Why Isn't The Night Czar The Night Czarina?

Will Noble
By Will Noble Last edited 88 months ago

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Why Isn't The Night Czar The Night Czarina?

The Night Czar now walks among us. And while the name conjures a superhero figure secreted in shadowed alleys, cloak flapping in the wind, we now know the Night Czar is well-known writer, broadcaster, DJ, performer and campaigner Amy Lamé.

Lamé, we reckon, is a good choice. Not just because she already has a captive audience egging her on; she also has a track record of speaking out for London's after-dark businesses and communities. As co-founder and host of Duckie, she helped save the Royal Vauxhall Tavern from the greedy mitts of developers.

The Night Czar walks among us. But doesn't look like this. Photo: Ekaterina Nosenko (Katia).

Good news then, although being the severe pedants we are — we do wonder why the role was billed as Night Czar, and not Night Czar/Czarina? Lamé would probably refer to herself as a comedian as opposed to comedienne. But then surely Czar/Czarina is the equivalent of King/Queen. And what has the long-trampled Russian monarchy got to do with boosting London's night time economy in the first instance?

This is what the Night Czar looks like (in cartoon form).

Here at Londonist HQ, we were soon thinking up alternative names for the Night Czar. We reckon Night Mayor was swerved, in case the nominated candidate turned out to be just that. Actually it's a cool name, and doesn't discriminate on grounds of gender.

If not that, why not Night Knight/Dame of Dawn. Or the Prince/Princess of Darkness, in which case they could have emerged out of the London night, soundtracked by Paranoid.

Other ideas included Sadiq's Moonlight Shadow (an alter ego of the mayor who wakes when he sleeps), The Bedtime Battler and Mr/Mrs Hoot, the London Night Owl.

Why didn't they advertise specifically for a man called Shaun, or a woman called Dawn, so we could have had Dusk Till Dawn Shaun/Dawn?

Maybe Lamé's first action should be to change her job title. She is welcome to pick from the above.

A week's supply of Czar for the Night Czar.

Or perhaps there are more important issues at hand. Lamé has quite the responsibility on their hands; she will be expected to foster an atmosphere of peace and prosperity between partygoers, local authorities and the police. As the Fabric debacle earlier this year taught us, that's not going to be easy.

Like a superhero, she bears the weight of a city's hopes and fears on her shoulders.

As for Lamé's salary: if the London public ever feel they're not getting value for their taxpayers' dollar, we could subsidise our Night Czar with a sponsorship from the vodka brand Czar. Surely a Night Czar's diet is 75% vodka? And maybe THAT's what Russia's got to do with all this.

Perhaps Lamé should keep that job title after all.

Last Updated 04 November 2016