Way in Crawley were evicted without notice. Staff turned up to find the doors locked. They were the

  • Germany take Hickstead honours

    Ireland's luck went missing yesterday at Hickstead when Germany won the Samsung Nations Cup by 1.24 seconds. The result was desperately unlucky on the defending champions who were hoping to secure their third successive triumph in the competition. They

  • Why keep paying up for unusable roads?

    I have watched and suffered with mounting indignation as local authority planners and transport consultants have striven to choke the very life from Brighton and Hove through the imposition of humps, chicanes, untimely roadworks, one-way systems that

  • Sussex will go for overseas spinner

    Sussex are likely to sign a second overseas player next season even though the club's committee are against the idea. Skipper Chris Adams, coach Peter Moores and new chief executive Nigel Russell met at Edgbaston yesterday during the county's Championship

  • Jubilee hit high street sales

    High street sales fell again last month as shoppers were distracted by the Golden Jubilee and the World Cup. Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said retail sales volumes fell 0.7 per cent, sharper than economists' expectations and the

  • Alliance hits its targets

    Alliance and Leicester today reported a 12 per cent rise in profits and said it was on track to hit its revenue and cost-cutting targets. The Leicester-based building society-turned bank, which employs 9,000 staff, announced plans for a share buy-back

  • Retirement? We'd rather work on

    The majority of people would like to continue working past the official retirement age if their firms offered more flexible hours. This according to a report by career consultancy Penna Sanders and Sidney and the Employers' Forum on Age. 93 per cent said

  • Investment is just frenetic

    The commercial property investment market has reached fever pitch according to research from Cluttons. But investors can find nothing to buy and yields are now tumbling. According to Cluttons' quarterly property market update: "This is fantastic for property

  • Bonds are best for careful savers

    It must have seemed Christmas had arrived early for the 6,500 Britannia Building Society savers who put their money into a fixed-rate bond linked to FTSE-100 index five years ago. In July 1997, Labour had been in office for a matter of weeks and the London

  • Seafront jams to end

    Roadworks which have been bringing traffic almost to a standstill on Brighton seafront will be completed by tonight. Contractors are finishing the work between West Street and Western Street slightly ahead of schedule. Part of King's Road has been resurfaced

  • Girl fights off thugs

    An 18-year-old Italian au pair was punched as she fought off would-be robbers in Hove Park. Two youths aged about 18 tried to snatch her bag as she walked to the nearby Co-op at 3pm yesterday. She was punched and knocked to the ground but the attackers

  • Beach party's lost-and-found legacy

    Police filled six bin liners full of lost property recovered from Brighton beach after Fatboy Slim's Normstock II party. Dozens of mobile phones, wallets, purses, items of clothing, rucksacks and a silver bangle were handed in. The bags have filled the

  • Staff fury at office evictions

    Staff resorted to working on a picnic table in a car park after a property dispute between British Airways (BA) and insurance giant Norwich Union. About 30 people turned up to work at their offices in Eastman House, Fleming Way, Crawley, to find the doors

  • This Week's Jazz: From July 26

    Two powerful soul voices can be heard on July 26. Liane Carroll occupies jazz territory, taking in standards and pop material. Also an expressive piano soloist, her trio to the Brighton Jazz Club is completed by Roger Carey on bass and Mark Fletcher on

  • Mussorgsky Choir, St Bartholomew's Church, Brighton, July 28

    The Mussorgsky Choir is a major part of the St Petersburg State Opera and one of the finest vocal ensembles in Russia. Director Vladimir Stolpovskikh brings the choir to Brighton along with star tenor Igor Larionov to sing Rachmaninov's Vespers and excerpts

  • Gig guide, from July 26

    This week: The godmother of punk, tributes to Abba and the Bee Gees, and heads-down heavy rock. PATTI SMITH, Concorde 2, Brighton, August 1 Back in the Seventies, Patti Smith was a rock goddess, a rebel poet and punk preacher. She was a rock chick with

  • Beach Party, Beach House Grounds, Worthing, July 26

    Don't panic. Although the event starts in the afternoon (3pm), it goes on until 11pm - leaving you plenty of time to get there. The concert, hosted by Worth FM, is being held as part of the Worthing Seafront Fayre and will include a number of well-known

