 HaVING BEEN badly caught out by last winter's ice and snow (see above), when its lack of road gritters provoked residents to a mood which, according to an official report, was "angry, vitriolic and even venomous", Brighton council has spent ?1 million on a new fleet of 4x4 gritters to ensure that, in the renewed blizzards predicted for this winter, the city's roads are kept clear. Bully for them, you might think - what a far-sighted council. Except that, in May this year, the people of Brighton voted in Britain's first Green council, electing 23 councillors who swept to power convinced that Brighton and the world were faced with catastrophe through runaway global warming.