Latest Bill: Brighton’s supercity status is akin to Austin, Texas
A while ago I wrote a fairly vitriolic piece about how much I hated The 10 O’Clock Show, or as I called it ‘The Soho House Dinner Party’. If you were unlucky enough to watch it you’ll remember it starred four rich media Londoners, probably as rich as hedge fund managers – Charlie Brooker, Lauren Laverne, David Mitchell and yes, Jimmy Carr – telling daring jokes about other rich Londoners known as bankers. They also predictably made fun of Sun readers and Glaswegians. I mean, why didn’t they just come out and say it? “We hate the working class, we hate Northerners, we hate rich bankers”, all with obligatory cool Channel 4 swearing.
It was obvious what they did like. Themselves! I didn’t publish the article because it seemed a bit bitter but hey, I should have because everyone would have known how prescient I am, spotting the hypocrisy of The 10 O’Clock Show’s Jimmy Carr. I actually quite liked Jimmy: he didn’t seem such a hypocrite because he always seemed a little amoral. He looked like he’d kick a tramp down the street and then complain about the state of his shoes.
I still like Jimmy better than his co-presenters. You can tell he’s an ordinary man, just like Ken Dodd or Harry Redknapp or Gary Barlow. That’s why we love them.
Hang on… What’s really happening is that the charmers are losing their charm. Behind their painted-on smiles we see the grasping, insecure ugliness and hypocrisy of Looking After Number One while at the same time having a go at some scapegoat.
I agree with my comedian friend Arnold Brown who, when talking about London television big shots, said: “These people are leeches and parasites and I want to work for them”. Or do I?
“Adele, ‘Skyfall’s’ good but can we have ‘From Brighton With Love’ as well?”
Where I do want to join London is by making Brighton a (TV) supercity but perhaps we need to have a model. Austin, Texas is one of the fastest-growing, youngest, most energetic cities there is. It has a universally accepted slogan: ‘The Live Music Capital of the World’, and an unofficial one: ‘Keep Austin Weird’. It has the most famous music TV show in the USA, Austin City Limits, and major music and film festivals.
But we are catching up! BIMM, The Great Escape, Shakedown and Cinecity are all recent additions to Brighton.
Austin also has major companies with HQs or regional HQs there like Google, Apple, Dell and another appropriate nickname, ‘Silicon Hills’. We likewise need to support our new and growing companies and our growing digital economy. Import companies yes, but grow our own (and I don’t mean apples) is more important!
Brighton needs to think of a few nicknames and make a few TV programmes that will put our name everywhere. Visit Brighton, The Latest, The Argus and Juice should get together to do this. Encourage our stars to live and work here! Steve Coogan, David Walliams, Adele. Do some ads with our new slogan! Adele, ‘Skyfall’s’ good but can we have ‘From Brighton With Love’ as well?! Oh, and put up a few signs saying ‘Kemptown Village’. Let’s not be ashamed of our amazing G scene!
We can easily and very quickly become ‘The Coolest and Sexiest City on Earth’, or whichever slogan we all agree on. Let’s get on with it!
