Table width in column div

[David & Angela Ehmer]

I am using a table to display forum posts at
http://www.acpchnqld.org.au/forum/forum.php

The table is contained in the left column of the page in a div with the
following ID

#leftcolumn {
position: relative;
border:1px solid #000;
background-color : white;
padding: 15px 6% 15px 6%;
margin-right: 250px;
border-right-style : dotted;
min-height : 410px;
}

When I give a table width of 100%, it behaves as I expected it to, that is
it uses 100% of the available space in the left column (ie left column width
less padding) and has the border tight against the table.

This works well in most modern browsers but fails in IE5.5. This browser
displays the table with a width about twice the width of the screen. I
tried removing reference to the width of the table and the results are as
you can see on the site now (ie table is contained within the left column
minus the padding, but only takes the width needed and not the full width
available, as I want.)

Appreciate any suggestions
David