London – the view from outside
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Version 0 of 1. Benjamin Zephaniah: ‘Everything seems to happen in London – you can understand why the north is angry’ Poet and writer, Lincolnshire I lived in London most of my life but moved to Lincolnshire eight years ago. A doctor friend of mine showed me a medical report and had a word with me about jogging down busy streets, especially the road I lived by in East Ham, and how many people in the area had lung diseases. I looked at it and went ‘Oh my god, I’m out of here.’ I miss the multiculturalism, the fact there’s 300 languages spoken. I learned to speak – not brilliantly – some Urdu and some Mandarin. When I was in London I could practise every day, but here I hardly ever get a chance to speak it. I remember once looking at my musicians and thinking, they’ve got so many influences from so many parts of the world, and they were just on my doorstep. I also miss having somewhere to go any time of the day; where I live, when the lights go out, the lights really do go out. But then I love the fresh air here, I really appreciate it. There’s a wonderful little town where I live and I love the independent shops, old-fashioned sweet shops run by little old ladies, an entertainer on the street just for the sake of it, not necessarily busking. In London, high streets all look the same, and they seem to just be about business. If you come from certain groups – a group of young black men on a street corner – talking, you get told to move along. Once a policeman wanted to arrest me for loitering. I went, I’m not loitering, I’m just hanging out here. I think England is missing a trick – everything seems to happen in London, and I think that’s a shame. I had to go to London to further my career, and for a black person in Birmingham back then, or in most cities, it was difficult to move out of our little ghettoes. The amount of people I know from around here who work in film and journalism and so on, they say they had to leave here to further their career. I know a lot of artists who refuse to move to London, but they’re always commuting there, for auditions or meetings. So that is an issue, but that’s not the people of London’s fault. It’s great to have all that, but we should have it in other cities as well. Especially the high north – when you go up there you can understand why they look down at London and they’re rather angry, because they think everything’s been taken to London. If I were mayor for a day… I would make pollution my priority, and making roads safe for pedestrians and cyclists. I’ve lost two friends in bicycle accidents in London. I say that as somebody that loves cars also, but a cyclist is not much danger to a car, nor is a pedestrian, and I’ve got to think about the underdog here. KB Ian Rankin: ‘It’s a different city if you’ve got money in your pocket’ Author, Edinburgh I lived in London when I was first married, 1986 to 1990, and we didn’t get a lot out of the place. We didn’t have much money and I had a 90-minute commute. After four years we thought, this is pointless, so we moved. Since then I’ve visited London often and now I love it. It’s a different city when you’ve got money in your pocket. It’s lovely to walk around, it’s got proper neighbourhoods and lots of secret bits that you can find if you go for a wander or get lost. It bothers me when London gets all the attention. Whenever I read the restaurant reviews in the national press, I go, “It’s bloody London and the south-east again.” Once a year, if you’re lucky, a London reviewer comes up to Scotland, usually during the festival (surprise, surprise), and they go to a restaurant so they can be patronising about it. But I like that, because some of Britain’s best restaurants are in Edinburgh and I want them kept quiet so I can get a table. The worst thing about London is getting around. The best is that everything’s there. If you want theatres, restaurants, weird music, parkland, a canal, a zoo, you’ll find it in London. And jobs, let’s be honest. If I were mayor for a day… I would pedestrianise Oxford Street. KF Jilly Cooper: ‘Look up at the buildings – it’s the most beautiful place in the world’ Author, Gloucestershire I adore London. It’s home, completely. It’s where I had my children. It was a fantastic time in the 60s and 70s and 80s. We did that awful Sloane thing of living in Earl’s Court, then Fulham, and we ended up in Putney for the last 10 years, which was perfect. We came to live in Gloucestershire in 1982. I mean, the country’s heaven but it’s just different, isn’t it? I’ve got a marvellous quote here from Nigel Nicolson about his father [political diarist], Harold: “He needed London as an Athenian needed Athens; he