Thanks Anthony - can’t believe I haven’t come across that mysql_error function before. I tried adding code to my php5.ini file to display errors but that did no good.
Anyway thanks to your help I have now discovered it was due to me being a muppet as the table is called “highscores” and not “highScores” - doh!!
$result = mysql_query($sql) or trigger_error(mysql_error()." in ".$sql);
it will add query itself to the error message which can be very useful, and also will handle mysql errors the same way as PHP ones. and no instant death of the script so you can close it correctly