  • Cabaret, Chichester Festival Theatre, until October 5

    For 18-year-old Alexandra Jay, it was a confusing moment of sadness, fear and explosive excitement. Martin McCutcheon had fallen ill with flu, leaving the lead role in My Fair Lady up for grabs. As her understudy, it was Alexandra's chance to shine but

  • Ernest Ranglin, Brighton Dome, July 26

    Ska pioneer Ernest Ranglin opens his UK tour and 70th birthday celebrations in Brighton. The Jamaican helped create some of popular music's most influential forms, as ska developed into rocksteady, reggae and dub. He has also added to his formidable jazz

  • Council defends party planning

    Brighton and Hove Council has defended the number of stewards deployed at the Big Beach Boutique gig, which drew a crowd of 250,000. A total of 260 stewards were on duty at the Fatboy Slim show - one for every 961 partygoers. The party's organisers, production

  • Parking protest groups fall out

    Two protest groups formed to fight a council's new parking restrictions have fallen out over the right to park in residents' bays. The People's Parking Protest and the Traders Against Parking Persecution (TAPP) were set up with the same purpose - to get

  • Pub battle is drawn again

    Residents are hoping plans to close the Sandrock Inn in Ditchling will be thrown out for a second time. Developers want to turn the pub into two homes but the move was opposed by villagers who collected more than 100 names on a petition. Residents believe

  • Hoogstraten's not evil

    There are evil people in this world but Hoogstraten is not one of them. Because he runs his business and makes money a bit differently than anyone else, he is described as an evil man. He is a private person and keeps himself to himself, therefore people

  • One size fits one

    Seeing pictures of Nicholas Hoogstraten's half-built palace, Hamilton Place, near Uckfield, I cannot be alone in wondering at the efficacy of the planning process that permitted this vulgar pile, "the biggest folly of the 20th Century" to come into existence

  • No sweat

    People are very quick to grumble about the NHS and the treatment they receive in our hospitals. I would like to give the NHS a little praise. I had to attend the endoscopy unit at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton, last week. I was very nervous

  • Pitiful cityful

    The Argus weekend edition (July 20) on the Fatboy Slim debacle reinforces my recent appeal to the leader of Brighton and Hove City Council to drop the idea of European Capital of Culture. In addition to the endemic violence in the clubs and on the street

  • Needlepoint

    It is shocking to come across discarded syringes anywhere in Brighton and Hove and especially in one of our parks. It is extremely irresponsible behaviour for anyone not to dispose of them properly. Brighton and Hove City Council would appreciate residents

  • Don't blame us for wrecking this Bill

    It is a shame Kemp Town MP Des Turner is so keen to shield his government from bad publicity that he has completely caved in over his Home Energy Conservation Bill. It was a good Bill and should have become law. However, far from his claims last week,

  • Stabbing charge

    A woman has been charged after a man needed emergency surgery for knife wounds. Mary Walker, 44, of Finsbury Road, Brighton, was due to appear before Brighton and Hove magistrates charged with causing grievous harm. A 42-year-old man was on a life-support

  • Call Alvin Hall

    Reading that our council tax could rise by 14 per cent to an extra £100 or so a year because of overspending and bad management, I immediately thought of the BBC's financial guru and economics expert Alvin Hall. I wonder if he could assist Brighton and

  • Just what constitutes 'affordable'?

    I live opposite the King Alfred in Lancaster Court, Hove. The cheapest flats in this building are about £80,000. This would not be affordable to, say, a single person working locally. How does one define an "affordable home" and would I qualify for one

  • Return of a fiasco

    I read with interest "Rescue bid for King Alfred" (July 24). Is this the same leaseholder of Benfield Valley and former director of Wilsco 294 Ltd who wanted to build a Harvester in Benfield Valley? Who now wants to build a casino on the King Alfred site

  • Think Of It This Way, by John Parry

    Whatever one's thoughts on Tony Blair, his choice for the new Archbishop of Canterbury is intriguing. The arch manipulator has appointed a very clever Welshman who, it seems, has no intention of being manipulated. Even more endearingly, Dr Rowan Williams

  • Albion bid to pack them in

    Brighton and Hove Albion want to push their capacity past the 9,000 mark as they prepare for an extended stay at Withdean. The club have applied for permission to continue playing at the ground until 2005 as well as installing extra seats and improving

