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Brown’s flawed welfare policies real cause of North-South divide

Wednesday, 8th August 2007

“The proceeds of turbo-capitalist London are being used to create a level of state dependency in the British regions reminiscent of the Soviet era”

No city today compares to the phenomenon that is London. The closest analogy I have found is a description of Berlin in 1927, a time where it was booming and when most of its people were from somewhere else. “This city exists outside Germany, outside Europe. It is its own capital,” wrote the novelist Joseph Roth.

Ditto London today. A third of those who live there were born not just outside the city, but outside Britain. It may be England’s largest city, but it is no longer really English. And nor is its economic success.

Much of the diagnosis of Britain’s economic health is done from organisations based in London. It is tempting to peer out the window at the explosion of human capital and resources and declare that the economy has never been so good, as some of the less prudent City economists are sometimes wont to do.

In truth, Britain has suffered a pedestrian economic performance since Labour came to power: most OECD countries have fared better from the expansion of the globalised economy. The UK figures also mask a huge disparity between London’s boom and the atrocious performance of the rest of the UK.

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John Lewcock

August 9th, 2007 12:28pm

What do you expect when our current Government leaders were brought up to believe that Stalin's failure was that he didnt make Socialism work. The man from the manse and his sycophants will show how socialism works.