Archive

  • Letter: Blessing is a crossing in disguise

    I was so pleased to read Father Nigel Mason of St Mary's, Upper Rock Gardens, had blessed the new computerised pedestrian crossing at Eastern Road. As he indicated, it shows God loves all creation, from flowers to Filofaxes, including computercontrolled

  • Letter: Are masts cancerous?

    Until George and Margaret King, from Crowborough both developed breast cancer (The Argus, March 17), they were not able to exert enough pressure to have the Vodafone phone mast removed from the vicinity of their house. Does this mean that, when Marconi

  • 'Suicide plea from terror cell suspect'

    The leader of an alleged British al Qaida terror cell wanted a transport worker to carry out a suicide bombing mission, the Old Bailey heard. Omar Khyam, from Crawley, singled out a man called Imran who worked for London Underground to blow himself up

  • Five lose fight to sue over killing

    Five policemen cleared of blame over the shooting dead of an unarmed man have been refused permission to sue their bosses for alleged failure to train them properly. Each claimed to have suffered psychiatric damage in the aftermath of James Ashley's fatal

  • Letter: Rent? No thanks

    It comes as no surprise to learn Brighton and Hove City Council is owed so much in rent arrears (The Argus, March 25). When they are offered rent they refuse to accept it. In Denton Drive there are 42 council-owned garages, a quarter of which are empty

  • Letter: Asylum newspeak

    The announcement by Home Office Immigration Minister, Tony McNulty, that a new "removal centre" is to be established at Gatwick Airport, in order to protect the "integrity" of immigration controls and "ensure an efficient end-to-end process" (The Argus

  • Doctor is proved to be love rat

    A doctor seduced one of his patients and then prescribed her drugs, which he took himself, the GMC has ruled. Married father-of-one Mardan Mahmod also borrowed £8,000 from the woman, who was going through a divorce, while treating her at the Royal Sussex

  • Letter: Denied Humphrey's company

    How sad to read Humphrey the Downing Street cat and official mouser has passed away. Mrs Thatcher and John Major were fond of Humphrey and he could often be seen sitting on the front step at Number Ten. On entering Downing Street, The Blairs got rid of

  • Teenager tells of horrific beating

    A teenager told police he watched in horror as a man was battered to death with baseball bats. Jason Jackson said: "I felt sick, horrified and scared about what happened. It was disgusting." Divorcee Gary Rae died from horrific injuries after he was allegedly

  • Workers strike over pensions

    More than 16,000 public sector workers staged the biggest bout of industrial action since the 1926 General Strike. Dozens of council offices, libraries, museums, leisure centres, colleges, nurseries and schools shut down as staff walked out for 24 hours

  • Blunders over 26 phone masts

    Council blunders have allowed dozens of mobile phone masts to win planning permission. On 26 occasions councils have fallen foul of a legal loophole allowing masts to be approved because officers failed to respond to applicants in time. A catalogue of

  • Hundreds of NHS jobs axed

    Hundreds of hospital jobs are being axed in a bid to halt the spiralling debt crisis in the NHS. Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust is cutting 325 posts - more than seven per cent of its workforce - as part of plans to save more than £10

  • Letter: Parental problem

    Why don't the police prosecute the parents of the louts who go on wrecking sprees? Even if, by some small chance, the children are apprehended, they know they will not be punished. The parents are at fault if they neither know nor care where their offspring

  • Letter: Bad to worse

    How can combining Sussex and Surrey police forces improve the situation here in Brighton and Hove? We don't see police on the beat (This used to be very reassuring). They are always in cars, sirens screaming, letting villains know they are on the way.

  • Letter: We deserve the same pension deal as police

    Police staff members of Unison in Sussex, alongside local council workers and other public servants, are striking about proposed changes to our pension scheme, following the announcement of an overwhelming majority who voted in favour of industrial action

  • Match report: Dagenham & R 0, Crawley 3

    Manager John Hollins revealed how a half-time bust up between his players inspired Crawley to their best win of the season. Reds recorded their fourth straight victory, and only their second on the road this season, at Dagenham and Redbridge last night

  • Window cleaners' job threat

    Thousands of window cleaners could lose their jobs if water firms are allowed to introduce tough banning measures. Cleaning firms will today come head-to-head with the first water company attempting to introduce historic restrictions on commercial water

  • No flap over bird flu

    Crawley-based tour operator First Choice said trading was in line with expectations despite concern about the outbreak of bird flu in Europe. Bookings for mainstream short haul holidays were down seven per cent on last summer after holidaymakers were

  • Community work builds up success

    Building company Rok has unveiled record results for the fifth year running with pre-tax profits up 38 per cent to £16.1 million. The company, which has offices in Preston Road, Brighton, achieved the results on a 12 per cent increase in turnover to £555.8

  • Families out of pocket as funeral firm closes

    Families who forked out hundreds of pounds for funerals with a company that shut down face losing their money. Brighton-based Belmont Funeral Homes closed in November but its owners failed to pay for another operator to take on customers' pre-paid funerals

  • Death of a hunger striker

    The widow of a theatre hunger striker who made headlines all over the world has paid tribute to his self-sacrifice. Michael Wilson, who recently died at the age of 77, formed a death pact with his brother Roy after Worthing Borough Council withdrew funding