  • Man trapped in handcuffs

    Firefighters helped Eastbourne police out of a fix after officers couldn't release a prisoner from his handcuffs. Officers arrested a man in his 30s and took him to the cells at the police station in Grove Road. But when they tried to take the cuffs off

  • Hospital boss jailed

    A former Eastbourne hospital boss has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for a series of financial offences. Clive Robinson, 37, pleaded guilty at Hove Crown Court yesterday to 13 charges including false accounting, making false instruments and using

  • Hill Barn members see it both ways

    Hill Barn members, whose numbers are presently reduced to around only 130, are not down in the dumps at the pending sale of the course. By early next year, if not before, Worthing Borough Council should have found a buyer. Hill Barn and the Brooklands

  • Aussie ace keen on Eagles move

    Aussie flyer Adam Shields is back in action for Eastbourne Eagles at Arlington Stadium tomorrow night. Shields, one of the hottest properties in speedway, rides for the table-topping Elite League squad when they take on Ipswich, amid a growing belief

  • Second site

    A banner headline announced that a second runway at Gatwick had been ruled out forever (The Argus, June 24). Gatwick already has a second runway. For many years, runway 08L/26R has served as a taxiway and emergency runway when repairs are being carried

  • Germany take Hickstead honours

    Ireland's luck went missing yesterday at Hickstead when Germany won the Samsung Nations Cup by 1.24 seconds. The result was desperately unlucky on the defending champions who were hoping to secure their third successive triumph in the competition. They

  • Why keep paying up for unusable roads?

    I have watched and suffered with mounting indignation as local authority planners and transport consultants have striven to choke the very life from Brighton and Hove through the imposition of humps, chicanes, untimely roadworks, one-way systems that

  • Cottey in control

    Tony Cottey provided more batting ballast just when Sussex needed it most at Edgbaston yesterday. The Welshman scored his second successive Championship century, reaching 104 not out as Sussex, needing 344 to avoid the follow-on after Warwickshire had

  • Sussex will go for overseas spinner

    Sussex are likely to sign a second overseas player next season even though the club's committee are against the idea. Skipper Chris Adams, coach Peter Moores and new chief executive Nigel Russell met at Edgbaston yesterday during the county's Championship

  • Jones faces fitness battle

    Nathan Jones is battling to be fit for Brighton and Hove Albion's return to Division One. The versatile left-sided player has been told he suffered knee ligament damage in Monday's 3-0 friendly win at Bognor. Jones limped off after a clash in the second

  • Jubilee hit high street sales

    High street sales fell again last month as shoppers were distracted by the Golden Jubilee and the World Cup. Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said retail sales volumes fell 0.7 per cent, sharper than economists' expectations and the

  • Water sale aids ScotPower profit

    Shares in Scottish Power charged ahead after the energy giant revealed a forecast-beating set of first quarter figures. Much of the improvement was attributed to a strengthened performance from Scottish Power's US business PacifiCorp. The business was

  • Cyclist's pub marathon

    Beer lover Keith Wood is set to pedal his way round 26 pubs - the day after completing two other fitness marathons. Although he plans to have a tipple at some of the pubs, he will stick to low-alcohol drinks until he nears the finish. Keith, 41, will

  • Retirement? We'd rather work on

    The majority of people would like to continue working past the official retirement age if their firms offered more flexible hours. This according to a report by career consultancy Penna Sanders and Sidney and the Employers' Forum on Age. 93 per cent said

  • Helping public services go digital

    A consultancy has been launched to help public sector organisations make their services available on digital interactive television (iTV). Factor V, based in Brighton, has been formed by Gavin McWhirter, the former project leader of NHS Direct Digital

  • Bonds are best for careful savers

    It must have seemed Christmas had arrived early for the 6,500 Britannia Building Society savers who put their money into a fixed-rate bond linked to FTSE-100 index five years ago. In July 1997, Labour had been in office for a matter of weeks and the London

  • Seafront jams to end

    Roadworks which have been bringing traffic almost to a standstill on Brighton seafront will be completed by tonight. Contractors are finishing the work between West Street and Western Street slightly ahead of schedule. Part of King's Road has been resurfaced

  • Crash PC denies dangerous driving

    A police officer believed a driver had stopped to let his patrol car pass before a collision between the vehicles. PC Brett Grisbrook, who was a passenger in the patrol car, was giving evidence at the trial at Lewes Crown Court of his colleague PC Tim

