Last Weekend's Voice of the Argus on the issue of waste is rubbished by reader J R Stevens, of Southwick.

It called for a decision - however unpopular - to be made on the location of an incinerator, with the best option being Newhaven.

JR said this was undemocratic since no consideration was given to the dangers of incineration, which he or she said could equal a nuclear accident or the BSE crisis. The Argus should look at the alternatives to incinerators, such as the Bedminster system, biodegradable and reduced packaging.

"Those lining their palms with thoughts of lucrative 25-year contracts to dispose of rubbish, that clearly provide no incentive to recycle at all, must be rubbing their hands in glee at your article," added JR.

All of which are very fair points, of course, but seem to miss the real issue of just how long can we wait?

Our recycling record in Brighton and Hove is almost universally acknowledged as pathetic and shows no signs of improving; landfill sites are coming to the end of their life and the Government money on offer to pay for waste disposal will not be available for ever.

The Argus, for its part, has explained the alternatives more than once during the past year and our Great Waste Debate was launched last November with a six-day, in-depth investigation and an Opinion column which said: "Voters should not be expected to accept incinerators unless the councils that want to build them make a serious commitment to recycle 50 per cent of our rubbish in the lifetime of their new waste disposal plans."

Brighton and Hove and East Sussex County Councils have tellingly failed to make that commitment but at the same time we can't go over the same ground again and again. As last Saturday's leader article said: "The last thing anyone needs is a talking shop that will never resolve all the sincerely-held but widely-differing views about waste."

Barry Sharp didn't like our story last Thursday about the opening of his new furniture shop, Talisman, in North Street, Brighton, nor the picture of him at the opening with ex-pop star turned Burger Bar owner, David Van Day, and Hove MP Ivor Caplin.

The reason is the story suggested David was a partner in the business when he is not and was only there as "a celebrity". Our apologies, Barry, but we were misled - unintentionally I am sure - by a press release from an MP whose constituency is not too far away from Hove.

Ms J King, of Brighton, felt our coverage of the Kemp Town carnival in Monday's paper did not reflect the entertainment, party atmosphere and hard work put in by those involved.

Admittedly, our story reported a low-key atmosphere and that there were just five floats but also that the organisers felt the numbers were due to the attractions of many rival events.

It was trying to also record those events that stopped us publishing more on the carnival - more, that is, than the three pictures in our AM edition and the five in our Night Final.

Finally, many of you will have noticed the "ghosting" on the picture of the Brighton Sea Cadets in Wednesday's Night Final edition. This was a production mistake for which I apologise. It was printed correctly in all other editions.