SEX appears to be the overriding news, the predominant interest today.

Magazines and tabloids are constantly trying to outdo each other to bring a seemingly insatiable public the latest stories of who is 'sleeping' with whom, a bit of a misnomer if ever there was one!

Meanwhile, fortunes are being spent on what they laughingly call sex education, as the government tells us that if children 'are informed,' all will be well, but we know that is not the case.

The only thing sex education teaches is it's OK to say yes and, should things go amiss, it's no problem because we have the morning-after pill.

Or, if that fails, there's a nice income, no need to work and even a place of one's own, when what should be being taught is how to say NO, respect yourself, accept responsibility and mean it.

My contraception was my dad. I could never have dared go home and tell my dad that I was pregnant; the very idea brings me out in a sweat even now.

Respect, shame, pride, all of these words seem to have fallen by the wayside and not only with regards to sexual behaviour, but about work and other aspects of everyday life.

The dole! Oh my goodness our family and friends would do anything, undertake any job rather than go on the dole but now I meet young people who seem to think it's great.

'Hey don't you know? You not only get money every week but they pay your rent and if you're crafty they pay all sorts of stuff' - and this is said with no embarrassment or shame!

John, my husband, once was out of work, so I stood at Chorley Flat Iron Market with a fent stall.

I drew out our savings - £15! - bought some rolls of material and spent the evening cutting it up into fents.

To the uninitiated these were bits of material with the price written in one corner.

Women loved to root about searching for a couple of pieces that matched and if they found three that matched bingo! They were happy - and you got a better price than per yard.