Andrew Kay is the original ‘yes’ man

Yes, yes, yes. Oh how I wish we could found a society for people who liked to say ‘yes’. In 25 years of living in Brighton I have never understood why this is the city that so often likes to say ‘no’. You encounter it almost everywhere you go and in so much of what you can do. At least I seem to, and I don’t think that I ask too much, well not often anyway.

I was brought up to always try to say yes. Over the years it has got me into all sorts of trouble, a lot of which I can’t go into here.

“There have probably been ten times the number of great outcomes”

But for every bit of trouble having a positive attitude has prompted, there have probably been ten times the number of great outcomes. Okay some of my yeses have lead to losses, some to financial disaster and some to emotional grief, but on the whole, things haven’t been too bad.

I did once say yes to a new job, headhunted once again to a post that seemed so tempting, well the financial remuneration anyway. It was a disaster, I hated it, hated the place and hated some, not all, but some of the people that I had to work with. But I did learn a massive lesson. If someone waves a huge sum of money at you think very carefully before you bank it. Maybe it will be good, in my case it was not. A carrot dangled to lure me into a blind alley where after two years there was only one way out, and that was to the pavement with my personal belongings in a black bin bag. Unhappy days, but not an experience I hope that I will ever have to endure again. Saying yes that time had been a big mistake.

Here in Brighton and Hove there is a general mood of ‘no’. No we don’t want a Frank Gehry building, no we don’t want any new development at the Marina, no we don’t want all kinds of things.

‘But I didn’t say no!’ I hear you say, and maybe you didn’t. But did you say yes? No, I thought not.
It’s a strange trait that as a people the Brits love to protest and say no. Spot a potential problem, highlight an issue and any number of people will come out and help you to say no. Recognise an advancement and you might think, ‘oh good,’ but do we get off our backsides and say yes? Not often enough I reckon. I wish I had joined a body of people lobbying for the Gehry building, a vocal body I mean and not just a group of mates sat about saying, ‘well I really like it’.

So it’s a yes from me, well most of the time. I reserve the right to say no to a few things – like pineapple and morris dancing.

How often do you say yes? comment@thelatest.co.uk