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This century is London’s twenty-first. And like all grown-up cities, it begins its majority with quite a few problems. Top of the list of grumbles for many Londoners and visitors are the exorbitant costs of everything, overcrowded tube trains, slow buses and bad air. Corrupt councils, chronic under-investment in transport and poor planning have all damaged the quality of life in the city over the last couple of decades. The good news is that finally there seems to be a determination to do something about it: all the major museums and galleries are free; the Channel Tunnel rail link to the north at St Pancras is due to open in 2006, giving some of east London a shot in the arm on the way; and the city centre traffic congestion charge has had a very desirable effect. Cycling has even become almost pleasurable. Some of these improvements, in particular the congestion charge, are thanks to the Greater London Authority and its colourful mayor, Ken Livingstone. ‘Red Ken’, as he was known when leader of the Greater London Council during the 1980s, was a vociferous fly in Margaret Thatcher’s ointment. She got him out by abolishing the GLC in 1986, leaving the city in the hands of its local borough councils and various unelected quangos. Her Conservative government allowed the gulf between rich and poor to widen dramatically – sparking riots in the early 1990s – and local councils sold off their housing stock for profit. In the borough of Westminster itself, council houses were sold for votes. Indignation at such scandals helped precipitate the landslide victory of the Labour government in 1997. They set up the GLA, a new council for the whole of London, in 2000 but slung Ken out of the party when he announced that he intended to run against their official candidate. Despite their alleged attempts to rig the voting procedure, he was easily elected Mayor of London on an independent ticket, making transport and housing his top priorities. Less radical than they feared, in 2004 Livingstone was re-admitted into the Labour party, ready for his good-as- guaranteed re-election later in the year. The wheel seemed to have come full circle. London still sticks to the Left, and with Ken. The winds of change blowing through the city, for good or ill, haven’t all been party political in origin. Architects have brewed up a storm too. London’s distinctive low-rise, brick-built 19th-century cityscape continues to be torn down at an alarming rate, often in pursuit of a fast buck. Meanwhile modern architecture in the city, fresh into fashion, has developed a reputation for grand gestures but little common sense or understanding of local needs. The magnificent Millennium Dome was a wasted opportunity; the ‘wobbly’ Millennium Bridge went way over budget; and the Gherkin does look a bit like a bad joke. But then there are glittering success stories too: the Jubilee tube line extension from Westminster to Stratford; the London Eye; Tate Modern; and the British Museum’s Great Court have all proved very popular. In fact most of the city’s great museums and art galleries have been transformed in recent years, partly thanks to the National Lottery. Visitors as well as Londoners have been treated to an occasionally desperate scramble for attention from venerable old institutions revamping their collections, emphasizing entertainment over educational value. Most famously, the V&A’s plans for a wacky new building called the Spiral, designed by Daniel Libeskind, caused outrage in some quarters. And one of the most recent arts and entertainment bandwagon jumpers, in typically provocative style, has been ad-man Charles Saatchi, who has installed his collection of shocking Brit Art in the archaic Edwardian offices of County Hall on the South Bank. In fact the Saatchi Gallery typifies something about London as a whole. This is a city that has become adept at re-inventing itself in surprising ways. Defying hackneyed notions of traditional British reticence and reserve, the old place has actually become sexy. Stroll into an antique-looking pub and you might well find it serving the latest, most fashionable food to a buzzing young crowd. Amble down Piccadilly or the Mall and you might stumble on Buckingham Palace lit up like a kid’s drawing. Look across Hyde Park from the gorgeously renovated old Albert Memorial and you’ll see the great big bicycle wheel of the London Eye peeping over the trees in the distance. Cross over Waterloo Bridge in the dark and you’ll be treated to spectacular light shows on buildings up and down the river. Long famous for its thriving theatres, still going strong, some of their spirit seems to have escaped into the city at large. Far from stuffy, London performs an astonishing balancing act daily between preserving its peculiar atmosphere and generating exciting new ideas. Inevitably it wobbles, but somehow just about keeps it all together. As well as its extraordinary cultural life – more music, performances and treasure-house museums than any other European city – it now boasts a restaurant, bar and hotel scene to match. Old-fashioned boozers rub shoulders with sleek designer style bars. Not a week passes without a new place opening up or another going bust. Even the fashion industry has blossomed here in the last decade. But then London also solidly resists feverish hype. No picture too rosy will ever fit. In many parts it remains a very hard and uncomfortable place to live. And yet, among its population of some seven million, speaking about 300 different languages, a quarter from ethnic minorities, the rich still keep house in close proximity to the poor. And though race relations are still difficult, the city is far from being segregated or impersonal. In its own distinctive style, it continues to seduce, enthrall and amaze. It may be a masculine place, with Old Father Thames winding through its heart, but as Shakespeare wrote of Cleopatra: “age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety.”
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