Like many contributors, we had been struggling with the handbrake on our 2005 Jazz. In fact it had got so bad that the handbrake literally would not hold the car on a hill at traffic lights no matter how hard you pulled the lever up.
Having previously adjusted by "taking up the slack" on the cable by tightening the nut at the lever end my little brain was asking what happens when you run out of thread?
So, only half remembering advice Culzean had posted in a previous thread, I set about adjusting again but this time I SLACKENED the nut and therefore the cables. I then placed my foot on the footbrake and pulled the handbrake lever up a couple of dozen times.
I did NOT then re-tighten the nut but left it in its new position which is about a third of the way up the thread.
The lever now comes up about 7 clicks which feels very uncomfortable and is a lot more than before BUT the handbrake is working perfectly. I did all this about ten days ago and there has been no deterioration since. I am not a qualified mechanic so can't explain why it has worked but so far it definitely has.
Please shout if I have done anything stupid but if not it might work for others?