I've just returned from a holiday in Florida where, at a major convention, I witnessed the police actually helping to keep the traffic moving, thanks to their positive intervention.

Even though senior members of the US Congress were at the convention, there was no overt police display of weapons.

On returning to Brighton recently, I was therefore shocked to see eight police officers standing on the side of the road with sub-machine guns at the ready. This has been compounded by the way Brighton has been turned into a police state for the visit of the Labour Party who want to disarm the RUC as they feel the threat in Northern Island has diminished.

Is it us, the British public, Labour are being protected from and, in which case, who's paying?

-Alan Rogers, Ruskin Road, Hove