WHAT a sorry state of affairs Southampton is in when the city council said it could not afford to fund a giant TV screen in Mayflower Park so that citizens of Southampton could witness the Duchess of Cambridge naming the Royal Princess.

(“All those nice things have changed, there is now no money. The costs involved are not just providing the screen but roads would have to be closed and there would be police to be paid for, so this is not an option.”) I refer to the article in the Daily Echo on June 12 concerning the cruise ship naming ceremony.

The cruise industry brings a vast amount of money into our city for which I’m sure Southampton City Council are very grateful, and to say “there is now no money”

makes me wonder if the huge salaries the councillors pay themselves were cut by even a quarter, then Southampton could afford to stage the event. It’s not even as if a ceremony such as this occurs very often and I imagine a huge number of citizens were very disappointed not to have been able to see the ceremony.

I don’t suppose Southampton City Council care a jot but I for one am a very disgusted citizen.

JEAN CROUCHER, Lyndhurst.