East-West Read online

  25. And a mile (1,650 metres to be exact) of ‘retaining structure’, whatever that means. The plans for the station can be found at http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/hs2-maps-20120110/hs2arp00drrw05002issue3.pdf.

  26. R. Razaq, ‘We need HS2 tunnel too, say residents’, Evening Standard, 23 January 2012. See http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-24029998-we-need-hs2-tunnel-too-say-residents.do.

  27. Further down the line it is the 33-year-old in Holland Park who will give birth at 34. Meanwhile the 49-year-old daughter of the grandmother we’ll meet in Bethnal Green is about to become a mother for the third time. If you could compare the families of all the babies born in the capital in just one day the snapshot would illustrate how massively socially split this city has become. Even along one tube line people live in different worlds. To the east of the Central Line it is not unusual for many mothers to still have living grandmothers or even great-grandmothers.

  28. The ages of all the mothers along the line are 19, 23, 25, 28, 29, 32, 34, 38, 42 and 49. These numbers were drawn from the distribution given in official publications for England and Wales, extrapolating forward seven years from 2004 based on the trend from 1997 to 2004. See ‘Maternities: Age of mother, 1938–2004, a. all maternities’, itself taken from Table 3.4 published in Birth Statistics 1837–1983, Historical series FM1, Vol. 13, and from Table 3.2 published in Birth Statistics 1837–1983, Historical series FM1, Vols. 11–33 (Office of National Statistics, London).

  29. Later on in this story it is grandchildren who will become parents at ages 19, 23, 25 and 28. These four all live between Mile End and Leytonstone (inclusive). However, most adults who live towards the centre of the Central Line are not parents and many will never be. London is where people are least likely to have children and, if they have them, to have them at older ages. The parents in the western end of north-west London would have had to have been older still, on average, for the age profile to be representative of the capital as it is today.

  30. See http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/tickets/faresandtickets/farefinder/current/default.aspx. Last time she had to visit it had been Feltham and she took the Piccadilly Line to Heathrow. It had been £5.30 one way then. For some reason an Oyster would only save you 50p on that trip. She was travelling from Bethnal Green.

  31. She didn’t learn it from the Internet, as she didn’t have access and wouldn’t know how to work the Web if she did. It is at http://www.justice.gov.uk/global/contacts/noms/prison-finder/wormwood-scrubs/visiting-information.htm.

  32. He got caught again later that year in August. Like fish thrown back in the river, some are better at getting caught than others: BBC, ‘One in four riot suspects had 10 previous offences’, 15 September 2011. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14926322.

  33. A. Foster (show-business correspondent), ‘BBC Breakfast’s Sian Williams quits to escape move to Salford’, Evening Standard, 29 March 2011. See http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23936344-bbc-breakfasts-sian-williams-quits-to-escape-move-to-salford.do.

  34. Comment on above story by ‘Adam, Lancashire, 30/03/2011, 10:12’.

  35. ‘…the last half mile is wholly irrecoverable. The Central Line running north-west between White City and East Acton, and the A40, have cut off the runners’ access route from DuCane Road, and there is nothing left of the stadium’: M. Pooley, ‘From Windsor Castle to White City: The 1908 Olympic Marathon Route’, London Journal, Vol. 34, No. 2, July 2009, p. 176. See http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/65679/1/LDN4206.pdf.

  36. Among the exhibits in White City in 1911 a ‘Somali village was found in the shadow of the Mountain Railway. They were headed by Mohamed, who had acted as a British interpreter during the campaign against the Mad Mullah.’ See http://www.studygroup.org.uk/Exhibitions/Pages/1911%20Coronation.htm.

  37. ‘Council elections 2010 Wormholt and White City ward’ given by Hammersmith and Fulham Council. See http://www.lbhf.gov.uk/Directory/Council_and_Democracy/Democracy_and_Elections/ Electoral_services/Useful_links/142724_Council_elections_2010_Wormholt_and_ White_City_ward.asp.

  38. ‘Off the Track in London’, published in 1911, described the area as ‘the Avernus of Kensington’, the gateway to hell. It was said then to have the ‘Highest Death Rate in London’, in St Clements’ parish magazine. See p. 3 of http://www.historytalk.org/Notting%20Dale/NDnotes1.pdf.

