Every day, as we walk back to our apartment along the South bank of the Thames we are amazed that there seem to be almost no Englishmen in London. We pass people speaking Russian, Persian, Italian, French, Chinese - any one of dozens of different languages. When we hear people speaking English - it is as likely to be American or South African English as the British variety.
It seems as if a new life form is taking hold in this city. One in three people in London were born overseas, according to the paper. Here in the centre of town, it could be more like one in one. These people are usually single, youngish, wealthy (relatively), and remarkably mobile. Talk to them and you find that they have lived in other major metropolises. They are in London because their jobs are there or because they like it. They are looking for opportunities; they're open to new ideas. But they're not English and never will be. They may hold a British passport and may spend most of their lives in England. They will contribute the culture and wealth of this great metropolis...but they will never share the values, attitudes, and prejudices of the native British peoples.
A lot of real Englishmen do not particularly like this situation. They remember when immigrants came to England and wanted to become as English as the people who welcomed them. Not these new Londoners. They are a new breed with no particular cultural attachment to Britain; it's just a nice place to live and do business.
These new cosmopolitans are living where the living is good - not where they were born. They speak several languages. They earn high salaries and often own significant assets. They are likely to spend a few years in New York...then a while in Tokyo...then move to Vancouver.
They are transforming the world's major metropolises too. Cities that attract these people are rich and expanding. Those that don't are getting left behind.
But what does it mean when a substantial part of a capital city's population is not connected to the culture or politics of the nation itself? And how does a government control and direct these new smart, well-educated, moneyed and footloose masses, these large groups of people with no real loyalty to the host country, who speak different languages and worship different gods?
We don't know, but in London, as in America, two things seem to unite these worldly tribes - greed for making money...and the fear of terrorism.
Bill Bonner
The Daily Reckoning Australia
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About the Author
Best-selling investment author Bill Bonner is the founder and president of Agora Publishing, one of the world's most successful consumer newsletter companies. Owner of both Fleet Street Publications and MoneyWeek magazine in the UK, he is also author of the free daily e-mail The Daily Reckoning.
Comment by Chris. Fulker on 16 July 2007:
Bill Bonner, it seems you've been watching too much TV or reading a few too many popular papers! Terrorism??? Few well-educated people, much less the worldly, truly fear that shoe bombers will suddenly pop out of the nearest cafe, perhaps with a Dirty Bomb... This is merely the latest mass media sensation, and it follows tainted pet foods from China, SARS, shoe bombers, Iraq, bird flu, global warming, "hoodies", Anna Nicole Smith, "polish plumbers", offshore tax evaders... Don't give it credence!
Comment by Jasmine on 16 July 2007:
While I may not be living in London, but I've been living in three different countries apart from my home country. Perhaps, I speak for myself only, but I do feel a fairly strong sense of attachment and for all of them. It's hard not to eventually bond with the countries that you've lived in I think, unless, you're a really cold person. While our ties to our host country will never supercede those of our birth country, it doesn't mean we do not care at all. We do try, as far as possible to absorb a country's way of life, and respect that and integrate it into our own. When we leave a country, we leave with ties intact. Friends we've made, associations that are formed. These may be very little bondings but hopefully, these are the little things which eventually add up to bigger and stronger bonds.
Comment by Jeoff on 17 July 2007:
London just isn't what it used to be. Good post.
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