I must express my astonishment about the total lack of commitment, enthusiasm and loyalty displayed by Brighton and Hove City Council during the Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations.

The whole weekend was very badly advertised by the media, who approached the celebrations with a totally negative attitude.

They did very little to promote the festivities in London, hence many people missed out on the events.

In Brighton and Hove, very little was done because of lack of communication and backing from the council, which did nothing but make it difficult for anyone trying to arrange a street party. I heard the busiest place in the city this bank holiday was Asda. How sad.

This day will never be repeated in most of our lifetimes and to let it pass as it did is a crying shame.

We are a city, aren't we? Who would ever know? For goodness' sake, wake up, Brighton and Hove. All the hype over the football is fine - if you like football - but to celebrate the Queen's 50-year reign is a part of our and our children's history.

I went to London last Monday and sat out on the pavement with thousands of people there until the concert started.

Then we were all literally dancing in the streets. The atmosphere was like nothing I have ever experienced before. With more than one million people outside the Palace, 20,000 inside and only three arrests says it all.

My family and I had a fantastic evening and would not have missed it for the world. The sight and sound of the fireworks was astonishing and will remain with me forever.

It was a shame I had to come back to boring old Brighton and Hove.

-J Corlett, Jeancorlet@aol.com