Brighton and Hove City Council is to ban drinking in public (The Argus, July 21).

Are we supposed to be impressed? The police have had sufficient legislation to deal with public drunks since Victorian times.

The cause of today's problems started in the days of Mrs Thatcher who wanted to finance tax cuts.

In the Seventies, we paid basic rates of income tax at 40 per cent.

Among other things, that 40 per cent paid for law and order. In order to finance tax cuts, Thatcher closed down the borstals and approved schools.

Now young thugs roam the streets, immune to the law.

Under the guise of care in the community, she closed down the psychiatric hospitals.

Now mentally ill people are left to wander the streets instead of being given the care they need, thus saving more tax money.

It is cheaper to let the mentally ill commit suicide.

So why does New Labour not do anything?

Answer: It does not have to. Much research into criminal behaviour shows criminals tend to stick near to their home stomping ground.

Our MPs who live in the posh parts of the cities do not have the problem of criminal gangs or mentally ill people wandering past their door.

The people who actually live in the problem areas are being sacrificed to finance tax cuts for the high wage earners who live in the better class areas.

-Simon Smith, Upper Beeding