London is no longer an English city

[Leafyhouse]

Said by John Cleese (he of Monty Python fame), recently. Link to story is here:

www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-48451384

What do other people think? I do see London's diversity as being its great strength, but maybe it's just because I live in the London bubble - and maybe the view from the rest of the country is utter horror that the capital seems to be becoming increasingly disconnected from the country. Both economically and culturally. Hence the Brexit vote - Remain in a sea of Leave.

What's the view from others?

I'm originally from Newcastle, and lived in Yorkshire for 10+ years before moving to London. The nice thing about London is the day you move in, you become a Londoner, people are very welcoming. Also saying, oh I'm from Newcastle originally doesn't turn you into an outsider. Everyone's got a neighbour or a cousin or a mate who came from or went to live in wherever you say you are from.

Most people who moved out really didn’t have a choice. If you can’t afford to live in your city of birth what else can you do?

If a feature of being English is acceptance of others then london is a proud English city.

I love London. Much of it IS quintessentially English but it also assimilates so many other great cultures.

Last week my DC2 went on a school trip to a local Buddhist temple which was like an Indian oasis in the city. He learnt about reincarnation and all sorts. In the same week my DC2 went to chelsea flower show, ate tiny finger sandwiches and gawped at the paparazzi photographing the Royals. I love that they both had those experiences in the same week within twenty mins of our home.

Sorry, London, was not diverse even 20 years ago. The numbers have increased hugely, benefits? Very few

I was born in London. Me and my cousins were all brought up within a few miles of each other in SW London. We are Indian descent, and only my brother and one cousin out of 12 of us still live in London, so it's not just 'white flight'. People move out for bigger houses and more space for their money and new people move in, probably from new immigrant groups, as they work the long hours required in the service industry that London requires and are willing to share the cramped conditions that mean they can afford to pay London rent. I could never afford to live where I was born, because its been 'gentrified' and filled with the families of bankers, unless I wanted to rent, like my parents neighbours, where 3 families live in one house.

Of course London was diverse 20 years ago, i went to school with kids with family from Vietnam, Ghana, Jamaica, Pakistan, Japan & Honduras to name a few

London has changed very much agreed it's also now incredibly overcrowded. So many Londoners had to move out due to property prices. I do love London but it is changing very quickly and losing all the lovely independent shops for massive brands. Also hospitals etc can't cope now with the increase.

I grew up in London. DH in a Yorkshire town. I found London to be more integrated, whereas in his town it's more segregated.

I wonder how my DDs could answer the nationality question. DD1... Born abroad, moved to England at a few months old, then abroad again at 4yo. Moving back to England this summer at 8yo. DD2, born England, moved abroad at 2.5yo, moving back to England at 6.5yo.

London was very definitely diverse when I lived there 20 years ago! Always has been, as have many other cities around the uk because we’re an island that has always had strong trade links with the rest of the world. It’s a rare city in the uk that doesn’t have long established immigrant populations. It’s part of what makes us British- we have always been a melting pot.

It's ridiculous to say London wasn't diverse 20 years ago! 20 years ago was 1999 not the 1940's!!My school photo from 40 years ago had about 1/3 ethnic minorities.

Wow the xenophobia on here. “Do they speak English in London mummy?”
Please don’t come to London again, we don’t like small minds here.

leckford

no agenda here, wondering what you mean by "diverse"?

noodle "My school photo from 40 years ago had about 1/3 ethnic minorities."

but what does that mean? I would have been one of those kids but I'm an Englishwoman born and raised.

So am I! PP said London was not diverse 20 years ago when it was obviously was!

Thequaffle That poster was quoting her young dd after they had met a lot of people who struggled with English. Are you saying that the dd is small minded?

Out of curiosity, what do people here think makes someone 'English'?

Somebody who was born in England is English. As the nationality on our passports is British and people who become citizens are British then it's possible to legally become British but not English (or Scottish, Welsh, Northern Irish).

If you have/are entitled to a British passport then you are British, including dual nationals.

That's how I see it anyway.

^ and can be British + some other nationality or Some other nationality + British.

Orwell, of whom I am a fan, had it right when he wrote about the British. He said there isn’t another nation on earth who hate themselves as much as we do. That is as true today as it ever was.

I partly agree with UrsulaPandress , I live in London , I’m not British, and I would say the majority of people working in shops and restaurants centrally , are foreigners.

That wasn’t what she said. She said no-one spoke English in London. She is wrong.

As for London not being diverse 20 years ago? 😂😂😂

London has been diverse for centuries. Educate yourself.

noodle so you think diversity is about skin colour?

I don't know what anyone means by diversity any more.

I was once asked by a 4 year old if I ‘spoke English.’ Why not I asked? Because you don’t look like me was the answer. If a 4 year old equates my brown skin with not speaking English (very much my first language- even have a PhD in it, wahey), then I would think that’s an attitude bred at home.
I understand the English of London ‘foreigners’ better than I understand what most Glaswegians are saying to be honest.
My brown skinned, proud Londoners, two boys, wouldn’t ever tick the ‘White English’ box but they are ‘English’ having only ever lived in England, speaking only English and one of them is desperate to represent England at his sport. The colour of his skin makes him no less ‘English’ or ‘British’ or whatever label you would like to place on him.

I’ve visited London several times as a tourist. (I’m not English) and there was no doubt about the fact I was in an English city.

Perhaps to some Londoners it doesn’t feel like the city they grew up in but to anyone from outside England, it’s very definitely an English city. Plonk a tourist in London and they’ll know they’re in England.

Oh my brown skinned boys were born in London hospitals, one had his life saved in a London hospital, never ever lived anywhere else, don’t really speak another language, but would I assume in this not even thinly veiled thread of racism be part of the ‘problem.’

What also makes me chuckle is that Londoners live to come in these threads and talk about how lovely and tolerant they are and how racist and small minded people are in the rest of the UK. You don’t have to spend much time in London to see people being selfish and unpleasant towards one another. I don’t huge huge levels of tolerance and kindness evident there in all honesty. I was in Wigan recently, definitely a white working-class town if ever there was one. A young family who looked like they didn’t have a pot to piss in did me the most enormous kindness which really touched me. I honestly doubt whether the same thing would have happened in London, based on my experience of the people there.

howwudufeel based on your experience of all 8 million of us?