Latest 7 magazine

Dani considers the subconscious messages behind some unusual dreams

For some strange reason I have started having a bout of bizarre dreams that feature a strange cast of characters. This cast is strange more because they look more like something out of my own version of Pan’s Labyrinth than strange in a general sense of weird people. I have no idea why this weird variety of dreams has started, although I have a fair idea what they are about, but I am not going to go into detail about that. I am just going to bore you with a detailed account of these strange dreams.

“I always used to quite look forward to going to bed but now I can’t see the point“

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Katie spends time contemplating how much easier life would be as a teenage boy

I am lying on my bedroom floor, eating ham, watching Hollyoaks and texting the boy I met on the tube, when my flatmate walks in. He takes in the mess – imagine a room that looks like a wardrobe and a Rizla factory have imploded on it. He clocks the Burberry check shirt I am wearing and, poking the half eaten packet of ham with his foot, informs me: “Your life has reached a new low.“

“Oh bugger off“, I tell him, “my room’s no worse than any other teenage boy“.

“That’s the point Katie“, he scowls down at me, witheringly: “you’re not actually a teenage boy. You should take some responsibility for your life“.

If only Simon knew what responsibility was.

The problem with going to posh parties all week is that it gives you a taste for the anti-social.

“Once you have discovered that celebrities are self-obsessed muppets, celebrity parties lose their appeal“

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Rachel Pegg reports on the big decision looming before the city council

In a matter of weeks the most powerful local councillor in the history of Brighton and Hove will be elected. But he or she will not be chosen by the people.

Rather, a candidate will be put forward by the ruling Conservative group, who will then have to persuade just one other city councillor – probably independent Jayne Bennett – to support their choice in order for him or her to be elected city leader. That person will preside over a new democratic system that will allow the leader to hand-pick a cabinet to take charge of major functions such as social care, housing, finance and major projects. This is likely to end the days when minority parties can have a significant influence on big decisions or can thwart the wishes of the administration. Instead, a central body of potentially single party councillors will shape the future of Brighton and Hove until the next local elections in 2011.

The new system has been forced on Brighton and Hove by the government, which wants more individually accountable local politicians, quicker decision making and easier lines of communication between the regions and the civil service.

“A central body of potentially single party councillors will shape Brighton and Hove until 2011”

No city councillor wanted it, whatever their political allegiance. The Tories vociferously campaigned against a directly elected mayor in 2001 when they were in opposition. But now, as rulers, it is the Conservatives who are most likely to benefit from a system that gives them more freedom to push through policies with, if they like, less public scrutiny.

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Greta Scacchi’s gone doo-dah, while Denise Van Outen plus colourful beau lunch with unsilly Zilli

Easter weekend has always been a good time for celeb spotting in Brighton and despite the snow, this year was no different.

My first spot was The Player star Greta Scacchi. The gorgeous Ditchling-based actress was in chocolate heaven in Choccywoccydoohdah on Duke Street, hunting among the lavish Easter offerings for a birthday cake. She bought a huge chocolate fudge confection complete with firework for the top.

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