  39. See Notting Hill History Timeline at: http://www.historytalk.org/Notting%20Dale/timelinechap4.pdf.

  40. Among the anarchists, George Sims noted in 1904 that ‘there are odd ones holding socialistic and revolutionary doctrines … but as to the majority of my people, I have been deeply touched, at times, to see how firmly rooted the King and Queen are in the affections of even the most depraved and violent’, History Talk, Issue 13, November/December 2008, p. 4. See http://www.historytalk.org/Notting%20Dale/Newsletter13.pdf.

  41. See http://www.historytalk.org/Notting%20Dale/NDnotes1.pdf.

  42. The Great Western. All this is according to George Sims, in 1904 and published again in 1911. See p. 7 of http://www.historytalk.org/Notting%20Dale/NDnotes1.pdf.

  43. Same source, referring in turn to ‘London City Mission Magazine, October 1911’.

  44. ‘One in Ten’ by UB40 reached number one in the charts in August 1981. The history of all UB40 songs is graphed here: http://www.chartstats.com/artistinfo.php?id=667. ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’ reached number one in the UK in 1995. Its progress can be seen at http://www.chartstats.com/songinfo.php?id=23489.

  45. D. Dorling, R. Garside and N. Kerrison, ‘Young adults in transition: the local picture in national context’, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, Briefing 12, 2011. See http://www.dannydorling.org/?page_id=2931.

  46. ‘Children with a Parent in Prison Conference: Impact, Issues, Practice and Policy’, The Sherwell Centre, Plymouth University, United Kingdom, Monday 2 April 2012. See http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/pages/view.asp?page=37922.

  47. The original source for the 7 per cent figure is the New Labour Green Paper ‘Every Child Matters’. See http://www.education.gov.uk/consultations/downloadableDocs/EveryChildMatters.pdf. On p. 43 it states: ‘Seven percent of children during their time at school experience the imprisonment of a father, while every year, approximately 150,000 children have a parent who enters custody.’ Thanks to Eleanor Carter of the University of Sheffield for finding this source when I could not remember where I had first heard of it or seen it!

  48. By 2012 the minimum that a single adult needed, living alone, for a basic but minimally decent life was £193 a week after their rent, tax and National Insurance were paid. Just to get by on what was deemed the same – very minimal – standard, a couple with children aged three and seven needed £455 a week after those essential costs were met and childcare costs were included for when both adults were working. If both adults were working, then they would each need to earn £18,400 a year to reach that minimal level of decency. All the families with children labelled as poor here in White City were living on far less than even that amount. See http://www.jrf.org.uk/focus-issue/minimum-income-standards.

  49. Life expectancy is always an average and wealth does not always infer health. In July 2012 the body of billionairess Eva Rausing was found in her mansion, just over a mile (across some of the most expensive real estate in the world) from Holland Park. Earlier she and her husband had been photographed looking ‘gaunt and dishevelled’ as they tried to leave their home incognito. Not all is well for the rich and especially not for the extremely rich. See http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/eva-rausing-dead-wife-of-tetra-1139778.

  50. See http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23983968-ex-councillor-faces-child-porn-charges.do.

  51. See http://www.movielocationsguide.com/Notting_Hill/filming_locations/ House_With_Blue_Door.php.

  52. See http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/electionmap/atlas.html. Colville returned two Liberal and one Labour councillors in May 2010. To the north and west all wards were Labour in that borough, to the south all were Tory. />
  53. Later revealed in the Evening Standard: A. Davis, ‘Three boroughs to merge libraries in an attempt to stave off closures’, 17 June 2011. See http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23961506-three-boroughs-to-merge-libraries-in-an-attempt-to-stave-off-closures.do.

  54. It kept on happening: R. Cooper, ‘Gone off the rails: Porsche left balancing precariously over ledge after smashing through metal fence’, Daily Mail, 3 February 2012. See http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2096179/Porsche-left-balancing-precariously-ledge-smashing-railings-crash.html.

  55. William Wales studied history of art, but that subject turned out to be a little too complex, so, unlike the woman who later became his wife, he switched degrees to the more convivial study of geography. It is an academic discipline that’s also useful given all the place names in his official title: His Royal Highness Prince William Arthur Philip Louis, Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn, Baron Carrickfergus, Royal Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.

