My brother lives in Brighton and Hove and I have had the pleasure of visiting the city on numerous occasions.

But on a recent Thursday night, he was the subject of an unprovoked attack in a quiet street.

A man walked up to him: "Are you carrying any money?" he said, in a clearly aggressive manner.

My brother realised he was in trouble, but too late - another three grunts promptly appeared out of the shadows and proceeded to assault him.

He had nothing they wanted but, nevertheless, they beat him about the head for a while before departing, leaving him bloodied on the pavement.

He is okay now but badly shaken and his face is bruised and lacerated.

He will recover physically but I worry about longer-term physiological and psychological effects.

I am no chicken and he is no weed but I am going to advise he leaves Brighton for somewhere more civilised and will think very hard before going there again myself.

Being attacked in the street is, it seems, not uncommon there - a dark, unpublicised side of an otherwise historic, cultured, attractive and lively place.

I don't want this to seem like just another "everything is dreadful nowadays" letter to the editor - there are quite enough of those in The Argus already - but I am having difficulty in expressing my anger and disbelief over this horrible crime and simply want to document it somehow and draw it to peoples' attention.

What are the police, Brighton and Hove City Council, The Argus and the ordinary citizens of Brighton doing about the threat of random, senseless violence that has helped disfigure civic life in many other cities around the world and now seems to be destroying Brighton?

-CS, Newcastle