Christmas is upon us once more and as I sat wrapping my presents my thoughts went out to all the mentally handicapped people in the world who will never know or understand what Christmas is.

Over the past year I have avidly been following the saga of the Palmeira Project, the home of autistic children threatened with closure.

I bet those children do not know it is Christmas. How tragic it must be for their parents - who have to carry the burden and worry of caring for these unpredictable, self-damaging little individuals over the long period of the Christmas holiday and beyond - to have been told the home will almost certainly close in 2001.

I just wonder if the councillors who made this harsh decision will ever feel an ounce of guilt at the pain they are causing. To put these vulnerable handicapped children and their families through this awful, uncertain trauma is shameful and is a waste of taxpayers' money.

It is morally wrong and something should be done to keep the Palmeira Project open at all costs - or do we have to advise these caring parents to take their case to the European courts?

Come on Brighton and Hove Council - do something. Give us all a New Year's present and make the City of Brighton and Hove the Place to Be even if you are mentally handicapped.

-Celia Webster, Shepherd's Croft, Brighton