Congratulations to The Argus on exposing the extraordinary expense of the AVI dinner, apparently costing £52 per head for 500 people.

This was from a £1.2 million grant of public money allocated by the Government.

Whatever happened to those "rubber chickens" and paying for your own ticket?

The £5,000 paid to Nick Ross was completely unnecessary as many would have been prepared to do the job for nothing.

While agreeing that all minority groups should be protected from criminal violence, the impression given is that these groups are to receive preferential treatment at the expense of the rest of us.

Surely all citizens should be treated equally under the law? The public need to have a detailed breakdown of violent crime to see if this large amount of extra funding is justified.

Many would prefer to see it spent on an increased police presence on the streets to deter criminals and reassure the majority. In this way, we would all benefit.

-Alan Nunn, Pipes Close, Hove