When I realised the Labour conference was fast approaching, I did what most Brighton citizens did. I sighed, put down the paper and thought about how blocked up Kings Road was going to get.

I imagined protesters marching up my street when I thought it was safe to go to Budgens in my bathrobe or how I might be strip-searched at the station for whistling conspicuously.

But I never really imagined how interesting things could be when the great circus of the Labour Party conference came to town.

I wandered down to the seafront and saw dozens of police officers, some of whom had been dragged from as far away as Lancashire, standing resolutely in front of the Brighton Centre in the rain and scores of police motorbikes strutting up and down the front.

I noted how extensive security had become at the station.

One officer refused to move from his stance that blocked the entrance to the photo booth, preferring to pose resolutely and stare forward, presumably to protect the unsuspecting public from garish passport photos.

-James Moran, Brighton