One of my friends says we should both go out "on the pull" regularly and have a few one-night stands.

She reckons it would be quite safe because she has been told "there are no straight men with HIV in Brighton". Is this really true? No, it's nonsense. There are now well over 1,000 HIV-positive people in Brighton and a lot of them are heterosexual. To have a one-night stand in the Brighton or Hove area these days is taking quite a risk. In addition to the danger of getting HIV, there is a strong possibility of catching other sexually transmitted infections. In particular, there's a heck of a lot of chlamydia around.

Roughly ten per cent of all young adults have it.

If you must go out "on the pull", do at least take some condoms in your handbag. They can't give complete protection but they do help.