  • Shed blaze cylinder alert

    Elderly residents were carried to safety as gas cylinders came close to exploding in a shed fire. Police and firefighters moved more than 50 residents from nearby flats and bungalows after the fire took hold, with flames shooting into the air. A resident

  • This Week's Jazz: From July 26

    Two powerful soul voices can be heard on July 26. Liane Carroll occupies jazz territory, taking in standards and pop material. Also an expressive piano soloist, her trio to the Brighton Jazz Club is completed by Roger Carey on bass and Mark Fletcher on

  • Homes plan prompts gridlock fears

    Council officials fear an upsurge in traffic would gridlock roads if plans for 3,500 homes are approved in Burgess Hill. The West Burgess Hill Company wants to build the houses to the west of the town. Its directors say they would invest heavily in the

  • The Country Wife, Brighton Little Theatre, July 30-August 3

    This is a modern-day adaptation of William Wycherley's classic Restoration farce. The play follows sex-mad Horner, who hits upon a brilliant scam in order to add to his "women tally". He announces he has been castrated so husbands will unreservedly leave

  • Gig guide, from July 26

    This week: The godmother of punk, tributes to Abba and the Bee Gees, and heads-down heavy rock. PATTI SMITH, Concorde 2, Brighton, August 1 Back in the Seventies, Patti Smith was a rock goddess, a rebel poet and punk preacher. She was a rock chick with

  • Margot's Party, Hanbury Ballroom, Brighton, July 27

    It's time to start creating your costume and celebrate three years of the glamorous party night. The lavish night boasts a cult following, who regularly turn up for the themed nights, which have included Animal Print, Moonbeams And Martians and All Gold

  • Our Thing, Volks Club, Brighton, July 27

    There may not be much sun but there's certainly plenty of fun down at The Volks. Tomorrow, very special guest Eddie Piller, the man behind the Acid Jazz label which spawned an entire genre of music and labels, will be spinning the decks upstairs. Meanwhile

  • Cabaret, Chichester Festival Theatre, until October 5

    For 18-year-old Alexandra Jay, it was a confusing moment of sadness, fear and explosive excitement. Martin McCutcheon had fallen ill with flu, leaving the lead role in My Fair Lady up for grabs. As her understudy, it was Alexandra's chance to shine but

  • Ernest Ranglin, Brighton Dome, July 26

    Ska pioneer Ernest Ranglin opens his UK tour and 70th birthday celebrations in Brighton. The Jamaican helped create some of popular music's most influential forms, as ska developed into rocksteady, reggae and dub. He has also added to his formidable jazz

  • Council defends party planning

    Brighton and Hove Council has defended the number of stewards deployed at the Big Beach Boutique gig, which drew a crowd of 250,000. A total of 260 stewards were on duty at the Fatboy Slim show - one for every 961 partygoers. The party's organisers, production

  • Parking protest groups fall out

    Two protest groups formed to fight a council's new parking restrictions have fallen out over the right to park in residents' bays. The People's Parking Protest and the Traders Against Parking Persecution (TAPP) were set up with the same purpose - to get

  • Pub battle is drawn again

    Residents are hoping plans to close the Sandrock Inn in Ditchling will be thrown out for a second time. Developers want to turn the pub into two homes but the move was opposed by villagers who collected more than 100 names on a petition. Residents believe

  • Why wait until now?

    I find it amazing how quickly Ivor Caplin has jumped on to the Hoogstraten bandwagon (The Argus, July 24). Can Mr Caplin explain why he has suddenly made these comments now, especially when he knew some while back that the tenants of Mr Hoogstraten were

  • Hoogstraten's not evil

    There are evil people in this world but Hoogstraten is not one of them. Because he runs his business and makes money a bit differently than anyone else, he is described as an evil man. He is a private person and keeps himself to himself, therefore people

  • Let down

    I hold no brief for Nicholas Hoogstraten. I and at least one other member of my family have been victims of his ruthless shadow companies. However, I must say I would have been more impressed with Voice of The Argus and coverage (July 22) had you been

  • Best of care

    In May, you were kind enough to publish a letter from me regarding the wonderful service my wife received during her three-and-a-half months in intensive care at the Princess Royal Hospital. The letter was read by many old friends who had not realised

