As one of the "whining nellies" who opposed our bid to be a Capital of Culture, I suggest, far from sticking a finger in the air at people like myself, Brighton and Hove City Council's chief executive ought to be asking why we failed even to make the shortlist (John Parry, "The art of a cultural city", The Argus, November 29).

It is necessary only to visit one of the places that did - Newcastle upon Tyne or Gateshead, for instance - and then take a walk from Brighton station to the seafront to see how unfavourably we compare.

These days, even Sunderland city centre looks better, in the supposedly "grim north".

How does Brighton and Hove present itself? Litter everywhere, broken, uneven pavements, a shortage of basic public facilities such as toilets, inconsiderate cycling going unchecked and sleeping bodies huddled in doorways.

As for culture, the council has ignored our own unique heritage, based on the 18th-Century discovery of the sea and sea bathing as a means of spiritual regeneration.

Instead, it has allowed the seafront to be cut off from the centre by a torrent of traffic, flogged off the promenade to commercial interests and ignored the possibilities offered by the sea to the point that present-day bathers are menaced by high-speed powered craft and there is nowhere even for locals and visitors to leave their clothes safely if they want to go in the water.

And now we are promised the same narrow conception of the arts that left the Capital of Culture assessors so unimpressed will be "at centre stage of the council's thinking".

It was, of course, one of these "arts" events that resulted in the trashing of the seafront, beach and city centre just in time for the Capital of Culture judges to see the results of this thinking.

-Henry Law, Queen's Gardens, Brighton