  56. See http://www.onehydepark.com/#/index and http://www.onehydepark.com/downloads/pdf/adib-brochure.pdf. Which continues: ‘Occupying a prime location within the newly completed One Hyde Park development adjacent to Rolex and McLaren retail flagship stores’.

  57. When he was coming here he’d googled ‘Hyde Park’ and come up with a street in what looked like a council estate in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, just by the sewage works. It probably wasn’t a council estate; coming from the States, he didn’t have the eye to distinguish between maisonettes and two-ups, two-downs: 1 Hyde Park Wakefield, West Yorkshire WF1 4ET. Anyway – he was learning quickly. He wouldn’t be here for long; maybe they’d move him to a self-catering but serviced apartment in Chelsea if his posting was for a few more months, and then they could save a little on the rent here. It just wasn’t healthy having all your food delivered by room service – but at least the portions were small (by American standards).

  58. City of Westminster: Bryanston and Dorset Square ward, ONS Government Statistical Service Code E05000632. A decade ago, within exactly 6,677 dwellings, some 10,669 people lived in this area, 37.5 years old on average, hardly any children or pensioners, but 163 Buddhists. For full details, including a nice map, see http://openlylocal.com/wards/1670-Bryanston-and-Dorset-Square.

  59. Let’s say it’s St Edward’s RC Primary School, Unique Reference Number (URN): 101128, Lisson Grove, London NW1 6LH. On the 36 languages see http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/files/916555/urn/101128.pdf.

  60. A little later in time the map of multiple deprivation would be found at http://mappinglondon.co.uk/2012/02/13/the-index-of-multiple-deprivation-as-a-map/.

  61. Or at least the local Conservative Party does call it a village despite it being in London. See http://www.westminsterconservatives.co.uk/node/69.

  62. B. Barrow and L. Farndon, ‘Greed “is good”: Anger as Barclays bosses hand themselves up to £47m a head in pay and bonuses – and then claim it’s in best interests of Britain’, Daily Mail, 8 March 2011. See http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1363790/Barclays-bosses-47m-head-pay-bonuses-Bob-Diamond-says-greed-good.html.

  63. See the ‘Daily Mail Song’ at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eBT6OSr1TI.

  64. He’s stopped using that line since Bob Diamond was let go in conditions of infamy and Jerry had to resign and was called to explain his actions in the UK and USA (where a criminal inquiry was being considered): P. Inman, ‘Ex-Barclays executive to be grilled by MPs over Libor scandal’, Guardian, 15 July 2012. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jul/15/barclays-jerry-del-missier-libor.

  65. ‘Rebekah Brooks visits Rupert Murdoch’s London home for talks – Rupert Murdoch meets News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks and chairman James Murdoch after arriving in the UK to take personal charge of the phone-hacking scandal engulfing his business’, Guardian, 11 July 2011. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/video/2011/jul/11/rebekah-brooks-rupert-murdoch-video.

  66. He’d been given access to the data early, before Camden Council released it to the public as Camden Data’s ‘Bloomsbury ward general health profile 2011/12’, release date 17 August 2011. See http://www.camdendata.info/AddDocuments1/Forms/DispForm.aspx?ID=310.

  67. First page of ‘Bloomsbury ward general health profile 2011/12’ referenced above, in note 66.

  68. A Veblen good is a type of positional good where ‘preference for buying them increases as their price increases, as greater price confers greater status’. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good. Almost all goods have been of this type at one time or another. See http://www.evolutionary-economics.org/KSH-Postings-Econ/178.html.

  69. Within Camden ‘Holborn and Covent Garden ward has the most accommodation located in commercial buildings (9%) and the second highest proportion of accommodation with lowest floor level being 5th floor or above (13%). It has the second highest proportion of purpose-built flats (70%), ranks 2nd for resident workers who walk to work (37%) and ranks 3rd lowest on the proportion of households owning cars (31%). The ward has the second highest proportion of people living alone (54% of households)’, 2001 Census Ward Profiles Holborn and Covent Garden, January 2007. See http://www.camden.gov.uk/ccm/content/council-and-democracy/about-the-council/camden-statistics/census-test-2007/file-storage-items/ward-profile--holborn-and-covent-garden.en.

