Comments on: The coming decline of London

By: 21 January 2022. Doomsday | Beatles – Just Two Things

21 January 2022. Doomsday | Beatles – Just Two Things — Fri, 21 Jan 2022 10:39:52 +0000

[…] late 1970s and early 80s (in the punk and postpunk scenes) coincided with the availability of squatted and cheap property in those cities. Since then, the decline of social housing, the attacks on squatting, and the […]

By: Remembering Mark Fisher | thenextwave

Remembering Mark Fisher | thenextwave — Sun, 15 Jan 2017 23:06:19 +0000

[…] the late 1970s and early 80s (in the punk and postpunk scenes) coincided with the availability of squatted and cheap property in those cities. Since then, the decline of social housing, the attacks on squatting, and the […]

By: thenextwavefutures

thenextwavefutures — Fri, 24 Jul 2015 22:06:10 +0000

“The uprating of spaces and services in pursuit of this wealth thus damages and displaces the ability of the city to be a place for all people in which essential public services and spaces should be retained and paid for from the public purse.
A great change has thus occurred which doesn’t simply take us back to an Edwardian era of massive dynastic wealth and leisured elites but a city the logic of which is a new and diverse set of elites who are often not in and perhaps not for the city.”

Autotomically, 23rd Jult 2015: https://autotomically.wordpress.com/2015/07/23/snooty-city/

By: The end of the future | thenextwave

The end of the future | thenextwave — Sat, 29 Nov 2014 11:04:57 +0000

By: thenextwavefuturesAndrew Curry

thenextwavefuturesAndrew Curry — Sat, 11 Jan 2014 18:01:54 +0000

And a satirical view of the same phenomenon in New York, in the New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2013/12/people-who-can-still-afford-to-live-in-new-york-praise-bloomberg.html

By: thenextwavefuturesAndrew Curry

thenextwavefuturesAndrew Curry — Sat, 07 Dec 2013 22:11:00 +0000

On Fairshare Music, the artist Beans On Toast had this to say about London in an interview:

“Favourite city?

London. It’s been my home for 15 odd years now, so it’s home for sure. Although with the current wave of bulls*** ideas like banning busking in Camden, closing the skate spot on Southbank and unrealistic rises in rent makes me fear for London’s future.”

http://www.fairsharemusic.com/blog/2013/12/10-favourite-things-beans-on-toast/

By: Jennifer Jarratt (@jenjarratt)

Jennifer Jarratt (@jenjarratt) — Tue, 22 Oct 2013 21:45:34 +0000

Noticed that a few years ago, Vancouver was saying the same thing, that its best properties had become investments for the absentee Chinese. So maybe London will be for the rich and the tourists, with people from Birmingham hired in to act out local color.

By: Ian Christie

Ian Christie — Mon, 21 Oct 2013 09:50:19 +0000

Thanks Andrew. Very good and accurate, and spot-on about the surprising lack of reputational damage to soi-disant progressive architects.
As with climate change and societal ageing, this is the kind of problem that is all too easily suppressed in the minds of policymakers and media – too difficult, too long-term, too much of a challenge to existing policies, interests and ideological values. The problem is compounded by the appearances of endless prosperity and innovation in London: how can this not continue indefinitely, given the need of global plutocrats for investment havens, and given the inexhaustible grooviness of London? It is bubble thinking and it probably can’t end well.
Removing London’s status as political capital might help – we’re overdue for relocation of Parliament to somewhere like York or Birmingham. That won’t happen, but other things might: more alarm from business leaders about skills shortages and lack of social housing, or from Conservative council leaders in the city centre about the risk of their communities being hollowed out, for instance. (Kensington and Chelsea leaders have recently called a halt to local plutocrats building immense basement floors beneath their already huge and ultra-expensive houses – literally ‘hollowing out’ the foundations of the borough.) Best of all would be a punitive tax on absenteeism and empty properties, with the proceeds being channelled into social housing. That might happen – absentee plutocrats can buy politicians as well as houses, but they don’t have all the votes, and they aren’t popular.