Why London is beating American cities

[Qubert]

It's been way too quiet and peaceful on here....It's time for a Joel Kotkin article!

https://unherd.com/2024/04/why-londo...ericas-cities/

[Comrade]

Beating American cities in what?

[llamaorama]

Originally Posted by Comrade

Beating American cities in what?

Economic malaise? Most abandoned russian oligarch mansions per capita? Fastest negative change in number of jobs in finance and banking?

[homebucket]

Tl;dr?

[veep]

In the realm of tech, one recent study suggested that London beats New York and San Francisco.

[Steely Dan]

I so dearly hope muppet comes back and posts 8,000 fucking pics of random London shit.

As for the article, it seems as though kotkin has added senility to his more usual repertoire of abject idiocy.

[streetscaper]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

I so dearly hope muppet comes back and posts 8,000 fucking pics of random London shit.

As for the article, it seems as though kotkin has added senility to his more usual repertoire of abject idiocy.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

I so dearly hope muppet comes back and posts 8,000 fucking pics of random London shit.

As for the article, it seems as though kotkin has added senility to his more usual repertoire of abject idiocy.

Dementia is no laughing matter.

[xzmattzx]

I'll give it credit, London is beating all American cities in hosting international NFL games.

[chris08876]

Originally Posted by Qubert

It's been way too quiet and peaceful on here....It's time for a Joel Kotkin article!

https://unherd.com/2024/04/why-londo...ericas-cities/

[muppet]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

I so dearly hope muppet comes back and posts 8,000 fucking pics of random London shit.

As for the article, it seems as though kotkin has added senility to his more usual repertoire of abject idiocy.

Oh cooo-ey!!! Did you miss me? Did you??

Just for you xx

[muppet]

In reality London hasn't entered the doom loop thanks to offsetting the retail apocalypse with the 'playground city' thing, whereby many shuttered shops are replaced by restaurants and bars, almost too many. However it still faces major obstacles.

The big thing the city and UK overall has to deal with is Brexit. London's managed to coast it by replacing EU workers with those from further afield -the only thing Brexit did other than lose 200 billion in trade was bring in absolute record shattering numbers of migrants (1.2 million a year at last count, comparable to the US).

A noticeable fallout is still prices and greedflation, though not as severe as the US, but the abject decimation of nightlife, which has indeed entered a doom loop. Central London, once home to the worlds biggest nightlife districts and 24hrs is now quieter than outer zones as Millennials/ Gen Z just go to their locals to party, drink less and spend less - a pint (or increasingly small bottle) is now $10. Pubs now close at the draconian times of 11am, just like they did before, despite the 24hr licensing. Club land is gutted, and this last year has been mind-blowing, almost everyone I meet now comments on how much quieter it's become overnight, kicking a can down Soho or walking your dog/ grandma after a nice little meal.

The housing market is also reaching 'emergency not crisis' as the city grows by over 100,000 a year and a fraction needed being built despite the Mayor's record construction. Another gem in the waiting is healthcare, the NHS reeling from crisis after crisis as a fallout from the pandemic and the strikes from the cost of living, now facing severe debt. As reminder, a well paid doctor can no longer afford to buy in the city.

Overall the city does look like things are fine and ticking over -for example tourism is absolutely booming due to the weakened £, educational performance is consistently the best in the country despite more deprivation, population is still rising etc -but the problems are still there, though different. I think the major one is the housing, followed by healthcare, followed by rising street crime (contrasting with overall falling crime) -the latter of which, although petty, can decimate cities if not checked.

In short, different problems.

[iheartthed]

And yet, she observes, overall crime rates have fallen under London’s last three mayors and, in terms of crime and anti-social behaviour, levels are well below the national average. Travers partly credits this to the fact that the UK has not experienced an American-style “opioid crisis” or “defund-the-police moment”. As a result, London saw 104 homicides last year, equivalent to 12 per million people, compared to 45.4 per million in New York, one of America’s safer cities.

Is he just now discovering that European countries have much lower homicide rates than America?

[bilbao58]

[...]partly credits this to the fact that the UK has not experienced an American-style “opioid crisis” or “defund-the-police moment”. As a result, London saw 104 homicides last year[...]

Awww. Bless her heart. Did no one tell her about the guns thing? Or that homicides in US cities are down? Or that defund-the-police isn't a thing?

[tdawg]

Muppet, I’m curious how Brexit has brought in a record number of migrants? I thought a goal of brexit was to stem immigration?

[dktshb]

Originally Posted by tdawg

Muppet, I’m curious how Brexit has brought in a record number of migrants? I thought a goal of brexit was to stem immigration?

Probably a lot from the commonwealths still.

[bilbao58]

^^^^Forget this. It's wrong. Never mind!

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by muppet

The big thing the city and UK overall has to deal with is Brexit. London's managed to coast it by replacing EU workers with those from further afield -the only thing Brexit did other than lose 200 billion in trade was bring in absolute record shattering numbers of migrants (1.2 million a year at last count, comparable to the US).

I've read this, that the UK has record immigration atm. Sorta like Canada.

Of course, it's because there aren't enough bodies to fill the open jobs, or those that were created when EU 'migrants' had to leave...so what does the UK do...imports more migrants only these ones are likely black and brown and oh, isn't that the sweet irony?

Elizabeth and Rodney must be furious.

[Crawford]

London is not competing with U.S. cities. So how is it "beating" (or not beating) U.S. cities?

If London has, say, better crime or healthcare outcomes, that has no relative consequence to crime or healthcare in Dallas or Detroit.

Also, the first six words of the article are alt-right garbage, so it's hard to take anything seriously from that point on. Anyone who believes in Kotkin would hate politics and policies in London. Their mayor is a lefty, woke, religious Muslim. If he were mayor of Chicago, Kotkin would have a shit-fit. He calls Brandon Johnson "an urban arsonist" while praising London's management.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by tdawg

Muppet, I’m curious how Brexit has brought in a record number of migrants? I thought a goal of brexit was to stem immigration?

The UK replaced Euro immigrants with immigrants from everywhere else. Brexit forced tons of European talent home, so the UK had to go hog-wild to replace the departed nurses and baristas. Also the UK now basically has open immigration with Hong Kong, following the Chinese essentially tearing up the handover treaty and ending democracy and autonomy in HK.

So all those Brexiteers who bad-mouthed the Poles and Spaniards now have replacements that I suspect are even less favored. It's almost like Brexit made no logical sense...