I hope sincerely we can vote Brighton and Hove City Council out as soon as possible, although a postal vote will not do it.

How all the councillors of all parties could have the gall to send out the latest rate demands to those of us over 70, on fixed pensions, when they are using £750,000 a year on expenses, is tantamount to killing off the old and now useless population.

I am nearly 83, partly disabled following a stroke and have diabetes. I live alone and have been paying rates here for more than 42 years.

I use nothing in the town and have not been to the centre for 25 years. City? What a laugh - millions in debt and millions wasted on rubbishy plans.

My refuse is collected, provided I bag it and put it out on the pavement, but that is all I get for £98 a month. Once a fortnight, I stagger to my gate with the waste-paper container.

Bearing in mind all the recycled goods are sold on by the council - or should be - we should have been rewarded by a reduction in council tax, not a massive increase.

In fact, all pensioners over 65 should be allowed at least a few remaining years tax-free. We have done enough and paid enough during our lives. All this is legalised extortion.

Why, too, doesn't the council dig out the original plans of the West Pier, which should be in the archives, and completely rebuild it using modern methods and materials?

It would be cheaper and would last another 100 years or so - and, yes, I am against a Falmer stadium. Remember, without my generation's sacrifices, the present big-headed, fanatical idiots would never have been born. Come down to earth.

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