Reader Andy Player thought we had got our figures muddled up when he read our report of December 18 on asylum seekers.

In that article we said there were 6,400 single adult asylum seekers in Brighton and Hove and 554 families seeking asylum.

But only five days before, he read our article saying there were 187 adults, 25 families and 24 unaccompanied minors in what were then two towns.

"How do you explain this discrepancy?" he asks in an email to me. "Clearly such an increase could not have occurred in five days."

Well the explanation is simple. The figures in the first article came from a report to the policy committee of Brighton and Hove Council about the controversial voucher system. They represented asylum seekers being supported by the council and the article did say that other councils were placing asylum seekers in Brighton and Hove and the total number was not known.

The figures in the second article were taken from Hansard, the official written record of parliamentary proceedings. They were quoted by Home Office minister Barbara Roche in response to a question by Conservative MP Nick Liddington.

But the last word to Mr Player, who says: "I feel strongly that this issue must be treated very sensitively in the media. I hope that journalists will check figures on asylum seekers given by political parties (and government departments) very carefully because the Conservatives (and most probably Labour) will be looking to use race and fears over asylum seekers to win votes in the run-up to the next election."

Well, he can now rest assured we did our bit - the rest is up to the politicians.

It's no great secret the festive period is not the busiest time for news but Sally Willson, from Southwick, thought we had run out altogether when she read in our Boxing Day paper the picture brief about Conservative councillor Brian Oxley asking for Brighton and Hove Council to repair a faulty street light in Hove.

She writes: "It reminded me of a variation on an old joke. You know the one - How many Tories does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: Two. One to make the phone call and the other to write about it."

She adds: "Most councillors would consider asking for a street light to be repaired as a regular part of their normal duties. Come on Argus, let's have some real news."

Well, here's some. Sally Willson is a Labour councillor!

Finally, a correction for Christopher Hawtree, of Hove, whose letter in that same Boxing Day paper about city status referred to Southwick in the same breath as Brighton, Hove and Portslade.

Southwick resident P R Mockridge points out that Portslade is in West Sussex and not part of the new city, adding "We do not wish to share your misfortunes in this latest venture."

Finally, apologies to Malcolm Diamond, managing director of Uckfield firm Trifast, who became an MBE in the New Year Honours as we reported in Saturday's paper. Unfortunately, we accidentally used two pictures of cricket hero Ted Dexter, who became a CBE, instead of one of him and one of Malcolm.

The honours are now even.

In last Friday's paper, we published one of the winning lottery numbers for the Saturday, December 23 draw as 39 instead of 38. "How many tickets were thrown away as a result?" asks Mr A J Francis, of Portslade, "and how many people like myself thought they had won? I can only give your paper marks of six out of seven." Apologies to all those we misled and many thanks to Mr Francis, who, by the way, would have won £10 had we been right!