Thoughts from a European Summer (1) - London: Betters Shops Worse Newspapers

Bro, let me start with writing about London, where we first crossed paths in September 1995. It is easy to put a marker on when I left my UK days behind, it was the day of the elections which brought the Labour party under Tony Blair to power. Since then, I have been back to visit three times and each time I have been greeted by the thrilling feeling of familiarity but also new observations.

Without a doubt, the London of 2009 is a more thriving, prosperous, and, dare I say, modern, place than the one I first saw in 1991. I was impressed by the new and renovated infrastructure and public amenities: gleeming trains and buses, renovated public buildings and streets and houses that appeared to, literally, have gotten a well-deserved jet-wash to remove a century of grime and a fresh coat of jet paint.

Moreover, I was impressed by the quality and vitality of the shops and services available. Cafes and high quality delis sprouted on to the streets everywhere presenting a more open and accessible feel to the city; perhaps from cultural influence from Continental Europe. While the range and quality of convenience food in outlets like M&S and Tesco are among the best anywhere, the prices have taken a tumble to levels I do not recall in the late 1990s. British brands and retailers have managed, for a price of course, to combine traditional attention to heritage, quality and workmanship with attractive modern designs and marketing. The pubs are more pleasant than any I remembered, bustling, smoke-free, decent food and better range of ales than I could ever remember. The quality of cultural institutions are just as good as the ones I knew, except that I have grown to be even more appreciative of the treasures they contain. It is impressionsitic and superficial, of course, but it seems that London is happily rejuvenated. Overall, I felt the impalpable but undeniable sense of energy and renewal that one would be hard-pressed to find in the London I enjoyed so much in the 1990s.

London is also becoming more ethnically diverse than ever but I sense a lot of unresolved tensions. London likes to think of itself as a global city but I did not feel the same ease and tolerance between the races as I find in New York. And in any case, one gets the feeling that Central London is a globalized district to the rest of London which in turn is a seperate psychological entity from the rest of Britain. There is an enormous population of young Eastern Europeans in the service industries, e.g. restaurants, cafes; especially in the less sociable hours and locations (such as Stanstead Airport at 7am), migrant workers who come to make money but will eventually head home. There are more people from the Indian sub-continent in official state employment, which makes them better integrated but, one sense, not yet truly accepted outside the big cities.

East Asians on the other hand do not seem to have as much of an impact and one do not encounter more Chinese, Japanese or Koreans than previously. As compared to New York, although both cities can claim to be true cosmopolitans, the mix of ethnic diversity is certainly very different: with New York having vastly more East Asians and hispanics.

However, the most disappointing aspects of London (and England as a whole) was the deteriorating intellectual environment. I remember British newspapers and media to be irrelevant, cynical and insular but I would also find bastions of sophistication, quality writing and worldliness. However I was dismayed by the quality of The Times of London or the Daily Mail today, consumed as they were with trivia, narcissistic journalism and an alarmingly narrow minded view of the world. The standards of news even on the BBC is astonishingly poor, centered, as with the papers, on trashy celebrities, manufactured "outrage" and negativity about everything else. The age-old tradition of the British public to be perenially whinging in the media about almost everything in the most generalised, disproportionate and cynical attitude is still hard to stomach, given that one could honestly say, the British are among the most fortunate lot on eart. Perhaps nothing has changed and people have been lamenting about "falling standards" since time began, but I was left with the feeling that this new London is better visited than lived.