EVERYONE has an opinion and in Sussex they vary enormously.

Our letters page is a good starting point for readers sounding off about various things.

Julian Cloran of Woodingdean penned a cutting letter in April 2013 in the wake of Margaret Thatcher's death.

He described politicians as contributing "sound bites and tales to the repetitive loops comprising every news update", asking: "Are people trapped in cycles of reacting with the repetition of clichés the victims of subliminal manipulation? Or are they just thick?"

The same year, Duncan Andrews of Hove left one reader "devastated" with his confession that he preferred the Albion's temporary Withdean Stadium to its new Amex ground.

Those in Sussex aren't shy to a protest either, with the small village of Balcombe witnessing the UK's biggest anti-fracking demonstrations.

Meanwhile, the No More Page 3 campaign which went national was started by 38-year-old Lucy-Anne Holmes from Hove.

Aside from locals, the famous have had their say.

Mark E Smith of post punk band The Fall summed Brighton up in his autobiography as a place with "It's worse than London. They’ve created their own modern cultural prison. You can’t come in unless you’re making over £40,000 a year and you’re a media puppet.”

The writer and broadcaster Julie Burchill moved to Brighton in 1995, having sold up in London. In 2004, she was offered more than £1 million for her home in Somerhill Avenue, Hove, by a developer, attracting protesters.

Ms Burchill requested that the protesters "volunteer, wire them up to a lie detector machine (a proper police one, not a toy) and ask them truthfully whether they would or would not sell their property to a developer for several times its market price”.

She added that she was "mature and unselfish enough to understand people have to live somewhere".

In 2008, Ms Burchill extolled the virtues of Tesco.

She said: "I love Tesco. Here in Hove we have six of the beauties. The very same small shopkeepers who get into a sweat about Tesco didn’t go into their racket to make the world a better place, despite their mealy-mouthed protestations that they are working for the benefit of the 'community'."

With the advent of social media, opinions have given room to breathe like never before.

In June 2014, Brighton councillor Ben Duncan came under pressure to resign over a tweet about “hired killers" following Armed Forces Day.

He said: “Armed Forces Day has certainly brought the hired killers on to the streets of Brighton today. Hard to explain to my son!”

The remark sparked angry responses and he later apologised.

No longer a councillor, Mr Duncan also faced calls to resign in 2012 after saying he only smoked cannabis when “murdering, raping and looting".