I remember Alderman Nicholls - he of the ten-gallon hat - inviting a show of hands from a Tuesday At The Dome audience to decide whether or not to keep the traditional Volks electric cars or replace them with streamlined rolling stock.

As, happily, the former were retained, I suppose the council of the time realised the value of retaining a tourist attraction known worldwide.

The Brighton Bullet is a horrific concept. The concrete track would be an eyesore and the cars themselves entirely out of keeping with Brighton seafront.

And what, in the name of sweet reason, would be the point of travelling at high speed from the Palace Pier to the marina, a distance of a mile or so, when visitors would surely prefer the leisurely pace of the old cars?

A hundred and fifty years ago Brighton nearly lost the Royal Pavilion in the hands of a council preferring modernity: It wanted to put the station there instead.

-Maurice Packham, Horsham