  • Surgeon has his own op

    After four years of performing corrective laser surgery on eye patients, surgeon Christopher Liu has finally had the procedure himself. When he discovered he had to wear glasses at the age of 13, young Christopher Liu vowed to become an eye surgeon. After

  • Praise be

    There have been many letters regarding the Fatboy Slim concert. Praise has been given to police, paramedics and so on but there has been no recognition for the large group of British Red Cross volunteers who were posted at the bottom of West Street, on

  • Hospital boss jailed

    A former Eastbourne hospital boss has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for a series of financial offences. Clive Robinson, 37, pleaded guilty at Hove Crown Court yesterday to 13 charges including false accounting, making false instruments and using

  • Redirect it

    The Government intends to help elderly people by giving them direct payments to provide their own care at home, thus avoiding bed-blocking. Sounds good, doesn't it? Look a bit closer. It does not solve the problems for people who are too frail to organise

  • Advice sought

    Ian Hills is quite wrong to assert (Letters, July 23) that Brighton and Hove City Council is pushing for an Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) to manage its housing stock. In fact, several members at the housing management committee, including

  • Tory canyon

    I was moved to write after reading comments by the Conservative councillor Brian Oxley (Letters, July 22). As a former resident of Portland Gate, I know why Councillor Oxley is keen we do not look back. Let me remind him. I lived in misery and squalor

  • Boy's wheelchair push for charity

    Five-year-old Dean Brady, who suffers from cerebral palsy, is planning his latest fund-raising effort. The youngster has spent most of his life forgetting his own condition to help raise money for those less fortunate than himself. On Sunday, he will

  • Welcome to Addicts' Alley

    Sitting on a burnt-out sofa, surrounded by filthy litter and needles, a heroin addict prepares himself for another hit. This is the scene at an abandoned car park in the North Laine area of Brighton, which has become a dangerous den for drug addicts.

  • Feedback, with Simon Bradshaw

    A letter published last Friday caused needless offence to two families and we must take more than our fair share of the blame. The letter from S L, from Lewes, was a strongly-worded attack on motorcyclists for the way he or she alleged they drive on our

  • Bogus ad boosts Big Bro's Jade

    Big Brother contestant Jade Goody has been getting a helping hand through the classified section of The Argus. An advertisement appeared in yesterday's paper for what seemed to be a bargain offer for a TV and DVD player. But when readers called the number

  • July 25: Warks v Sussex (CC)

    Tony Cottey provided more batting ballast just when Sussex needed it most at Edgbaston yesterday. The Welshman scored his second successive Championship century, reaching 104 not out as Sussex, needing 344 to avoid the follow-on after Warwickshire had

  • Chain of fools

    The Argus (July 25) accurately highlighted the ridiculous situation for cyclists at Brighton station. When the front of the station was pedestrianised, many of us told Railtrack it had the ideal opportunity to provide a great deal of cycle parking without

  • Fair space

    As one of many residents who strongly rejected the previous proposals for a residents' parking scheme in Goldsmid, I was pleasantly surprised on viewing the latest plans. Brighton and Hove City Council has indeed listened to residents' views, made known

  • Skin I'm in

    My husband drives a scooter. We are a young couple only a few years out of university and a car is way out of our budget. Other than getting wet when it rains, the scooter is a fine mode of transport. It can get up to 65 mph, it is cheap, far better for

  • Filter tip

    Your railway company sounds as cruel and callous as the hoodlum passengers who have been upsetting the well-mannered fare-paying ladies and gentlemen. I am coming for a visit from the US, the most violent country on earth, and I was looking forward to

  • Close call

    I was really taken with the comments from a "spokes-woman": "It is not down to South Central to manage the behaviour of passengers. We run trains, we are not there to stop people behaving badly." What a classic quote - their lives would be so much easier

  • A TV vote

    People who rang a classified ad in The Argus found they were helping Jade to win the Big Brother final tonight. Many of them rang a number advertising what seemed like a tempting price for a TV and DVD player. They found it was a Big Brother voting line

  • Off the rails

    For South Central to say it is not responsible for the behaviour of people on its trains is contributing to a lawless society (The Argus, July 24). Not only are people's lives marred by violent events. What about the trains being vandalised? If South

  • Unfair eviction

    Two giant companies have fallen into a dispute, resulting in real hardship for 20 small businesses. All the firms which occupied Eastman House at Fleming Way in Crawley were evicted without notice. Staff turned up to find the doors locked. They were the

