The late, respected and towering local government personality W O Dodd had a maxim: The best committee comprises a chairman and one other, with the chairman having a casting vote.

Spread among new councillors, that would be a good start. Brighton and Hove in the past has produced good, strong chairmen, untainted by careerism.

It could do so again, much more cheaply than a mayor with huge patronage.

"We are not electing a mayor," said Simon Fanshawe (Letters, October 3), but being offered "the opportunity to choose our leader". Cynicism? Kiddology?

-Arthur Harman, Hollingbury Crescent, Brighton