Roger French says the referendum on whether our city should have an "all-powerful mayor" is a "structural, not a political, issue and one on which the bus company has a legitimate right to state its view" (Letters, October 3).

Forgive me for questioning this, but if our city's government is not a political issue, what exactly is it?

If displaying ads on his own fleet of publicly-subsidised buses to urge voters to choose a particular type of city government is not political, what is it?

This is just another example of how big business seeks to disengage voters from discussing genuine issues of democracy by pretending it is all about "management" and "better business" and nothing to do with politics - exactly, of course, why big business finds the idea of an all-powerful mayor so attractive.

-Simon Williams, Denmark Terrace, Brighton