The energy Brighton and Hove politicians expend on the Yes mayor-No mayor row is quite extraordinary.

It's like watching the captain of the Titanic agonising about which tie to wear.

The city centre is filthy, we have been without a central library for a decade, the hideous King's West complex falls into decay and public land is invaded and trashed with impunity.

Where is the political passion to fix these problems, where are the bus-side ads, where are the news-sheets and where are the daily debates in The Argus?

As for the European Capital of Culture 2008 campaign, maybe a starting point would be for Brighton and Hove City Council to aim at reaching third-world standards in street-cleaning by then.

-Roy Stephenson, Roysteph@aol.com