London on London: hopes and fears for the city
Where does the British capital now find itself on the world stage? Writers, artists, politicians and other speakers at FT Weekend Festival give their view
Filmed by Petros Gioumpasis. Produced by Natalie Whittle. Edited by Oliver McGuirk.
Transcript
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[MUSIC PLAYING]
I think it's a super resilient city. I think it's a very exciting city. I think there's a huge amount happening.
Inevitably, one of my interests is Elizabethan London. They bounced back from outbreaks of the plague. The players went out on tour, came back to the Globe, and the audiences never flagged. One of the features of any great city is its resilience. So as shocking as many of the things that have happened have been, I just don't see that having any kind of permanent effect.
There are enormous amounts of energy and variety. And it's a great place. But I think one of the problems with London is that it is becoming far too much of a kind of magnet for the rest of the country. It's sucking the life of provincial England.
London seems to sustain anything. And it's a very vibrant city. It's great businesses. And I think it's more important now to be really good at what you do than ever.
I think you have to remember just what an incredible run London has had, from the mid '80s, when you had big bang, all the new jobs created, the financial services industry, cuisine coming from all around the world. It's much better to eat in London.
I mean, perhaps London's going to survive where lots of other parts of the country are not going to survive.
Brexit is going to diminish that. It's not going to destroy it, but diminish it. And London also reached a peak of wealth which is unsustainable. The divide has got too big. So these were the good old days. There is space for a great city on the continent, a London on the continent. It's an opportunity for Paris. Paris can kind of be the vulture that picks on the corpse.
I love London. I trained in London at some of the best hospitals, the Royal Brompton, the Hammersmith, Great Ormond Street. London was my life and my home for many, many years. Now I think the recent events, the negative events in London will be got to grips with, and need to be got to grips with.
I think London is a [? big ?] embodiment of optimism, actually, in spite of all the stuff that it's had to deal with. And I actually think the really big issue for London is how does London help the rest of the UK be as prosperous and be as strong and be as self-confident?
London's had this incredible renaissance over the last 25 years or so. It's just internationalised hugely. And I think all of the international people who've come to live in London have brought with them an appetite for great food and culture.
I'm a Londoner. I was born here. When I grew up here in the 1970s, it was a much poorer, much rougher city, but still an incredibly exciting place, and still a very international city. And one of the things about London is this sheer kind of history of the place gives you a confidence in its durabilities. It kind of puts Brexit in perspective. It may not be great, but I think London is bigger than it.