  • Huge task

    How many train passengers realise the British Transport Police may have similar problems to the emergency services, namely a lack of emergency resources and funding (The Argus, July 24)? Recently, at a Southern England Rail Passengers' Committee meeting

  • Standing up to masts

    Councillors in Brighton and Hove have been courageous in their decision to refuse five applications for mobile phone masts and equipment. It's a boldness which borders on recklessness because their decisions could land the council with a hefty bill for

  • Shed blaze cylinder alert

    Elderly residents were carried to safety as gas cylinders came close to exploding in a shed fire. Police and firefighters moved more than 50 residents from nearby flats and bungalows after the fire took hold, with flames shooting into the air. A resident

  • Alliance hits its targets

    Alliance and Leicester today reported a 12 per cent rise in profits and said it was on track to hit its revenue and cost-cutting targets. The Leicester-based building society-turned bank, which employs 9,000 staff, announced plans for a share buy-back

  • Timekeeper to help lawyers

    A mobile software company has designed a system to help lawyers make more money. Hailsham-based Remus has launched Tempus, which runs on a hand-held computer or personal digital assistant. It can be used to record the details and costs of tasks done on

  • Investment is just frenetic

    The commercial property investment market has reached fever pitch according to research from Cluttons. But investors can find nothing to buy and yields are now tumbling. According to Cluttons' quarterly property market update: "This is fantastic for property

  • Worries over old cement works

    Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott is being urged to intervene over plans to redevelop the former cement works at Upper Beeding. The plea comes from Tex Pemberton, West Sussex County Council's Cabinet member for the environment, who wants the scheme

  • Plea for public inquiry on cement works

    Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott is being urged to intervene over plans to redevelop a former cement works in Shoreham. The plea comes from Tex Pemberton, West Sussex County Council's Cabinet member for the environment, who is calling for the scheme

  • Girl fights off thugs

    An 18-year-old Italian au pair was punched as she fought off would-be robbers in Hove Park. Two youths aged about 18 tried to snatch her bag as she walked to the nearby Co-op at 3pm yesterday. She was punched and knocked to the ground but the attackers

  • Beach party's lost-and-found legacy

    Police filled six bin liners full of lost property recovered from Brighton beach after Fatboy Slim's Normstock II party. Dozens of mobile phones, wallets, purses, items of clothing, rucksacks and a silver bangle were handed in. The bags have filled the

  • Staff fury at office evictions

    Staff resorted to working on a picnic table in a car park after a property dispute between British Airways (BA) and insurance giant Norwich Union. About 30 people turned up to work at their offices in Eastman House, Fleming Way, Crawley, to find the doors

  • Action to clear alley of rubbish

    Worthing council has vowed to clean up a rubbish-filled alleyway after The Argus intervened. People living and working in Tarring Road, Worthing, said the alleyway, which backs on to their properties and which runs between Downview Road and Eton Road,

  • The Navigators, University Of Brighton Gallery, until August 9

    This exhibition by Sara Gadd consists of digital images constructed from photographic composites of landscapes. Panels have been positioned to echo the architectural layout of a missionary house in Samoa. The exhibition aims to explore the transience

  • Mussorgsky Choir, St Bartholomew's Church, Brighton, July 28

    The Mussorgsky Choir is a major part of the St Petersburg State Opera and one of the finest vocal ensembles in Russia. Director Vladimir Stolpovskikh brings the choir to Brighton along with star tenor Igor Larionov to sing Rachmaninov's Vespers and excerpts

  • Beach Party, Beach House Grounds, Worthing, July 26

    Don't panic. Although the event starts in the afternoon (3pm), it goes on until 11pm - leaving you plenty of time to get there. The concert, hosted by Worth FM, is being held as part of the Worthing Seafront Fayre and will include a number of well-known

  • Chris Drury, De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill, until September 22

    One of Britain's leading artists, Chris Drury focuses on nature and landscape and in this exhibition brings the outside in. Specifically, he is interested in the connection between man and nature. The Lewes-based artist says: "Basically, the exhibition

  • Boy's wheelchair push for charity

    Five-year-old Dean Brady, who suffers from cerebral palsy, is planning his latest fund-raising effort. The youngster has spent most of his life forgetting his own condition to help raise money for those less fortunate than himself. On Sunday, he will

  • Reign of terror?