loved the country but London was the place where things happened, where people met and talked, where he recharged his intellectual batteries.” I’m going to London tomorrow, but I haven’t been at all in the past year and I miss it so much; it’s been heartbreaking. It’s the buzz, the beauty – look up at the buildings and sculptures, it’s the most beautiful place in the world. The parks are phenomenal and I love the art galleries. And isn’t it awful but I adore journalists, and they live in London mostly, and the wonderful gossip, you won’t get that anywhere else. The restaurants – the Ivy and the Dorchester and we used to go to the Garrick – and all that chat and meeting of all one’s mates. And you do see absolutely beautiful people up in London. It’s nice to look at and I always pick up tips there. I just think it’s exciting. People get quite naughty in London and then they come back to the country to be good, which is silly because everyone behaves really badly in the country too. I can’t really think of anything I dislike about London... except there aren’t any stars, and I’m very, very keen on stars. If I had a vote I’d definitely go for Zac Goldsmith. He’s lovely: he’s very good looking and very, very nice. He has a very big heart and a lovely mother. If I were mayor for a day… I would completely change all these stupid rules about keeping dogs on leads in parks. Dogs need to run. So I’d knock down a lot of horrid houses and make a huge new park for the dogs to have a nice time to themselves. KB Kwame Kwei-Armah: ‘I sense a troubling anti-immigrant feeling’ Artistic director of Center Stage, Baltimore I love London. I love coming home, I love walking along the South Bank and going on public transport, I love the energy and the sophistication of London. It’s a magnificent city. I love how London is really finding itself in terms of the arts and the creative industries. It’s so vibrantly creative and the people in those industries are among the best in the world. What’s been troubling me of late is the anti-immigrant feeling I’ve been sensing in London, especially in relation to eastern Europeans. As the child of an immigrant, I find that very painful. I was in central London a few weeks ago and I saw a sign in a restaurant window that said: “Waiters wanted – must speak immaculate English.” It was a breath away from “No blacks, no dogs, no Irish.” I took a photograph of it; I was that perturbed. I’m very excited about Sadiq Khan running for mayor. I love the narrative of a working-class Pakistani boy becoming the mayor of London in one generation – that would be a wonderful symbol of where we find ourselves in terms of meritocracy as a nation. I also respond to many of Sadiq’s policies, including his housing policies. As a father who has three children living in London, it’s a huge worry for me that they won’t be able to buy their own houses and get on the ladder as I did 20 years ago, so I’m encouraged by Sadiq’s ideas on housing. KF If I were mayor for a day… I would invest heavily in the homeless. The thing that hurts me the most when I walk the streets of London is seeing the increase in homelessness. Andrew Hussey: ‘I get off the Eurostar at St Pancras and I think, bloody hell…’ Academic, writer and broadcaster, Paris I used to love London more than I love it now. When I lived there in the late 80s, I found it very exciting. It was a mythic rock’n’roll place – the Clash, the Jam, the Marquee Club – and when I first visited aged 14, having never been outside the north-west in my life, I couldn’t quite believe it was real. But since moving away I can see the things that I didn’t like about it, things that would stop me moving back. The big one is accommodation. I had a decent salary back then, but I could never afford a decent flat and I ended up miles away in the suburbs when I really wanted to be in Soho, Brixton or Camden. The other thing is the transport system. I live in a city where everything works and then I get off the Eurostar at St Pancras and think, bloody hell… I find journeys in London a nightmare. The tube is just a big jumble of linguine that I could never disentangle and the city is very cycle-unfriendly compared with Paris. But I still like London. London is my intellectual centre of gravity. It’s much more open and fast moving than any European city I’ve lived in and more connected to popular culture. It’s a very creative place. If I were mayor for a day… I’d sort out the transport system. You couldn’t do it in a day but I’d make it cheaper and get it working better. KF Jackie Kay: ‘I’m really shocked by the speed of things, the rush’ Poet and author, Manchester I’m in Manchester now, but I’ve lived in London, Glasgow and Stirling. Coming down to London was exciting: I found this group called Women of Asian and African Descent and I made a lot of really good friends. In Scotland I didn’t really have any black friends, I didn’t know many people of colour at all. I lived in London for around 12 years. I loved the city’s energy and the way it seemed to be culturally mixed and at ease with itself. I like how each place has its own distinct identity – Green Lanes and the Turkish area, Stamford Hill and Hasidic Jewish people. You move just from one area to another and people’s faces change. It’s a shame that wee areas like Deptford or New Cross are changing in the sense that people can’t afford to live in them anymore, and that’s changing the deep demographic of London. When my son was about to start secondary school the one he would have gone to wouldn’t have been very good, and Carol Ann [Duffy], who I lived with at the time, had a wee girl, so we thought it would be better for the kids to go to a smaller city. I’d been to Manchester quite a few times so we just started again. It’s a fantastic city to live in, there’s such a lot going on. We’ve got a really good transport system and there’s lots of green around. I like cities where you can get out of them fast. When I go to London I’m really shocked by the speed of things: the overcrowded tubes and the rush on the escalators, you just feel like you could topple very quickly. There isn’t any other city in this country where I’ve seen people be in such a hurry. I think the idea of Londoners as being selfish isn’t true – young guys there always seem to be over the moon to help. Everyone’s in their own wee bubble, but that’s one of the things I like about London, you can be private and social at the same time, you can go to any film or cafe on your own and still feel completely part of things. If I were mayor for a day… I would change the price of the rented properties and make much more affordable housing, so people wouldn’t have to move out of the places they’ve lived for a long time. KB Kully Thiarai: ‘The cost of living is driving a lot of artists out’ Incoming artistic director, National Theatre of Wales, Cardiff, currently at director at Cast, Doncaster I’ve often thought about living in London but it’s becoming ever more prohibitive, especially if you want to buy a home there. I’m conscious that the cost of living is driving a lot of artists out. In Cardiff and Manchester, I’ve seen the artistic communities grow as people return to their roots or decide not to leave in the first place. There’s more opportunity now in these cities and sometimes, interestingly, more room for experimentation and innovation. That said, the focus on London in the media makes it seem like it’s the provider of all things great, even though a lot of work is being generated elsewhere and showcased in London. What I love most about London is that you can access the world there, both in terms of arts practice and people. What I dislike is how difficult it is to get around due to the sheer numbers of people. Londoners sometimes forget how difficult it can be for people outside the city to engage in its cultural life, especially if finances are an issue, and for most artists they are. If I were mayor for a day… I would do something to prevent diverse communities – not just artists – from being priced out of the city. Diversity is what makes London a thrilling place to be but it’s in danger of becoming a playground for the rich. KF Ann Widdecombe: ‘In London there’s no such thing as fresh air’ Former MP, Devon I’ve lived in Devon since I retired in 2010. I moved about a great deal as a child – Portsmouth, Bath, Singapore. When I started work and particularly because I had political ambition, I worked in London. But nowadays – unless you choose politics – there isn’t a dire necessity to get into London. In this day and age of technology there’s no real reason why everything should be concentrated around the capital. I was very glad when I retired so I could go to the country. I’ve always liked Dartmoor because I like walking and that sort of thing, and I wanted to be moderately isolated. Devon has spectacular views. If I looked out of any of my windows in London, the most I could see would be a patch of garden, other people’s front doors. But here I can see right across to the sea on a clear day. In London there’s no such thing as fresh air, you walk down the street and try not to breathe. Here you just take great lungfuls of fresh air. I’ve got sheep, cows, all these things near me. And of course you can see the stars at night. If I were mayor for a day… I would relieve traffic congestion. We seem to rejoice in making the streets ever narrower with cycle lanes, bus lanes and taxi lanes. Instead of trying to discourage traffic, what