  • Hospitals rake in millions from parking

    Hospitals in the county raised almost £3 million last year in parking charges paid by patients and visitors. The news led to health chiefs facing claims yesterday they were targeting patients and visitors to help wipe out soaring debts, a practice patient

  • Accolade for bus system

    A Satellite-powered information system that means no more waiting for hours at bus stops has been commended at a national awards ceremony. Brighton and Hove's real time information system provides up-to-date bus times at more than 100 stops. The system

  • Gardens are still a family affair

    WITH its 240 acres of breathtaking scenery maintained by the Loder family for more than 100 years, Leonardslee is one of the last great private gardens in the country. After a quarter of a century dedicated to its management, Robin Loder has handed over

  • My Latest Novel, Freebutt, Brighton, Wednesday, March 29

    "We asked people on our website to send us compilation tapes for going on tour," says Gary Deveney. "We're working our way through them and trying to work out how we fit in with our fans' musical tastes - where do we fit in between Bruce Springsteen and

  • Losing Louis, Theatre Royal, Brighton

    Losing Louis is Simon Mendes Da Costa's second play but he needs to learn to use the blue pencil much, much more. What we have here are two brothers and their wives back in the old family home to bury the brothers' father. This is the first time the brothers

  • Letter: No link between mobile communications and adverse health

    Your report (March 17) about the removal of a Vodafone mast from the ATS premises in Crowborough left out one very important point: Vodafone is relocating its equipment because the agreement with ATS, on this site and others, has come to an end. The equipment

  • Letter: At a loss

    In response to Charles Holcombe (Letters, March 25), it is indeed "difficult to contemplate" that council housing makes a loss. This is because it doesn't. The Government takes about £800 per tenant every year, which it uses for other purposes, money

  • Driver was not looking as she struck boy's bike

    A salewoman was not looking when she drove into the back of a moped killing the 16-year-old rider, an inquest heard. Suzanne Simmons' "inattentiveness" caused the crash which killed Joshua Skinner on the flyover section of the A27 at Shoreham, said police

  • Ofsted report names a dozen failing schools

    A Dozen schools in Sussex are failing to provide adequate education, according to Government body Ofsted. Two schools were subject to special measures because standards were so poor, six were identified as having serious weaknesses, two classed as underachieving

  • Another week, another hat-trick of gongs for The Argus

    The Argus has scored a double hat-trick of industry commendations. The team has picked up six accolades at the Newspaper Society Awards. It is the paper's second lot of prizes in less than a week. Sarah Harvey was named promotions executive of the year

  • Ban for man who starved

    A Man found guilty of causing suffering to his German Shepherd has been banned from keeping dogs for ten years. Damon Blandford, 31, of South Coast Road, Peacehaven, pleaded not guilty to two offences at Brighton Magistrates Court after passers-by found

  • Letter: Save our environment - buy local

    For me, one of the many delights Brighton has to offer is buying fresh organic salad and vegetables from Gardner Street market on Saturday or from Bill's Produce Store in North Road, deservedly winner of the Observer Best Newcomer award. Not only does

  • Letter: Not so ASBO

    I note with some dismay that Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) have had exactly the opposite effect to the one desired, which is is an ASBO confers "street cred" upon the unruly individual awarded such an order. To remedy matters, can I respectfully

  • Letter: Mergers cost

    Peter Jones, the leader of East Sussex County Council and chairman of Sussex Police Authority, is not alone when he expresses concern about the cost of merging our police force with Surrey (The Argus, March 21) - Downing Street's own strategy unit has

  • Football: Defence is key for Rebels

    Danny Bloor insists Worthing's defence holds the key to their play-off hopes. The Rebels stepped up their bid for a top-five finish with a comprehensive 3-0 defeat of Harrow Borough at the Gladwish Stadium last night. Victory moved Worthing up one place

  • McGhee: It's far from over yet

    Albion manager Mark McGhee told his players today it is too early to give up on the Championship. He believes victory at his old club Millwall on Saturday will change the complexion of the relegation battle. Albion are four points behind Millwall and

  • BA opens route to Albania

    An airline is changing the services it operates at Gatwick. British Airways has converted four short-haul Boeing 767 aircraft into long-haul planes, changing the layout in the passenger cabins. It is now offering services to Tirana in Albania, Reykjavic

  • Diddlyland is opening its gates

    A dilapidated park transformed into a fantasy world for children is opening its gates. The rejuvenated Brooklands Park in Worthing is the first Diddlyland in the world. Children can ride around the lake on the miniature Diddly train, take a trip on the

  • Park-and-ride could solve jams

    A hospital is considering a park-and-ride scheme to deal with an influx of extra staff and patients at a new development. But residents are concerned the already congested area around the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton will become a parking

  • Blue Aeroplanes, Hanbury Ballroom, Brighton

    Gerard Langley could have been in America last week, playing at the South By South West music festival with a pickup band including Peter Buck of REM on guitar. Instead the Bristol-based beat poet was bringing The Blue Aeroplanes, his Eighties indie rock

  • Pipettes, Concorde 2, Brighton

    The Pipettes seem to have space-shuttled straight in from the pages of some Fifties sci-fi comic called Fantastic Fables or Amazing Stories From Saturn! Three polka dot-dressed princesses are cryogenically frozen 50 years ago and wake up determined to