London - the beating heart of our great nation

John_Pierpoint

Jennifer_Jane wrote: »

Is this true? Do Indians know about 'poshness' or is that just a continuation of some outdated, if not outmoded, reverse snobbery? I realise they have some incredible class structures (I used to live in Sri Lanka), but wonder if 'posh white' is something they would understand as being a bad thing? Perhaps they just saw politicians and business people? Perhaps they were pretty much expecting "educated" White people?

They will have been more aware of "London" as opposed to Manchester because it was the "London" Olympics.

A lot of "lightning" products are sold to to the "coloured" community but I suppose there are a lot of "orange" sun tans on display sometimes - so that is OK then.
Is this just an attempt to look interestingly different or an attempt to gain a few more "brownies" points during the 10 seconds of initial recognition.
[One of the reasons I am all in favour of internet encounters - meet the mind before the body or the accent - George Bernard Shaw would have been all in favour.]

Do other cultures outside of UK and the Indian Sub Continent have a snob hierarchy?
Do these foreigners bring their their prejudices with them to the UK?
["If I have another of these high class Brahmins trying to tell me what to do, I'm going to thump someone" ]

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/indias-caste-system.html

I met a Chinese female once and got the distinct impression that she was from the wrong side of the wall.

But by and large, when "Anglo Saxons" go abroad they tend to be oblivious to local niceties of class & behaviour - just the way to create a "so they think they have an empire on which the sun never sets do they?" reaction.

Miss_Havisham

ruggedtoast wrote: »

It would be nice if someone was talking up Manchester.

Recently David Cameron and a cohort of worthies went to India to try and talk up the UK, closely followed by BoJo talking up London.

In reality all Indians heard was a succession of posh white people going on about London.

So who would be the "best" person to fulfill this role ? And which characteristics, claims-to-fame and benefits would they promote to the world ?

Serious question btw, I don't do sarcastic rhetoric.

Miss H

movilogo

Why do we conflate 2 things : "a city to work in" and "a city to live in".

You can't live too far away from place of your work. Otherwise you'll spend part of your life in commuting. If you prefer to travel to home only on Friday night, then you are also sacrificing your family life.

If you want to stay in/near London, then property price will set you back whatever you earn "extra" in London (compared to if you had worked near to your hometown).

In ideal world, I want to work in a town where I live. That's the sign of good economy.

ruggedtoast

Generali wrote: »

Do you think the people that run India are anything other than posh brown people? Perhaps they have an affinity with posh white people?

I hate to mention it but I think you are maybe a bit class obsessed, most Britons are so it's not a great surprise. Perhaps a talking cure might help, they can be very effective.

Yes, but the point of the visit was meant to repair some of the damage done by the changes in student visa regs, which is widely interpreted (correctly) in India as a policy designed to keep South Asians out of the UK; and encourage a wider strata of Indians back to the UK brand.

I don't know if it occurred to them to take any successful British Indians with them, but all I heard about when I was there was Cameron prancing around in his metaphorical pith helmet.

Boris Johnston went down much better, and was improbably referred to by the Hindustan Times as a "rockstar politician", and even more inaccurately "The King of England" by a TV news anchor in Delhi; but I'm not sure either of the visits did much to change the perception that the UK is a country filled with posh white men who live in London.

I will bring up the talking therapy suggestion in depth with my GP next time I have a 90 second appointment to see her.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

I wasn't quite sure if the article was slagging off London, Londoners or Boris Johnson. Just seemed to be incoherent spite (why blame London for Prince Philip getting ill after the Thames pagaent?).

I can't be bothered arguing with people who don't like London.

kabayiri

movilogo wrote: »

You can't live too far away from place of your work. Otherwise you'll spend part of your life in commuting. If you prefer to travel to home only on Friday night, then you are also sacrificing your family life.

If you want to stay in/near London, then property price will set you back whatever you earn "extra" in London (compared to if you had worked near to your hometown).

In ideal world, I want to work in a town where I live. That's the sign of good economy.

In today's world you probably reflect a majority view. But work and habits do change. Go back 100 years, and nobody would commute the distances we do today. Go back a couple of decades and telecommuting was a rarity.

Nowadays I can be productive on the train. I can work from home a couple of days a week; and plan my meetings in the workplace around this.

What will it be like in a decade or 2s time? Will financiers work mostly from home? Will you be projected into a virtual office? Will those lucky couple of dozen able to afford a ticket catch the HS2 into London from Brumm in 30 minutes?

All this is a digression anyway. The article did seem a bit carp really.

Generali

Just a thought here but perhaps Indian politicians would rather be visited by the Prime Minister and Mayor of London who happen to be white than by a couple of token brown people.

Would Britain expect Indian politicians on a visit to drag up a couple of successful white Indians? I doubt it.

I think this is all just a bit patronizing to Indians and just another stick to beat the Tories with. Surely there are enough things that this Government is doing badly to bring up without making up spurious points.

chris_m

I'm no xenophobe and I find that Boris frequently says things that others in this PC-orientated world might be afraid to say, frequently with his own style and flamboyance adding to the message.

However, considering that, according to the 2011 census, nearly a quarter of the residents of London are non-UK nationals and over a third were born outside the UK, I hardly feel that London can even be considered representative of "our great nation", let alone be "the beating heart" of it.

BertieUK

A._Badger wrote: »

And you feel morally superior for stuffing your ears with shredded pages from the Guardian?

I must say that any time that I have read the Daily Mail it always made me feel so miserable that I just had to stop reading it, maybe it was me having a Senior Moment, I am not sure.

GeorgeHowell

The Grauniad (which recently called the late Patrick Moore an astrologer) was formally the Manchester Guardian. It epitomises the worst of northern, leftist, chip-on-the-shoulder, anti-South, antiquated thinking. It preaches to the converted re it's core readership of public sector workers, Labour MPs, and arrogant wooly minded pesudo-intellectuals. Everyone else can safely ignore it for the sad offering that it is. Posting swathes of its claptrap on a forum like this only serves to demonstrate the mentality of its readership.