Boris Johnson - Ping Pong is coming home

[The Large One]

you put cringingly pretentious quotations on your avatar thingy and you say i live in a wierd world.


sorry but the whole city thing, simon fanshawe and the barcelona in britain cappachino in the north laine thing is very wanky. its a shame as it never used to be like this and real brighton still exists. but its the 'lifestyle' thing that is very cringy. but then someone who quotes betrand russell on a football website probably appreciates the mix.

Don't tell me learning, culture and education scare you, do they?

True, on many levels Brighton is just another provincial town/city like many others, with its fair share of conservative locals, and small-town reactionary ideals, but on other levels, at least it has endeavoured to re-invent itself as something else other than what so many other places end up providing. And if the alternative is to stagnate and be judged alongside Blackpool or Weston-Super-Mare, I think I'll go for the re-invention, ta.

So what should Brighton aspire to? The same as everywhere else?

If the real Brighton still exists, and you make full use of it, what is it to you that there is another Brighton that others seem to wish to enjoy? Sorry if you find the North Laine culture wanky, and that drinking a cup of coffee in a café is so abhorrent to you, but for all its faults, I for one am glad it's there.

 

[Nibble]

Nibble - what is a Metal Club ?

Y'know, rock music, Metal nightclub.

 

[The Spanish]

Don't tell me learning, culture and education scare you, do they?

True, on many levels Brighton is just another provincial town/city like many others, with its fair share of conservative locals, and small-town reactionary ideals, but on other levels, at least it has endeavoured to re-invent itself as something else other than what so many other places end up providing. And if the alternative is to stagnate and be judged alongside Blackpool or Weston-Super-Mare, I think I'll go for the re-invention, ta.

So what should Brighton aspire to? The same as everywhere else?

If the real Brighton still exists, and you make full use of it, what is it to you that there is another Brighton that others seem to wish to enjoy? Sorry if you find the North Laine culture wanky, and that drinking a cup of coffee in a café is so abhorrent to you, but for all its faults, I for one am glad it's there.

i am not sure that few starbucks makes 21st century brighton a modern day renaissance venice. culture learning and education, behave its a POSE.

i know what you mean about the alternative being stagnation but this reinvention comes with such a large dollop of cun tishness its hard to swallow. i try not to be a thick philistine, but lets not bullshit OURSELVES about this, leave that to miles and jocasta from clapham who have found this FAB little place in brighton somewhere called......hanover?

 

[The Large One]

i am not sure that few starbucks makes 21st century brighton a modern day renaissance venice. culture learning and education, behave its a POSE.

Is that as far as your sophistication goes? Starbucks. Jesus wept, there are groups of people wanting to keep Starbucks OUT of Brighton.

There's more to a cup of coffee than spending an unnecessary fortune on foul-tasting swill in a low-grade, over expensive shithole like Starbucks, you know.

i know what you mean about the alternative being stagnation but this reinvention comes with such a large dollop of cun tishness its hard to swallow. i try not to be a thick philistine, but lets not bullshit OURSELVES about this, leave that to miles and jocasta from clapham who have found this FAB little place in brighton somewhere called......hanover?

Your point being?

Someone who wants to move out of London for a quieter life by the sea because (admittedly in coming own to Brighton pushes house prices up - but where hasn't that happened?) they find London life intolerable is a cunt? Got ya.

Actually, I'm quite glad Miles and Jocasta are here, especially if the alternative is a conservative (with a small 'c'), small-minded, small-town reactionary set of ideals running the place. f***, at that rate, and with a little more effort, we could be... Stevenage.

It's a pity you can't appreciate the Brighton now compared to the Brighton of 20 years ago (a forlorn dump).

 

[The Spanish]

Is that as far as your sophistication goes? Starbucks. Jesus wept, there are groups of people wanting to keep Starbucks OUT of Brighton.

There's more to a cup of coffee than spending an unnecessary fortune on foul-tasting swill in a low-grade, over expensive shithole like Starbucks, you know.

you are coming across as a right snob.


hahaha can you give me a lecture on fine wines and cigars next please?

yes i am sure that there are people trying to keep starbucks out of brighton, that is very embarassing too.

