Latest Bill: The value of combining local and global
A few months ago I directed a film for BBC – with Latest TV – on the history of the West Pier and it was great to see my work on BBC 1. Brilliantly shot and edited by my colleague Ant Carpendale and the fascinating story told exuberantly by BBC’s Natalie Graham, it was a highlight of 2016 for me and hopefully quite a few of you. Heh it’s good to combine local and global! (Watch it at www.bit.ly/2k9zd5O)
Next week my colleague Angi Mariani has her film, made as another collaboration of Latest TV and BBC South East on BBC 1 (Inside Out, 7.30pm, Mon 20 March) and it’s also about local and global.
Recently we’ve seen the arrival in Brighton of Uber and the local taxi trade (Streamline, City Cabs, Radio Cabs and the many independent drivers) are not best pleased. Please watch Angi’s BBC programme to hear the key issues which are to my mind safety of passengers and workers’ rights. And of course supporting the local economy.
I like the convenience and value for money you get from the new app-based platforms whether it’s Amazon for books or Apple Music. We, the consumers, need to make value judgements and that’s not about money but about humanity!
Watch Angi’s BBC 1 programme to hear the key issues facing Brighton’s taxis
I make a few, I buy my books at Kemptown Books largely… I recommend City Books and Waterstones too. I respect what Jeff Bezos has done at Amazon… he used to ring me back in the last century to try and persuade me to buy books and records from this new thing the internet. Oh how everyone in our office laughed as we said “Jeff we can go to HMV”. He didn’t stop ringing.
I guess my argument is with the platforms. Essentially, Facebook and Google claim mine and your content for free and take all the advertising revenue attached. Imagine if newspapers didn’t pay for any content. Maybe they should call themselves a platform! The only way for news businesses to make any real money on these “platforms” is by sensationalist news… some call it fake news. So fake news is not a conspiracy it’s just largely people chasing easy bucks.
And heh I’m writing in Latest Homes so let’s talk property platforms. Rightmove is the main platform and their profit margins are colossal. That money comes from estate agents but of course it comes from you. And because Rightmove charge so much, estate agents have to cover these extra costs and that is further leading to the rise of online agents threatening the jobs of all in the property market. Soon property buying and selling could be global and the local trade might be diminished. I’m not at all keen on that!
Do you know what, I’m going to do something about it! To be continued….
