Notes

LONDON is the only British city in the super-league, a world capital along with Paris, New York and Tokyo. Its enormous population of eight million makes it much bigger than other cities. Crucially, it is the centre of Britain's political, economic and cultural life, the seat of our government and one the world's biggest financial markets. It is home to the major national museums, galleries and theatres and the place where multinational companies have their headquarters. It is also where the British media is based from the BBC to Sky and all the national newspapers. No wonder that it is the place where ambitious people from the provinces of Britain and further away come to make their names. Few other countries are dominated by their capital to the same extent. The US has New York, the capital of business, and Washington, the capital government. Germany has Frankfurt and Munich well as its capital Berlin; Spain has Barcelona and Madrid; Italy has Milan and Rome. But Britain has... London, the unrivalled capital whose gravitational force exerts a distorting effect on the rest of the country. Londoners have to pay a price for this status. Even fans of the city admit it is too expensive, too dirty and too crowded. House over in Kensington and many the other travel, averag are high-cost are there prices sky-high and problems, including is Chelsea now c congestion, crime and pollution. The rest of the country shows little UK sympathy. Talk to people around the towards and you find a lot of animosity to capital. Londoners are considered be rude, insular and snobbish, looking down their noses at anyone from the provinces. But the biggest accusation against London is that it sucks talent and resources out of the rest of the country. Ambitious people from the provinces inevitably abandon their hometown and head to the big city in search of streets paved with gold. British governments since the 1960s have been aware of this and have tried to reduce centralisation by moving government departments out of London. But even the creation of local parlia laments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland has done little to reduce Londons power The gravitational pull of the capital is hard to resist. For many people, London is the only place to be has not always been like this. In the Victorian era, Britain's economic landscape was made up of powerful city states, with their own local governments, distinct political cultures and like these world and population northern vibrant of of the bases Liverpool workshops Midlands, London's and cities were manufacturing In Scotland, Manchester, the the and economies. England Birmingham, But cities Glasgow as declined the and economy soared, the capital started to seem less and less like a big British city and more and more like a global metropolis The size of London's economy has even led to suggestions that the capital should declare independence from the rest of the country. Many people might be glad to see it go.