A big cheer for Norman Cook but a small boo to The Argus for your pessimistic coverage of Saturday's Big Beach Boutique II event.

Why wasn't The Argus headline more positive about Saturday's free Normstock concert? Rather than "Never again", why not "Local economy receives welcome boost in wet summer" or "250,000 have peaceful free time - few arrests"?

I went with my wife and friends last Saturday. It was an incredible atmosphere, reminiscent of Millennium New Year's Eve.

Everywhere, clubbers of all ages and entire families with children were intent on enjoying the event peacefully and having fun.

Despite some reports to the contrary, there were only half a dozen arrests, compared to the 200 arrests at the recent Oasis concert in Finsbury Park, London, which had half the number of people attending compared to Brighton beach.

Because of the success of last year's event and the advance TV and radio publicity given to Normstock II, it was obvious more people would wish to attend, so placing additional pressure on emergency and transport services.

Well, obvious to everyone except the managers of these services, who it appeared to take by complete surprise.

I suggest, next year, the authorities ensure this is a ticket-only event with tickets available in advance only.

This would ensure that Brighton and Hove City Council and emergency and transport services could limit the number of people on the beach and prepare contingency plans to ensure that the infrastructure of Brighton and Hove could cope with them.

Perhaps the introduction of a small cover charge would assist in the cost of cleaning up the beach?

Anyway, well done, Norman. I look forward to Normstock III.

-Craig Turton, Dean Gardens, Portslade