Mike Howard is a great example of why theatres and arts venues across the country are dying - pure snobbery.

If a man with such a great talent as Russell Watson can bring together an audience which cuts across age, background and upbringing, does it really matter where he was raised?

Russell is a performer whose versatility and talent allow him to perform operatic classics alongside modern pieces and lose the stiffness and formality that would usually obtain at such an event.

As a city of culture, Brighton and Hove should embrace the diversity of his performance and, if Russell says you don't have to be fat to be an opera singer, I say you don't have to possess journalistic talent to write a review.

-Sue Kybett, Downsway, Southwick