A happy New Year to all readers. What a disappointing, Scrooge-like festive celebration Brighton and Hove City Council managed for us this time - no lights, no trees around the city, no New Year celebrations at the Steine, no fireworks and not even a free concert for the youngsters.

The place to be?

But we do have parking wardens - oh, yes, an army of them, swarming over motorists foolish enough to stop their cars for two microseconds on obscure, nay invisible, yellow lines.

Bingo, you've won a prize - a ticket for £60.

Well, yes, but you have to pay our hard-up council. It needs the money, you see, to pay for the next seasonal festivities.

-Keith W D Jago, Uplands Road, Brighton