Words: twitten, n.

NO SOONER has Fatboy Slim's arrival in Hove turned every whist- drive into a rave than the Town Hall shook during a public inquiry over the recent banning of motor-cars from George Street, a shopping thoroughfare.

Traders claim that mere fume-free pedestrians do not spend as much and that this was a political wangle by councillor, now MP Ivor Caplin. Much of the many days' debate was occupied with the future role of an alley; at every mention, this had the note "or twitten": not some legal nicety, but Sussexspeak for alleyway, from the Old English twicen. Although Sussex trugs are now in every B&Q, it will take more metrical ingenuity than digitial savvy to make Gracie Fields's spirit sing of "Sally! Sally!/Pride of our twitten".