Actually, I'm quite glad Miles and Jocasta are here, especially if the alternative is a conservative (with a small 'c'), small-minded, small-town reactionary set of ideals running the place. f***, at that rate, and with a little more effort, we could be... Stevenage.


you are wildly or wilfully missing my point. brighton was far from conservative (small c, always was big C) long before the influx of the last property boom victors. I enjoy that side of Brighton and am proud of it. What I turn my nose up at is the doing it by numbers. its plasticy and lacks conviction. to state that the place is in danger of becoming stevenage without them is ludicrous, and proves you are just having a pop.

you seemed to know your stuff but the snobbery came out and you lost it, or wanted to show off that you know your arabica beans.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

The Spanish is correct - Brighton was a liberal town long before recent years. The first labour seat ever in Sussex in 1964.

 

[The Large One]

Is that as far as your sophistication goes? Starbucks. Jesus wept, there are groups of people wanting to keep Starbucks OUT of Brighton.

There's more to a cup of coffee than spending an unnecessary fortune on foul-tasting swill in a low-grade, over expensive shithole like Starbucks, you know.

you are coming across as a right snob.


hahaha can you give me a lecture on fine wines and cigars next please?

yes i am sure that there are people trying to keep starbucks out of brighton, that is very embarassing too.

Actually, I'm quite glad Miles and Jocasta are here, especially if the alternative is a conservative (with a small 'c'), small-minded, small-town reactionary set of ideals running the place. f***, at that rate, and with a little more effort, we could be... Stevenage.


you are wildly or wilfully missing my point. brighton was far from conservative (small c, always was big C) long before the influx of the last property boom victors. I enjoy that side of Brighton and am proud of it. What I turn my nose up at is the doing it by numbers. its plasticy and lacks conviction. to state that the place is in danger of becoming stevenage without them is ludicrous, and proves you are just having a pop.

you seemed to know your stuff but the snobbery came out and you lost it, or wanted to show off that you know your arabica beans.

You talk about my snobbery, then promote your own as if you are some kind of keeper of the flame, and that your brand of snobbery doesn't count - keeping out the hordes who have infested our beloved town.

What is this plasticity - or falseness - you refer to? A lot of people coming down from London? Plastic doesn't come into it - it's completely irrelevant. You are a hometown inverted snob - it's that simple.


Oh, and if you read up about Starbucks, you'll realise just how unenlightened your opening phrase is.

Oh, and Brighton is VERY conservative. The political views (a point you are wilfully missing) is not the issue. It's the incomers who make it what it is - you say plastic, I say vibrant. Your disdain at people coming in make you a a point in case. In other words, you don't like a lot of people coming in from out of town.

 

[The Large One]

The Spanish is correct - Brighton was a liberal town long before recent years. The first labour seat ever in Sussex in 1964.

Being liberal and voting Labour (or Liberal, even) are two separate things.

If I get this right, 'liberal' in the sense you mean it is to have a less staid, stodgy, reactionary view on social life. To allow a certain joie de vivre, if you like.

Doesn't mean you don't want to vote for a Conservative MP, which is what Brighton has done for the majority of its parliamentary life.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Being liberal and voting Labour (or Liberal, even) are two separate things.

If I get this right, 'liberal' in the sense you mean it is to have a less staid, stodgy, reactionary view on social life. To allow a certain joie de vivre, if you like.

Doesn't mean you don't want to vote for a Conservative MP, which is what Brighton has done for the majority of its parliamentary life.

Brighton has always been a largely tolerant place. In a sea of true-blue conservatism it has taken a different view of things. It is the type of attitude that made gay people able to be more relaxed about their sexuality. It was 15 years ago my nephews said it was the one place that walking around with their pony-tails and Nirvana (or whatever) t-shirts they did not feel different or threatened. It has generally welcomed newcomers to the area - and there have been many. Going labour in the 60's illustrated the liberal side to the place. It is a place that has generally let people get on with their lives.

