Thanks – I gave that a go but it had no effect.
I am almost 100% certain that the issue lies with url piece of the code, for as a control I have in fact also tried:
$('ul li :eq(0)').css('background', 'green');
$('ul li :eq(1)').css('background', 'red');
This works perfectly.
any ideas are really welcome – I am defeated !
thanks