(Update: Tonight’s Glasshouse event is actually gloriously free. Yay.)

Uh-oh. There’s discord in the A List ranks.

It seems that Ryan at Carsonified has a few issues with Web Mission - essentially that it looks to outsiders like British start-ups are coming cap-in-hand to the Americans because we just can’t cut it on our own.

Lend-lease 2.0, if you like.

Mike Butcher has posted a spirited rebuttal on TCUK, pointing out that there’s a difference between visiting the Valley and building a house here. The former allows UK entrepreneurs to explore ’synergies’ (urk) with their SF counterparts - and vice versa - while the latter, I agree, would suggest that the UK can’t manage on its own.

Now, Paul Walsh’s Qik coverage notwithstanding, I have no idea what’s being said behind closed doors at the official events, but certainly at the fringe parties and coincidental social encounters, there hasn’t been a peep about relocation or begging. Well - apart from a few people pondering out loud about the weak dollar meaning one can live in a four star hotel here and eat like a king for less than the rent on a flat in East Dulwich. But that was largely from me.

I do agree with both Mike and Ryan on one thing though - there should be events like this back home in London. There should also be more companies who took the initiative and hopped on a plane themselves knowing that, even if they couldn’t visit Google or sup Techcrunch champagne at the official receptions, there are a shit load of other things going on at the same time, especially with Web 2.0 in town.

The Moo/Flickr party, for example, or Glasshouse with Michael Birch and Jim Buckmaster, or even Love 2.0. And those are just the events happening tonight.

Like so many other conventions and festivals and symposiums, some of the most useful and creative thinking happens in the Fringe events - the stuff that grows around the central platform. There should at least be an unofficial event in London to coincide - perhaps with a live link up or two, time zones permitting. But that’s not the responsibility of the SF trip organisers - it’s the responsibility of those sitting in the UK bitching.

There should be more UK startups here doing there own Fringe events - I am astounded that no one had the idea to sponsor a series of after parties at a dingy bar near the Web Mission hotel for when the day’s official programme ends. Qik got an astounding amount of instant goodwill the other evening when Bhaskar Roy simply bought a bottle of vodka in the Clift.

Perhaps if people who cringe at Web Mission were to change their thinking slightly. To stop seeing the event as a closed garden that many (including me and at least a dozen of the people here) weren’t invited to and more of a platform on which unofficial applications can be built, they might feel more comfortable rallying around it. Creating their own events that take advantage of the fact that - for one week only - there are a ton of Brit tech entrepreneurs in San Francisco, talking to each other and to American counterparts.

If they could do that then we might see the start of a beautiful trans-Atlantic relationship.

So, for those who feel like kicking it off fringe-stylee the WM Fringe kicks off tonight at the Flickr and Moo pre-Web 2.0 meet up. All are welcome. Then it’s Glasshouse and Love 2.0. The former requires advance registration and payment - although it’s free to register - and the latter just needs a Facebook RSVP.

Ok - forgive the rattled-off post. I’m off for cheesecake at the top of Macy’s. But before I go, just in case any of the Web Missioners are considering abandoning the old country for pastures New Media, I’ll leave you with my top five reasons why you really wouldn’t want to relocate to the Bay Area.

1) They insist on serving tea with lemon. “Milk sir? I suppose we might have some out the back.”

2) Your accent means people expect you to be smart and witty. Constantly coming up with bons mots is exhausting. There is also the risk of becoming a caricature just to please the locals. I am currently oscillating between Hugh Grant and Stewie from the Family Guy.

3) Everything cool is at the top of a very steep hill (the Clift is at the bottom of one).

4) There are sharks here.

5) And earthquakes.

Right! Cheesecake!

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