Matt Haig

We have a family playlist for the car. It is currently 106 hours long. But the kids like adding to it. So we still take it in turns. I am running out of songs I really like. I need suggestions. What is your favourite song to listen to while being in forward motion? My favourites vary. But I like: Chvrches ‘The Mother We Share’. Depeche Mode ‘Enjoy the Silence’. Future Islands ‘Seasons’. Tears for Fears ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’. The Beatles ‘She’s Leaving Home’. Frank Ocean ‘Swim Good’. Eurythmics ‘Here Comes the Rain Again’. A-Ha ‘Stay on These Roads’. Carly Simon ‘Coming Around Again’. The Cure ‘A Forest’. Public Enemy ‘Fight the Power’. Billy Idol ‘Eyes without a Face’. The Human League ‘Human’. Plus stuff by Chappell Roan, Fleetwood Mac, Doechii, Pulp, Kate Bush, Pet Shop Boys, Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, Nirvana, Bowie, Daft Punk, Air, 90s rave, Phil Collins… I could go on. I am pretty eclectic. Anyway. What should I add?

I don’t know why my last tribute to Renee Nicole Good disappeared but it wasn’t me taking it down. Rest her soul. She got killed for refusing to get out of the car to a load of armed gunmen. It could have been defiance, it could have been confusion, it could have been fight or flight, it could have been protest, it could have been common sense, it could have been just looking for a parking space. Whatever it was, it wasn’t something anyone kills anyone for. You don’t stop a car driving away from you by shooting the driver. You shoot the tyres. Stupidity coupled with hatred is a dangerous thing. Who trained these ICE idiots? GTA 5? Right or wrong America seemed so strong, and firm, and authoritative when we were growing up. The mask slipped. Now it has become a shoddy cruel farcical fascist amateur mess. She was a poet. A person. A parent. She was, like everyone, a version of you. The shots ring around the world because they show the utter devaluation of life - all life - that we are witnessing. The Americanised west especially. Everywhere, life is devalued. It is devalued by Elon Musk’s transhumanism. It is devalued by Trump’s rapacious instincts. It is devalued by AI. It is devalued by podcast talk of humans as assets or high/low value individuals. It is devalued by a culture that values barbarism over art. It is devalued by racist ICE agents and their killing (this isn’t their first) and all the cerebrally impotent sad sacks who value them. And most of all it is devalued by the casually indifferent and culturally banal fascists who live among us here as well as America. Take this down too.

Desperately sentimental thought for a cold day.

Switch up. The humans are rising.

I feel strongly about this place. It could be so much better. When I am in Brighton I walk past this place every day. The Palace Pier is an icon. It is - along with the Lanes and the Paviliion - part of the city’s identity. But right now it is shit. And because it is shit, it is being sold. The reason the Brighton Pier Group are giving is that tourist numbers are down. But the problem is bigger. A truly great pier would bring people in. But this is not a great pier. Most people in Brighton aren’t incentivised to walk into the place to visit the dingy windowless arcade and neglected fun fair. Now, I am not against fun fairs. But this one isn’t fun. It is just depressing. The world’s worst ghost train, two rickety rollercoasters and other rides which, for some reason, are all accompanied by the very worst pop dance music of the last forty years. I love funfairs. But this isn’t the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen or even Santa Monica Pier in California which it is twinned with, by the way. This one is just charmless and horrible and smells of despair. No-one in Brighton goes here regularly. But imagine if it was different. Imagine if it was as elegant as the West Pier supposedly once was. If it was full of arts venues it would revive Brighton. Imagine it. A theatre, a cinema, a live music venue, an art and photography gallery showcasing local talent, restaurants, coffee shops, a branch of @goldsborobooks or @citybooksbookshop, a proper promenade, a running track, a cool bar instead of that shit pub, a little cute gym at the end of the pier. And all the outside paths free entry. Dogs allowed. I know that Brighton Council aren’t selling it directly but they are overseeing it. So I really hope they help it fall into the right hands. The seafront badly needs culture and a bit of panache and a year round incentive to visit. No one travels to Brighton just to visit a terrible fair at the end of a blustery pier. And they certainly won’t when a massive Universal theme park arrives in the southeast in 2030. So think differently. I have imagined how it could be almost every time I pass it. Brighton is great. But it could be a lot better.