    The city of Brighton and Hove has been terrorised for too long by a brutal, egotistical thug - but we'll be rid of Julie Burchill one day. -Doug Leitch, Albany Villas, Hove

  • School terms might change

    Education bosses on East Sussex County Council are to consider scrapping the traditional three-term school year. The council's ruling Cabinet will consider starting consultations on a six-term school year when it meets next week. An earlier proposal to

  • No sweat

    People are very quick to grumble about the NHS and the treatment they receive in our hospitals. I would like to give the NHS a little praise. I had to attend the endoscopy unit at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton, last week. I was very nervous

  • Needlepoint

    It is shocking to come across discarded syringes anywhere in Brighton and Hove and especially in one of our parks. It is extremely irresponsible behaviour for anyone not to dispose of them properly. Brighton and Hove City Council would appreciate residents

  • Don't blame us for wrecking this Bill

    It is a shame Kemp Town MP Des Turner is so keen to shield his government from bad publicity that he has completely caved in over his Home Energy Conservation Bill. It was a good Bill and should have become law. However, far from his claims last week,

  • Stabbing charge

    A woman has been charged after a man needed emergency surgery for knife wounds. Mary Walker, 44, of Finsbury Road, Brighton, was due to appear before Brighton and Hove magistrates charged with causing grievous harm. A 42-year-old man was on a life-support

  • Call Alvin Hall

    Reading that our council tax could rise by 14 per cent to an extra £100 or so a year because of overspending and bad management, I immediately thought of the BBC's financial guru and economics expert Alvin Hall. I wonder if he could assist Brighton and

  • Just what constitutes 'affordable'?

    I live opposite the King Alfred in Lancaster Court, Hove. The cheapest flats in this building are about £80,000. This would not be affordable to, say, a single person working locally. How does one define an "affordable home" and would I qualify for one

  • Bogus ad boosts Big Bro's Jade

    Big Brother contestant Jade Goody has been getting a helping hand through the classified section of The Argus. An advertisement appeared in yesterday's paper for what seemed to be a bargain offer for a TV and DVD player. But when readers called the number

  • Albion bid to pack them in

    Brighton and Hove Albion want to push their capacity past the 9,000 mark as they prepare for an extended stay at Withdean. The club have applied for permission to continue playing at the ground until 2005 as well as installing extra seats and improving

  • Chain of fools

    The Argus (July 25) accurately highlighted the ridiculous situation for cyclists at Brighton station. When the front of the station was pedestrianised, many of us told Railtrack it had the ideal opportunity to provide a great deal of cycle parking without

  • Fair space

    As one of many residents who strongly rejected the previous proposals for a residents' parking scheme in Goldsmid, I was pleasantly surprised on viewing the latest plans. Brighton and Hove City Council has indeed listened to residents' views, made known

  • Skin I'm in

    My husband drives a scooter. We are a young couple only a few years out of university and a car is way out of our budget. Other than getting wet when it rains, the scooter is a fine mode of transport. It can get up to 65 mph, it is cheap, far better for

  • Filter tip

    Your railway company sounds as cruel and callous as the hoodlum passengers who have been upsetting the well-mannered fare-paying ladies and gentlemen. I am coming for a visit from the US, the most violent country on earth, and I was looking forward to

  • Close call

    I was really taken with the comments from a "spokes-woman": "It is not down to South Central to manage the behaviour of passengers. We run trains, we are not there to stop people behaving badly." What a classic quote - their lives would be so much easier

  • Hill Barn members see it both ways

    Hill Barn members, whose numbers are presently reduced to around only 130, are not down in the dumps at the pending sale of the course. By early next year, if not before, Worthing Borough Council should have found a buyer. Hill Barn and the Brooklands

  • Off the rails

    For South Central to say it is not responsible for the behaviour of people on its trains is contributing to a lawless society (The Argus, July 24). Not only are people's lives marred by violent events. What about the trains being vandalised? If South

  • Huge task

    How many train passengers realise the British Transport Police may have similar problems to the emergency services, namely a lack of emergency resources and funding (The Argus, July 24)? Recently, at a Southern England Rail Passengers' Committee meeting

  • Aussie ace keen on Eagles move

    Aussie flyer Adam Shields is back in action for Eastbourne Eagles at Arlington Stadium tomorrow night. Shields, one of the hottest properties in speedway, rides for the table-topping Elite League squad when they take on Ipswich, amid a growing belief