  70. See previous note. When the 2011 small area census data is released we shall probably find that the proportion of people living alone has risen to be even higher, despite the astronomical cost of property there rising so quickly. If demand and supply ever balanced these properties would be crowded.

  71. Ten months later newspaper journalists began to write that: ‘At the beginning of the crisis, wealthy Greeks, often hauling suitcases of cash, flew to the UK where they snapped up prime properties in central London, so much so that estate agents called them the “new Arabs” ’, H. Smith, ‘Greek fears grow beneath looming shadow of bankruptcy’, Guardian, 17 February 2012. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/17/greece-crisis-fears-bankruptcy.

  72. It may be that the depth of the fall in life expectancy in the stops towards Holborn is less topical because the height the fall is from is greater and so life expectancy does not become quite so low as in the East End. Travelling west to east, the only steeper descent is the six years of life lost in the three minutes from Liverpool Street to Bethnal Green. Per metre travelled rather than per second the gradient is steeper along Oxford Street.

  73. Cities of London and Westminster Conservative Association, Marylebone High Street Ward webpage at http://www.westminsterconservatives.co.uk/node/69.

  74. Holborn and St Pancras Conservative Association, Holborn and Covent Garden Ward, 4 April 2011. See http://hspca.org.uk/2011/04/04/labour-councillor-forces-young-family-to-leave-home/.

  75. What you need to keep in your mind, when reading about the City of London, is why they never say on their websites when it is that people get to vote for the local government of the area, or why the elected Mayor of London has no real power over this small part of the capital where so much of the wealth and power really is. See http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/LGNL_Services/Council_and_democracy/ Council_departments/whatis.htm.

  76. Read the riveting ‘Farringdon Without Ward News’. Earlier copies appear to be unavailable, but Issue 22 is at http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/committees/ward_newsletters/22.pdf.

  77. ‘The Square Mile houses some of the richest concentrations of economic activity in the world. However, its neighbours include some of the UK’s most deprived communities. The City of London Corporation is acutely aware that the City should not prosper in isolation and is therefore committed to working with partners in the public, private and voluntary sectors to bring lasting social, economic and physical regeneration to the City fringes. The City of London is actively engaged in numerous regeneration partnerships and also contributes funding to a wide range …’ For more, and a picture of six black people they have helped (or at least that is the
very tacky implication of the image) see http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/LGNL_Services/ Environment_and_planning/Regeneration/.

  78. Z. Saeed, ‘St Paul’s Cathedral marks 300th anniversary’, BBC News, 4 March 2011. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12635948.

  79. Shirley Williams was 80 at the time of this encounter. The book her pacifist mother, Vera Brittain, wrote was entitled Testament of Youth. On the meeting that Shirley was attending, see Ekklesia, ‘A New Way of Thinking’, 29 March 2011: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/14437. Ekklesia is affiliated to the Robin Hood Tax Campaign. Almost a year later: ‘Christians are continuing plans for a ring of prayer at the eviction of Occupy London Stock Exchange, even if the bailiffs are sent in at night-time. The Court of Appeal today [22 February] ruled in favour of the eviction of the camp, meaning it could now take place at any time.’ See http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/16309. See also http://londonist.com/2011/03/tonight-robin-hood-tax-debate-at-st-pauls-cathedral.php on other reports of that meeting. In contrast to these two reports, tens of thousands of stories were posted about the Occupy camp. The camp was cleared late on the night of 27 February 2012.

  80. ‘…when hard paste porcelain was reproduced in imitation of Chinese originals in the 1760s, those able to afford the latest “china” demonstrated their social superiority by adding the tea first and the milk afterwards’, Andrew, Bristol, England: http://www.guardian.co.uk/notesandqueries/query/0,,-1400,00.html.

  81. Sometimes there is no decent substitute for Wikipedia: see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queenhithe.

  82. The phrase would later appear in the December 2011 edition of the newsletter of another City ward – see http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/committees/ward_newsletters/22.pdf – where it was used by a City Councilman to condemn the protesters at the cathedral. Maybe he had heard the phrase first at a dinner in April and it had stuck in his mind? The Councilman was a ‘founding Director of the civil liberties group Big Brother Watch’. A group concerned partly with people looking too closely into the affairs of the City?