include file and problems with headers

I have the folowing code which checks whether the user has logged in. if (!isset ($_SESSION['new_session'] ) ) { $login_status = "<div class=\"standard_text\">Your are not signed in </div>"; } if (isset ($_SESSION['new_session'] ) ) { $address = $_SESSION['new_session']; $login_status = "<div class=\"standard_text\">Your are signed in as <span class=\"under\">$address</span></div>"; } ?> Now when I have this as a file to be included in each page, status.php (see code) gives the header error (already sent). <?php session_start(); include('status.php'); When the code is pasted in each individual page it works fine. This is no big deal but it is annoying me! why does this not work. I have also tried require_once & include_once() but nothin works. Later on in the page there is a form which sets some cookies and uses php_self() to send the data to itself. Ross