After the Norman Cook event, I don't know how Brighton and Hove City Council or the Sussex Police can justify stopping the real "free parties" that happen out on the Downs and outlying beaches.

Unlike Saturday's event, they attract a few hundred at most, disturb very few people (the whole of Brighton was disturbed by this one) and the rubbish is cleared up.

However, because these things are not approved by the council (they are not, by definition, illegal - contrary to general opinion), the police seem to come down with force on party-goers and organisers alike. I call this double standards.

I stood on the beach knee-deep in rubbish, straining to listen to chart music over the noise of the police helicopter, surrounded by thousands of people who were just standing around chatting.

This is not cutting-edge or what I believe our city is about.

-David Pook, Buckingham Road, Brighton