Last weekend I had a conversation with a London colleague of mine and it was the kind of conversation that's becoming all too common.

She'd just been to Bristol for the first time and wanted to tell me about what a wonderful city it was.

How she'd loved the waterfront, Clifton village, the Suspension Bridge, Ashton Court and many other places besides.

Nothing wrong with that you might think but, hang on, my problem is the way she said it.

She had that slightly surprised, slightly patronising air to her, as if she expected the city to be littered with tractors and carrot fields.

It was almost a revelation to her that there were galleries here, a world renowned theatre, first-class shopping, restaurants, and bars and not a one-horse town inhabited by red-nosed, straw-chewing cider drinkers.

That is just one reason why the Banksy exhibition was so fantastic for Bristol and that is why it is so important we become a host city if England wins its 2018 world cup bid.

Imagine for example the Brazilian team basing themselves here during the competition – what a treat, what a coup.

We'd become a Samba city overnight and all of a sudden the multi-layered delights Bristol had to offer would be beamed to millions around the world, night after night.

It's advertising money simply can't buy.

Apart from the obvious feelgood factor and the immediate benefits to businesses big and small, imagine the legacy – among many other things, a world-class sports stadium.

Isn't it about time we shook off that sleeping giant status and shattered that parochial tag we seem to be stuck with at the moment? If you think yes, and I hope you do, then get behind the bid.

You might think it doesn't matter how others see Bristol and you might also want to keep this place a secret but I don't – I want to shout about it.

You may have noticed recently that the BBC has gone firmly on the front foot over proposals to 'top slice' the licence fee and share it out, partly to help regional news and regional newspapers.

There is also real concern about the anti-competitive nature of the BBC's brilliant online offering.

Broadly speaking the BBC says its defence of the status quo is motivated, not by self-protection but by what they think we – the licence fee payers – want.

So please tell me then what they had in mind when they decided to schedule the new series of Strictly Come Dancing right up against X Factor on ITV?

I admit that I'm not a devotee of either programme but I know many who are so where's the public service in pitching them head to head and provoking rows in households up and down the country?

By the way, if you are a fan of Strictly, did you know it was thought up and devised by a former BBC producer who went to Bristol Poly and whose mum used to run a restaurant on Christmas Steps?

Well now you do.

If I'd spent a small fortune on going to watch England play Australia in any of the first one day internationals I'd be pretty, well to put it politely, disappointed.

In fact, so much so, I'd be considering a trades descriptions action through the small claims courts.

Buying a ticket entitles you to watch a cricket match – the problem is, so far, we've yet to see anything close to one!