It's the political capital of Britain. Apart from that, however, it has little in common with the country as a whole. London
and its surrounds are known as the 'home counties' while the rest of
the country is dismissively referred to as 'the provinces'.
In
the not too distant past the great cities of Britain, Birmingham,
Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, and elsewhere were a bustling scene of
industrial activity but now, with the connivance of government, they
have become shadows of their former selves and industry is largely
confined to London and the south west of England.
Ever since the days of Dick
Whittington, those living outside London have often seen the capital as a city
with streets paved with gold. But, asks David Stenhouse, does the city dominate
British life?
It is the British city which joined the super-league, the world capital which
ranks with Paris, New York and Tokyo.
It is the epicentre of Britain's political, economic and cultural life, the
seat of our government, hub of our media and home to one of the world's biggest
financial markets.
But even fans of London admit it is too expensive, too dirty and too crowded.
And its critics say that it sucks talent, money and opportunities out of the
rest of the country.
So how should those of us who live outside London cope with the mega city in
our own back yard?
"The one thing that you cannot deny, whether you are in or outside it, is
that London is a vast, dominant thing inside the United Kingdom," says Tony
Travers, director of the London School of Economics Greater London Group.
Londoners exhibit excellent queue-forming
skills at a Tube station
Because of its enormous population - at 7.7 million, London has only slightly
fewer inhabitants than Scotland and Wales combined - and its economic and
political importance, the capital dominates the nightly news.
It is home to national museums, galleries and theatres and the place where
multinational companies have their headquarters.
It is also where the British media is based - from the BBC's Television
Centre to Channel 4, Sky, ITN and the major national daily and Sunday
papers.
No wonder that it is also the place where ambitious people from the provinces
of Britain - and further afield - flock to make their names.
'Pandora's box of dreams'
And many are convinced that they couldn't have made it by staying at
home.
The Scottish fashion designer Deryck Walker first went on a pilgrimage to
London after seeing an edition of the South Bank Show devoted to Vivienne
Westwood.
"For me it was like a Pandora's box of dreams," he says. "Going to London was
key to me becoming a designer."
But in a global context, London is the exception rather than the rule. The East Coast of the US has New York - the capital of media and commerce -
and Washington DC - the capital of government.
Australia has Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra; Spain has Barcelona and Madrid.
And Britain has... London, the sprawling, unrivalled capital whose gravitational
force exerts a distorting effect on the rest of the country.
Londoners have to pay the price for the capital's
status. Residents have sky-high house prices in many areas of the capital - the
average house price is now over £1.25m in Kensington and Chelsea - and have
high-cost travel, congestion, crime and grime.
But what cost does the rest of the country pay for London? Talk to business people and civic leaders around the UK and it is not hard to
draw up a charge sheet against the capital.
Londoners are said to be rude and insular, and they look down their nose at
anyone from the provinces.
"It's an unresolved issue," says Jude Kelly, director of London's Southbank
Centre. "Is London a rival to other cities in its own nation, or a repository of
their knowledge?"
Those trying to run businesses in the north of England or Scotland have to
incur serious expense to even make it to a meeting in the capital, leaving home
at four in the morning to make it to London for 9am.
Streets 'paved with gold'
But the biggest charge against London is that it sucks talent and resources
out of the rest of the country
Ever since Dick Whittington left the Forest of Dean in the 14th Century in
search of his fortune in London, ambitious provincials have headed to the city
in search of streets paved with gold.
Did Dick Whittington need London's size and variety to find his niche? Or did
his departure to the capital deprive the Forest of Dean of an outstanding Lord
Mayor, maybe even one who could have arranged some golden paving for his home
town?
Living the London dream: Dick Whittington
in his post-knapsack days
Given the concentration of power in London it's no surprise that since the
1960s successive British governments have tried to move key government
departments out of London.
The BBC is the latest public body to follow suit, with the relocation of key
staff and programmes to Salford Quays in Manchester.
But even devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland has done little
to reduce London's power.
The gravitational pull of the capital is hard to resist: not least because
many people who have made their career in London find it hard to imagine life
outside the M25.
For many people in Britain's public life, London is the only place to be.
But not so long ago the political and cultural landscape of Britain was a
good deal less uneven than today.
In the Victorian era, Britain's economic landscape was made up of powerful
city states, with their own local governments, distinct political cultures and
vibrant economies.
In the north of England, Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool were the
workshops of the world.
Further north, Glasgow described itself as the "Second City of the Empire"
and the mighty Clyde shipyards produced vessels which sailed the seven seas.