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Friday 29 August 2008

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London is the new Venice

London matches the glory of Venice in its prime

Ross Clark

Wednesday, 11th July 2007

Ross Clark says that our capital has the geographical, economic and social conditions that made the Venetian city-state of the 14th century — but all this is vulnerable

When Tony Blair secured the agreement of the Scots and — only just — the Welsh for devolution in the referendums of 1998, it was supposed to herald a great revival of the regions. Britain was to be reborn as a kind of West Germany, whose constitution included a reference to ironing out the economic disparities between Hamburg and Munich, Frankfurt and Hanover. Instead, the opposite seems to have occurred. The concept of elected English regional assemblies has been quietly forgotten since rejection in the North East, and wealth and power have been concentrated increasingly in London — to the point where the average Londoner now earns £37,323 per year, 53 per cent more than average British earnings. Indeed, the part of England that now seems most inclined towards independence is the capital itself.

Intriguingly, the notion that London could hack it as a city-state has been entertained at both ends of the political spectrum. For economic liberals independence is a way of freeing London from the burden of its

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Here’s how McCain can beat Obama to the White House

Reihan Salam

The acclaimed young Republican writer, Reihan Salam, says that McCain can win the presidency if he appeals relentlessly to the non-college-educated white middle class, pursues family-friendly tax reform and stands for global peace through American strength

Beijing Notebook

Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson recalls his recent jaunt to China on the occasion of the Olympic games

Our obsession with paedophilia is more dangerous than Gary Glitter’s return

Rod Liddle

Rod Liddle says that the hunt for this foul child molester is the symptom of an unhealthy and disproportionate fixation that has spawned all sorts of absurd rules and regulations

Confessions of a travelling non-dom

O`ar Pali

O’ar Pali says it isn’t easy being on planes next to strangers all the time — and you quickly find there are a series of character types, dying to tell you about themselves

Reading on the web is not really reading

Susan Jacoby

Susan Jacoby laments the intellectual crisis now gripping America and says that the torrent of digital infotainment is threatening basic literacy and news knowledge

Economic recovery plan? Forget it, Gordon

Martin Vander Weyer

The Prime Minister’s survival is pinned on a September ‘relaunch’ to ease the voters’ economic woes. But, says Martin Vander Weyer, each door through which Brown tries to escape his predicament slams in his face. His room for manoeuvre is negligible

Give us back our Big Idea, Mr Cameron

Liam Byrne

Liam Byrne — tipped for Cabinet promotion in the reshuffle — says that when Cameroons advocate ‘fraternity’ they are repackaging the Conservative case for the shrinking of the state

A film that shows how gutless Britain has become

Michael Prescott

Michael Prescott — who was a passenger on the King’s Cross train on 7/7 — applauds a movie inspired by the terrorist attacks. But why is nobody keen to distribute it?

Our lazy firemen must make a radical change

Leo McKinstry

Britain’s firefighters are under-worked and inflexible, says Leo McKinstry. It’s time we created a unified emergency service

Don’t mention the Afghan–Pakistan war

Fraser Nelson

Both Britain and America are reluctant to admit it but, says Fraser Nelson, our most pressing foreign policy problem is what to do about Pakistan, a nuclear-armed state in which terrorists have taken sanctuary