you’ve got to do is make it possible for traffic to move, because it will come in anyway. KB Emma Jane Unsworth: ‘As a kid I felt I was being trained to fear London’ Author, Brighton I think I’m a city girl at heart and in many ways London is the ultimate city. As a kid growing up in the north I remember feeling as though I was being trained to hate or fear London. I do still feel that the north gets ignored and sidelined – and more cash for arts and culture please. I think it’s the south in general that gets too much attention, not just London. London’s the capital, so I think in some ways it is right that it gets what it gets. But there is a certain kind of businessman on the Tube, usually in a suit, who feels entitled to having a bit more platform than you, and that really riles me. For now Brighton has a great vibe, it’s like the Sunday at Glastonbury. Anything goes: you could be having brunch and someone rocks up in a tutu and no one bats an eye. And the sea is good for my soul. If I were mayor for a day… I would slash the ridiculous rents. On my watch it would be illegal to charge extortionate amounts for tiny flats. KB Jason Williamson: ‘It did my head in having to travel an hour for a pint with a friend’ Musician, Sleaford Mods, Nottingham I’ve always viewed London as kind of unobtainable. I lived there for two years but really struggled and in the end I moved back up to the Midlands. It was obvious that you needed quite a bit of extra money to live in London and it did my head in having to travel an hour and a half just to have a pint with a friend. But now that I don’t live there I much prefer it. It’s not this horrible fang-toothed monster that’s going to swallow you up the minute you arrive. As a musician, you can exist happily enough outside London. The only advantage to living there is meeting people – and now that our band has reached a certain level of success it’s opened up to us certain circles that would have been inaccessible before. Sometimes people go to London, become semi-successful and are absolute wankers when they come back to Nottingham, acting like they’re James Brown or something. I was never like that: I always came back up and thought, ‘Oh it’s really good to be back’. If I were mayor for a day… I’d channel funding into areas, such as social housing, that would help people in troublesome financial conditions. London needs that. KF Matt King: ‘It’s got a mad energy that’s good in small doses’ Actor and comedian, Hove I live in Hove now, although I just got back from living in Bali for seven months – my kids went to school in the jungle and had an amazing time. I lived in London for around 10 years in total, in the Crouch End area. One of the things I liked about it was that it hasn’t got a tube station, so it’s got a slightly different population to a lot of other areas of London. Around the clock tower it has a sort of central villagey feel. But I think it has changed quite a lot since we left eight years ago. It’s now got a big Waitrose where there used to be a Woolworths before. So it’s slowly becoming gentrified I guess. We moved away when we were expecting our second child, and just saw one too many signs out the front of the newsagent’s saying [something like] “Boy, 15, stabbed”. You just notice that stuff more. Before having kids we didn’t really notice it. My wife is from Melbourne, so she grew up with surf culture, by the sea. The best we’ve got to offer is Brighton, in terms of me having access to work and London. London’s got this mad, frantic energy, which is good in small doses, but very wearing to live among all the time. If I were mayor for a day… I would put in place plans for a tube line from Brighton to Soho. KB Gwenno: ‘I think it has changed quite dramatically’ Musician, Cardiff I live in Cardiff, which is where I was born. I lived in Las Vegas as a teenager, I’ve lived in Brighton, and London for probably a decade on and off. I’ve always felt a connection with the city – a lot of my friends and family are there. But I think it has changed quite dramatically. Now there are fewer cracks for artists to work their way into and create their own thing. It’s just really difficult to live there as an artist, even if you work hard and have quite a stable career. I made my home near Dalston in the end, and actually it reminded me so much of Cardiff I thought I might as well go back: the multiculturalism and all the small shops, and all the different music. It’s not a rich part of London, it’s just normal people trying to get on with their lives and make the place their home. If I were mayor for a day… I would make sure the difference between lowest and highest wages wasn’t so ridiculous – the people who keep London running deserve a living wage. |