  • Standing up to masts

    Councillors in Brighton and Hove have been courageous in their decision to refuse five applications for mobile phone masts and equipment. It's a boldness which borders on recklessness because their decisions could land the council with a hefty bill for

  • Second site

    A banner headline announced that a second runway at Gatwick had been ruled out forever (The Argus, June 24). Gatwick already has a second runway. For many years, runway 08L/26R has served as a taxiway and emergency runway when repairs are being carried

  • Cottey in control

    Tony Cottey provided more batting ballast just when Sussex needed it most at Edgbaston yesterday. The Welshman scored his second successive Championship century, reaching 104 not out as Sussex, needing 344 to avoid the follow-on after Warwickshire had

  • Jones faces fitness battle

    Nathan Jones is battling to be fit for Brighton and Hove Albion's return to Division One. The versatile left-sided player has been told he suffered knee ligament damage in Monday's 3-0 friendly win at Bognor. Jones limped off after a clash in the second

  • Shed blaze cylinder alert

    Elderly residents were carried to safety as gas cylinders came close to exploding in a shed fire. Police and firefighters moved more than 50 residents from nearby flats and bungalows after the fire took hold, with flames shooting into the air. A resident

  • Water sale aids ScotPower profit

    Shares in Scottish Power charged ahead after the energy giant revealed a forecast-beating set of first quarter figures. Much of the improvement was attributed to a strengthened performance from Scottish Power's US business PacifiCorp. The business was

  • Helping public services go digital

    A consultancy has been launched to help public sector organisations make their services available on digital interactive television (iTV). Factor V, based in Brighton, has been formed by Gavin McWhirter, the former project leader of NHS Direct Digital

  • Timekeeper to help lawyers

    A mobile software company has designed a system to help lawyers make more money. Hailsham-based Remus has launched Tempus, which runs on a hand-held computer or personal digital assistant. It can be used to record the details and costs of tasks done on

  • Crash PC denies dangerous driving

    A police officer believed a driver had stopped to let his patrol car pass before a collision between the vehicles. PC Brett Grisbrook, who was a passenger in the patrol car, was giving evidence at the trial at Lewes Crown Court of his colleague PC Tim

  • The Navigators, University Of Brighton Gallery, until August 9

    This exhibition by Sara Gadd consists of digital images constructed from photographic composites of landscapes. Panels have been positioned to echo the architectural layout of a missionary house in Samoa. The exhibition aims to explore the transience

  • The Country Wife, Brighton Little Theatre, July 30-August 3

    This is a modern-day adaptation of William Wycherley's classic Restoration farce. The play follows sex-mad Horner, who hits upon a brilliant scam in order to add to his "women tally". He announces he has been castrated so husbands will unreservedly leave

  • Chris Drury, De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill, until September 22

    One of Britain's leading artists, Chris Drury focuses on nature and landscape and in this exhibition brings the outside in. Specifically, he is interested in the connection between man and nature. The Lewes-based artist says: "Basically, the exhibition

  • Margot's Party, Hanbury Ballroom, Brighton, July 27

    It's time to start creating your costume and celebrate three years of the glamorous party night. The lavish night boasts a cult following, who regularly turn up for the themed nights, which have included Animal Print, Moonbeams And Martians and All Gold

  • Our Thing, Volks Club, Brighton, July 27

    There may not be much sun but there's certainly plenty of fun down at The Volks. Tomorrow, very special guest Eddie Piller, the man behind the Acid Jazz label which spawned an entire genre of music and labels, will be spinning the decks upstairs. Meanwhile

  • Reign of terror?

    The city of Brighton and Hove has been terrorised for too long by a brutal, egotistical thug - but we'll be rid of Julie Burchill one day. -Doug Leitch, Albany Villas, Hove

  • Why wait until now?

    I find it amazing how quickly Ivor Caplin has jumped on to the Hoogstraten bandwagon (The Argus, July 24). Can Mr Caplin explain why he has suddenly made these comments now, especially when he knew some while back that the tenants of Mr Hoogstraten were

  • School terms might change

    Education bosses on East Sussex County Council are to consider scrapping the traditional three-term school year. The council's ruling Cabinet will consider starting consultations on a six-term school year when it meets next week. An earlier proposal to