Red Metropolis: Socialism and the Government of London
by Owen Hatherley
Repeater Books, 2020, 266 pp.
Few tourists strolling the south bank of the Thames in London realize that they are going through a carefully constructed showcase for what Owen Hatherley describes in his new book,
Red Metropolis: the structures and programs put in place when the political left ran Great Britainâs largest city. On one end of the procession sits County Hall, the massive, longtime home of the London city government, until the national government eliminated home rule and sold off the building. At the other end is a new City Hall, designed by Norman Foster, housing the current incarnation of the London government. In between lies a series of city-built cultural venuesâthe Royal Festival Hall, National Film Theatre, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Hayward Gallery, and National Theatreâand Oxo Tower Wharf, a mixed-use complex in an old power station, developed by a nonprofit cooperative with lo
London’s poorest risk becoming the new “left behind” The depiction of the capital as a gilded metropolis conceals the highest rate of child poverty of any English region. Nine years ago, as it prepared to host the 2012 Olympic Games, London basked in its global pre-eminence. The city had overcome postwar decline to become a political, economic and cultural powerhouse. “Effectively New York, LA and Washington all rolled into one,” as Neil O’Brien, the Conservative MP, observed that year. But London’s ascent would not last. In 2016, the UK voted to leave the European Union and the capital was marginalised as the only English region to back Remain (with a 60-40 split).
New Book on the Fall Getting U S Release pitchfork.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from pitchfork.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
For some time, it has been government policy to privilege the interests of private landlords over other homeowners. This process began in the mid-1990s when banks introduced buy-to-let mortgages, which assessed buyers’ creditworthiness on the rental yield from the property, rather than their existing income. Easy finance gave landlords an advantage over first-time buyers.
Buy-to-let landlords have also enjoyed tax relief: mortgage interest relief, and a wear-and-tear allowance. The tax breaks have diminished in comparison to what they once were, but the broad picture remains the same. Although the UK’s 2.5 million landlords are a small minority, because the market has been loaded in their favour, they were responsible for 18% of all residential property purchases by the end of 2019.
“THERE is … no credible route to a zero-Covid Britain or indeed a zero-Covid world,” Boris Johnson told the House of Commons on February 22.
“We cannot persist indefinitely with restrictions that debilitate our economy, our physical and mental wellbeing, and the life chances of our children.”
To confirm, a zero-Covid strategy aims for the total elimination of Covid. Many people may be confused, thinking: “Isn’t this exactly what the government has been trying to do since the start of the pandemic?”
Unfortunately, the answer is no. Britain has followed what science writer Laura Spinney recently described in the Guardian as “a mitigation and suppression strategy, according to which we will have to live with Covid-19 and therefore we must learn to manage it aiming for herd immunity by the most painless route possible.”