We shouldn't be cooped up

A report shows half a million people move house every year to escape from their neighbours.

Major causes are loud music, banging doors and hearing the neighbour's TV.

More than 16 per cent moved because of other people's screaming children, described as worse than traffic sound and motorbikes.

Barking dogs are also high on the list of complaints to environmental health.

The Government has said local authorities and the police have been given new powers to deal with the minority of people who make their neighbours' lives unbearable.

It has been said that noise can seriously damage your health.

And experts on human behaviour have said on TV that the way an individual behaves towards their neighbour is a reflection of their intelligence and, to some extent, their parents.

It is also true that if everyone lived in detached homes, rather than 23cms apart in joined-up housing, there would not be this record number of neighbour disputes. It isn't natural for humans to live like battery hens.

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