Londoners unsure whether to offer a biscuit or a flag
By Lowri Griffiths | North London journalist. Owned by two cats and an outstanding Oyster card debt.
Sources: Bohiney Magazine | The London Prat
Texas Has Come to London. God Help Us All.
The news that Texas has opened a London office arrived in my inbox on a grey Tuesday morning, which felt appropriate. I was eating toast. The toast was also grey. This is North London in April.
I have nothing against Texas. I have watched Friday Night Lights. I understand the cultural contribution. But I am struggling to envision what a Texas London office actually does. Does it represent the interests of Texas? Does it sell brisket? Is it a consulate for people who are constitutionally unable to make a queue?
What London Makes of All This
I asked three people outside my local Lidl what they thought about Texas opening a London office. One said “Is that near Canary Wharf?” One said “I thought Brexit was supposed to stop this sort of thing.” And one, an older gentleman with a magnificent moustache, said “Texas? Good beef.” That last man is, I believe, the voice of the British people.
The Guardian’s Texas coverage has been extensive over the years, mostly involving guns and electricity failures. Perhaps London can offer Texas something in return: a functioning national grid and the quiet dignity of losing gracefully.
The Bigger Picture
We are, it seems, in an era of cities opening offices in other cities as though nations have given up on nations entirely and gone full franchise. London is now home to the Texas office, the OpenAI office, and presumably at some point an office representing the emotional state of the global economy, which would be located somewhere in Bethnal Green and permanently understaffed.
Meanwhile, Britain continues managing its decline with the quiet competence of a hotel that has run out of towels but still offers a very good breakfast. We are, at least, good at breakfast.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/texas-launches-london-office/
Also see: The Daily Mash
