So shopkeepers are being appointed "guardian angels" to victims of street crime (July 10). What next? A firefighting course?

Will somebody remind me why we pay rates and taxes? I would imagine councillors are tickled to death by the St James's Action Group's innovative if sentimental idea.

No doubt they welcome any initiative that takes the heat off them for a while, considering it was Brighton and Hove City Council's liberal attitude that created the "nightmare in St James's Street" in the first place.

It opened hostels willy-nilly for drunks and drug addicts, catering to their every whim, while the elderly and infirm suffer the indignity of social deprivation through lack of funds.

What thanks did we get for being Mr Nice Guy? Brighton and Hove achieved the highest accolade of infamy by producing the greatest amount of heroin-related deaths in the country.

But it's not all gloom and doom - this will make you smile. The last major curb on street drinking saw a new law banning boozing in St James's Street.

This law was enforced by displaying friendly green-and-white signs no bigger than postcards.

Well, the drunks couldn't bend their elbows for laughing. Maybe the council should consider erecting "No mugging" signs. Now that would be a tourist attraction.

And, by the way, if you are unfortunate enough to be mugged in St James's Street, let's hope it's during the day. Most shops tend to close by 6pm.

-Bill Grant, Grants, St James's Street, Brighton