Taking the biscuit

From the The Argus, first published Friday 15th Dec 2006.

At the recent full council meeting at Hove Town Hall, councillor Pat Drake was applauded for her efforts in uncovering the cells beneath Brighton Town Hall.

These date from the time when the building housed Brighton Police Station (memorably caught in Val Guest's Sixties' movie Jigsaw - the best film ever set in the town).

The women's cells have now been discovered and it is also planned to open these to the public, along with the other cells. What better way could there be to entice a large, paying crowd to the opening ceremony than by persuading various councillors - of both sexes - to occupy a cell apiece for the day?

The council's hard-pressed coffers would swell in an instant as an eager public queued round the block.

Of course, on second thoughts, the economics of this might be impossible to balance. The cost of supplying biscuits at council meetings suggests any profits at this police museum would be wiped out by keeping the imprisoned councillors in bread and water.