IN 1986 a huge event ocurred so shocking many people across News Shopper's patch never recovered.

To this day my grandmother often gets a far away look in her eyes and mutters "No, it couldn't have happened, it doesn't make sense."

I'm of course talking about the revelation the entire 1986 series of TV soap Dallas, including the death of Bobby Ewing, was a dream of one of the characters.

Flicking through the newspaper in 1986 and seeing all the mullets, handlebar moustaches and shoulders pads, I'd imagine a few fashion victims wish the whole year was just a bad dream.

There was a lot of bad news in the paper: a shortage of midwives, women needing shriek alarms to protect themselves and schoolchildren terrified by a man in a giant Postman Pat costume.

On December 4, News Shopper reported hospitals across south-east London were in crisis due to a lack of midwives.

NHS experts said it was due to qualified midwives opting to become health visitors as it was better paid.

Earlier in the year News Shopper had reported more bad news for women, with Greenwich Council having to distribute shriek alarms to its female employees to protect them from attacks.

The council's Women's Committee chairman said: "It is a good idea and if it deters one attack it will be worth it."

Not a good idea was News Shopper's decision to place a photo of a woman holding a hammer while being cuddled by a group of men next to the headline "Shriek alarms to aid women".

The photo was for a separate article, but it gave off the wrong impression.

Another bad idea was the thought young children would be entertained by a man in a giant Postman Pat costume.

Yes, Pat was a children's television favourite, but the giant costume was the stuff of nightmares and the terror of the children is obvious in the snaps.

It seems the whole year was a bit of a nightmare.