I have been away so have only just caught up with Councillor Sue John's letter of November 18.

Strewth! I know the council is strapped for cash but surely there is enough left in the kitty to buy her a better, less cantankerous scriptwriter - at least someone with enough social skills not to address me as "Julie".

It's Miss Burchill to you, Coun John! Especially when you snarl that I have been "deliberately misled" in supporting the Friends Of Hove Library.

So far, more than 2,000 people have declared their support. They realise that form and function go together, that books cannot simply be carted off to a Town Hall and labelled a library, let alone a "vibrant civic centre".

They can scent that the proposed move is another cheese-paring exercise cynically disguised as concern for the disabled, computers, homework clubs and whatnot.

These needs can be met at the moment if the spirit were willing (a homework club was mooted but no funds given).

Of course, if another splendid, purpose-built library was on offer in Hove, I am sure all 2,000 and more would consider it.

As it is, such an offer is not being made and, if the library fetched up in that Town Hall - a building which makes noses wrinkle at the very mention of it - then it could all too easily be shrunk (budget constraints and all that familiar chorus).

What's more, we have yet to see how the new, long-awaited Brighton library will fare. Get that right, choleric Coun John, before embarking on anything else.

And do not think everybody will automatically pile into it and leave the other libraries to be run down.

A well-thumbed book chanced upon in Hangleton and Woodingdean can be a greater benefit than all the serried ranks of computers lined up for Jubilee Street.

You, Coun John, request my advice on how to fit books into a space. Buy more of them. Shelves of books are more aesthetically appealing and thus mentally stimulating than all those screens which make libraries look like Dixons.

-Julie Burchill, Hove