This is no new attitude brought in the last decade. It has been embraced in that period - but not introduced.

 

[Robot Chicken]

This is the precise point, do you remember in '96 in Atlanta when the Aussies had their 10 minutes handover slot and bounced in on space hoppers like kangaroos and the whole world thought they were mad ?

How good were the Sydney Olympics ?

London will be superb but in a different way.

Here is the Aussie introduction from 1996
[yt]jFIZWOwJqIE[/yt]

 

[The Spanish]

You talk about my snobbery, then promote your own as if you are some kind of keeper of the flame, and that your brand of snobbery doesn't count - keeping out the hordes who have infested our beloved town.

What is this plasticity - or falseness - you refer to? A lot of people coming down from London? Plastic doesn't come into it - it's completely irrelevant. You are a hometown inverted snob - it's that simple.


Oh, and if you read up about Starbucks, you'll realise just how unenlightened your opening phrase is.

Oh, and Brighton is VERY conservative. The political views (a point you are wilfully missing) is not the issue. It's the incomers who make it what it is - you say plastic, I say vibrant. Your disdain at people coming in make you a a point in case. In other words, you don't like a lot of people coming in from out of town.

its things like 'oh and if you read up about starbucks'. come off it who gives a f*** about reading up about starbucks. small company no one gave a f*** got big oooh its bad the end.

brighton is full of incomers we are almost none of us descended from martha f***ing gunn or some shepherd on the downs. you are not telling me anything enlightening or perceptive apart from unless i embrace this i am a div. that doesnt really hold water.

i am no keeper of the flame there is no flame to keep. it is (in british terms) a relatively new town with a large transient population. you are just name calling and posturing, not offering any insight into the significant changes of the last ten years or so merely taking the high ground on sophistication.

the plasticity is being constantly bombarded with a sales pitch from various factions about how groovy it is. it attracts people with nothing to offer the idiosyncratic nature of the place, merely those who bask in the reflected glory of living there.

using the word 'vibrant'. please no. that is as meaningless a word in modern english as 'respect', or 'core values' or any other sort of language you would read in a new labour council handout.

 

[The Large One]

its things like 'oh and if you read up about starbucks'. come off it who gives a f*** about reading up about starbucks. small company no one gave a f*** got big oooh its bad the end.

brighton is full of incomers we are almost none of us descended from martha f***ing gunn or some shepherd on the downs. you are not telling me anything enlightening or perceptive apart from unless i embrace this i am a div. that doesnt really hold water.

i am no keeper of the flame there is no flame to keep. it is (in british terms) a relatively new town with a large transient population. you are just name calling and posturing, not offering any insight into the significant changes of the last ten years or so merely taking the high ground on sophistication.

the plasticity is being constantly bombarded with a sales pitch from various factions about how groovy it is. it attracts people with nothing to offer the idiosyncratic nature of the place, merely those who bask in the reflected glory of living there.

And for no apparent reason, that pisses you off royally.

So who should reflect in the glory of living here - seeing as you feel that there is a glory in living here?

Incidentally, you're doing it again - accusing me of doing things that you're doing yourself. In this case, you're name-calling and posturing by accusing me of name-calling and posturing.

Anyway, I disagree with the point you finally got round to making. To say people are coming in with nothing to offer is, in itself, posturing and, more pertinently, disingenuous.

 

[NMH]

For one of Britain's more celebrated cities, it's about time that some money was actually spent on doing the place up a bit. To start with, let's get RID of that eyesore that remains of the West Pier - and ffs, how long is West St. going to be a construction-site disaster? How long does it take to get stuff done??

I recall the refurbishing of the Pavilion roofs took TEN effing YEARS to complete! WTF?

 

[The Large One]

Brighton has always been a largely tolerant place. In a sea of true-blue conservatism it has taken a different view of things. It is the type of attitude that made gay people able to be more relaxed about their sexuality. It was 15 years ago my nephews said it was the one place that walking around with their pony-tails and Nirvana (or whatever) t-shirts they did not feel different or threatened. It has generally welcomed newcomers to the area - and there have been many. Going labour in the 60's illustrated the liberal side to the place. It is a place that has generally let people get on with their lives.

