Nearby Worthing already has its own alternative newsletter, The Porkbolter, reflecting a surge in the idea of DIY local media along the South Coast.

The new Brighton newsletter explains its name thus: "Rough music is a Sussex tradition dating back centuries. It was a form of punishment for those who had offended their communities; people like profiteering landlords, wife-beaeters or kiddie-fiddlers.

"In the past lovely people like these were a lot harder to prosecute using the law. So people took matters into their own hands. Taking whatever they could to make some noise with them, they would stand outside the miscreant's house and make as much noise as possible. "If they were successful the offender was often driven out completely. Although such gatherings were illegal they happened throughout Sussex with the last ones recorded as happening as late as the 1950s.

"We want to show how the people of Brighton are making plenty of Rough Music of their own. How people are making Rough Music against City Council and big business profiteering feeding frenzies. "How they are making Rough Music for those who treat their employees like dirt. How they are making Rough Music for businesses who think that the environment and the quality of people's lives is a secondary consideration to the important task of making mega-profits.

"From EDO/MBM the bomb makers to Brighton and Hove City Council, from the Shoreham Airport stitch-up to the sneaking encroachment of the supermarkets into every corner of the city; we say, bring on the music!"

The current four-page issue, number 2, leads with an article on the use of Anti Social Behaviour Orders and Acceptable Behaviour Contracts on the young people of East Brighton estates. There is also a call to "Stop the Bexhill Link Road", a look at the PFI (Public Finance Initiatives) rip-off and a look at plans to privatise council housing in Brighton, among other pieces.

Rough Music can be contacted c/o The Cowley Club at 12 London Road, Brighton or at this address

* Fancy starting up a local newsletter in your home town? There is a section with tips on how to do so on the Porkbolter website