Ah! Seems I was onto something with the htmlspecialchars... A little research wouldnt have hurt I suppose, but the book is so thick...

I actually don't need to be protected against abusive content being entered as it is only site admins that will have access to the script. But I might come back later as I've also planned to create a custom user forum and comments sections.

Once again though, thanks for the brilliant expertise *bows*