The Brits are special but the real trick is nurturing the next wave of creative talent

I’ve always loved the Brit Awards ever since I bought Smash Hits. You never know what you’re going to get. A punch up? Bizarre speeches? Weird political stunts? It’s a bit like the Labour Party conference. It’s the biggest night of the year for the British music industry and attracts the hottest artists and executives from around the world.

British music is riding high. We are the biggest exporter of recorded music in the world after the US, accounting for one in every eight albums purchased around the world. Creative industries are now worth £92 billion and could be an economic lifeline post- Brexit because we create unique “must-have” artistic products that the rest of the world wants to buy. So it’s vital that future trade negotiations maintain vital intellectual property rights, especially in India, China and Brazil, and our musicians, artists and other talent must be able to move easily around Europe for work when we leave the EU.

Imagine the headache of managing a huge orchestra and having visa dramas and travel restrictions?

But as we watch the glitz and glamour of the Brits tonight it’s easy to forget about the essential elements behind all the commercial success — the music and fresh talent. Without a strong pipeline of talent feeding the music industry, it wouldn’t exist. Finding, nurturing and developing tomorrow’s talent is vital. And you can’t just leave it to luck. Where is our next Stormzy or Dua Lipa?

They may well be at the world-famous Brit school in Croydon, which is funded by money raised by the Brit Awards and which gives young people a free education which specialises in the arts and the creative industries.

The school has produced global superstars such as Adele, Amy Winehouse and Jessie J but also provides high-quality skills for those who want to work behind the scenes in music, film, theatre, television, games or the broader arts.

Young people really want to work in these industries and there are jobs waiting there for them which are exciting, satisfying, fun and the future. Sadly, there’s only one Brit school — although the excellent East London Arts and Music industry academy has recently opened — but two outstanding creative educators based in London are not enough to meet national demand.

All over the country, schools are no longer teaching the arts and there is a decline in creative subjects — there was a seven per cent drop in GCSE entries for music, along with a nine per cent fall in drama and a four per cent fall in art and design.

STEM subjects are important but so are creative disciplines — our future industrial strategy depends on them. Politicians turning up and celebrating the awards ceremonies is fine but they need to join up the dots and take it all back to our classrooms, which should be incubators for creative talent, regardless of social class, background or geography. Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not.

But it’s about more than the money. It’s about the happiness, hope and healing that music and the arts bring. I visited a prison recently with the charity Key4Life, which rehabilitates young men through music. It was a sight to behold. Watching sullen and pretty scary young men burst into life during a writing and performing workshop hosted by successful musicians including Rizzle Kicks was like a scene from a movie. The tiny, threadbare prison chapel was suddenly transformed into a stage with guys creating, performing and being heard.

It was a release for them — and it was every bit as amazing as being at the Brits.

I’m so thrilled Kate hasn’t lost it

I feared for Kate Moss. There was talk of her calming down, munching salads and juicing — boring. So it was terrific to see her stumbling out of a birthday party in the wee hours having jumped out of a cake earlier that night.

I was delighted. Just because a girl reaches her mid-40s does not mean giving up on the elixir of life — fun! I was proud to channel my inner Moss (yes — I’m aware this comparison is brave) on Sunday at the Baftas. What began as an elegant evening ended with me trying to steal a Bafta and crawling out of Chiltern Firehouse at 4am. My Scottish cabbie exclaimed “Still got it hen!” as I fell from the cab giving him the thumbs up. You can take the girl out of Glasgow…

* Last night I went campaigning in Pimlico with MP Jess Phillips to support local Labour candidates standing in council elections on May 3. We gathered at the Tesco Express and headed off to knock on doors in the big housing estate.

It was blustery, freezing cold and everyone was tired having worked all day. And for newbies, it can be daunting knocking on a stranger’s door to ask them about politics. It’s probably easier being a Jehovah’s Witness. These are the hard yards of campaigning where elections are won, and respect to those who do it. It’s easy being a keyboard warrior from the comfort of your smartphone. So before you slag off MPs and activists and lecture them about your new-found expertise, go door-knocking with them on a cold Tuesday evening first.