Addicts need our help

Traders objecting to plans for a drug and alcohol support centre in the middle of Brighton should think carefully about what they want

Would they prefer addicts and alcoholics to be roaming the streets or would they prefer help and support to be given so people can tackle their problems?

It's understandable the traders and some residents around The Lanes should be worried about the plans for a building in Ship Street, saying it should be in a less prominent location.

But people with these problems tend to be in the town centre anyway and they may not be able to go to a centre pushed far away into the suburbs. We have been here before. The history of these centres is they are vigorously opposed, but when they start they do not cause much trouble.

There was huge opposition to plans for a treatment centre near The Level last year and even more to a needle exchange centre near Churchill Square, but they became successful operations. Brighton is a town with more than its fair share of drunks and drug addicts. The solution is not to run them out of town but to offer them all possible help.

Planners should approve this centre for a trial period and organisers could then make sure neighbours' fears of are not realised.

A benefit to all

Hundreds of women who've been on benefits for years in Brighton may have given up hope of ever working again.

But a scheme to get some of them back in action as assistants in school classrooms is working wonders.

The scheme fits in with school hours, aiding women with children, and gives them a huge amount of help, which most of them need. It's highly encouraging that this tailor-made project is succeeding where all other efforts have failed and gives hope that similar ventures may follow.

The egg-cited hen

Henrietta the chicken is such a mad Manchester United fan she's even been given a club scarf. The soccer-crazy hen, who lives in a sanctuary at Bexhill, watches the triple champions on the telly.

Sanctuary boss Barby Keel's sure Henrietta's flapping and clucking whenever Man Utd come into view indicates support.

But as chickens can't talk, it could be that she's simply giving David Beckham and his pals the bird.

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