SOMETIMES it can pay to buy different editions of the Argus each day. Take, for instance, last Thursday's AM edition which reported that almost a quarter of young people in the Brighton area are back on the dole within three months.

The article went on to include an attack from the Brighton Unemployed Families Project that the figures proved the Government's flagship back-to-work scheme was not working.

The Project claimed the work involved 'not proper jobs' and, in some cases, Government money was going into the pockets of employers and 'dodgy'

training agencies without helping unemployed people.

Strong words which understandably upset Peter Burton, Brighton Employment district service manager.

He writes to me to say that by taking a negative angle, the article failed to emphasise the many success stories of New Deal and would put off the very people it was supposed to help.

After all, more than three quarters of young people had been helped and the failure rate of 24 per cent was still two per cent better than the national average.

Which brings me to later editions of the Argus that same day, by which time the story angled on the more positive line and had quotes from two MPs (admittedly Labour) praising the scheme - but still retaining the thrust of the

project's views.

That's fairness itself I reckon, and

just goes to prove that here at Argus house we do read what we print and if we are wrong or unfair then we put it right.

But just in case we slip up again, could all readers please start buying two copies a day? It would do wonders for our sales!

Andrew Horne, the chief executive

of South Downs Health Trust, takes us to task for Tuesday's Argus opinion

column which accused them of

penny-pinching by not paying bonuses to six community nurses who will

be working until 11pm on New Year's Eve.

Mr Horne says the trust will be

paying £100,000 in bonus payments

for the holiday period but has been given no extra money to meet this

bill.

If they agreed to a further payment to the six, then many more staff would want parity, substantially adding to the bill. There has to be a cut off time at some time, he argues.

Fair enough, Mr Horne, but it won't stop those six nurses feeling they won't be able to celebrate the millennium properly - as many of their friends and families have been quick to write to tell us.

Or maybe I'm wrong and the moment they get home they'll be raising their glasses to you. The toast? A Horne of plenty, perhaps.

Finally, our list of cases from

Lewes Magistrates Court in last Wednesday's paper stated that John Lee and Matthew Beaver, both 36,

of Northway, Burgess Hill, were

committed for trial on charges of

theft from vehicles and theft from a person.

In fact, both were committed for trial on four charges of theft from motor vehicles only.

I'm happy to correct the error which was caused by incorrect information supplied to us.

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