This is no new attitude brought in the last decade. It has been embraced in that period - but not introduced.

I agree about the liberal attitudes within the town and its liberal history - there is little denying that, though it's an attitude which pisses The Spanish off because he feels it attracts people who are 'reflecting in that glory' and who aren't offering anything to the town - as though that was the raison d'etre of being in Brighton.

There has been a change in political attitudes - especially in the centre. We have exclusively Green Party councillors in the centre of Brighton, for instance.

But taking the city as a whole - unless you were only ever talking about the centre - one, we have now reverted to a near-Tory controlled council, and the Labour influence you were talking about in the 1960s was, one, partially indicative of the country as a whole and two, short-lived. We then had Conservative MPs from 1970 to 1997.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

I always believed Hove and Brighton to be different place in those days. I was talking about Brighton. And it was not indicative of the county (not country) as a whole - and that is part of the point I was making. Brighton was always different.

 

[The Spanish]

I agree about the liberal attitudes within the town and its liberal history - there is little denying that, though it's an attitude which pisses The Spanish off because he feels it attracts people who are 'reflecting in that glory' and who aren't offering anything to the town - as though that was the raison d'etre of being in Brighton.

There has been a change in political attitudes - especially in the centre. We have exclusively Green Party councillors in the centre of Brighton, for instance.

But taking the city as a whole - unless you were only ever talking about the centre - one, we have now reverted to a near-Tory controlled council, and the Labour influence you were talking about in the 1960s was, one, partially indicative of the country as a whole and two, short-lived. We then had Conservative MPs from 1970 to 1997.

the liberal history is one of the towns greatest strengths. my point it has been diluted to the point of beinmg meaningless due to a guardian saturday supplement 'lets move to' influx that has affected countless places in the south east that had some character until people with oodles of equity picked it up on their radar. you get me wrong mate there is little i hate about the town except a vacuousness that was never there before. Surely you can see that.

its not aching for an era of candy floss and dirty weekends and razor gangs and knocker boys just out of reach just an acknowledgement that in the last decade or so the place has sold its soul to the devil. we used to be the town helping the police with its inquiries, now we are the town helping people with their portfolios and good schools for Little Rufus. You know what I am saying why kick against that. come on mate this is getting boring. i thought you were one of the more clued up on here. you are making this needlessly difficult.

 

[The Large One]

I'm delighted that Little Rufus is coming to Brighton.

My missus does, after all, own her private school.

Seriously, are you saying that all these namby-pamby, sandal-wearing, Guardian-reading, tofu-belching IT geeks from Clapham and Putney are a bad thing? It will be when the city is infested with them. Until then...

 

[The Spanish]

I'm delighted that Little Rufus is coming to Brighton.

My missus does, after all, own her private school.

Seriously, are you saying that all these namby-pamby, sandal-wearing, Guardian-reading, tofu-belching IT geeks from Clapham and Putney are a bad thing? It will be when the city is infested with them. Until then...

making me laugh is not helping when i am trying to be annoyed.

 

[Buzzer]

Being liberal and voting Labour (or Liberal, even) are two separate things.

If I get this right, 'liberal' in the sense you mean it is to have a less staid, stodgy, reactionary view on social life. To allow a certain joie de vivre, if you like.

Doesn't mean you don't want to vote for a Conservative MP, which is what Brighton has done for the majority of its parliamentary life.

Damn right that you can be a Tory and a liberal (small l). In fact, I know some gayers with pretty right wing views economically and very liberal attitudes to what goes. The idea that gayers are all raving lefties is very far from true. At Pride for instance, the gay Conservatives float easily outshone the miserable socialist effort.

 

[Buzzer]

duplicate post.

EDIT - whilst I'm here I seem to recall that Brighton Kemptown holds the record for the largest Parliamentary majority, for the Conservative party. Can't be arsed to check though.