"As a born and bred Londoner, Bryony Gordon never thought she would consider leaving the capital, no matter how much she moaned about it. But as new statistics show record numbers of young people are moving out, London may finally have reached tipping point"
"Samuel Johnson said that a man who is tired of London is tired of life, but that was well over 200 years ago and I really wish people would stop quoting him as if he would have said the same today and not, upon looking in an estate agent?s window, high-tailed it straight back to Staffordshire.
Dr Johnson never had to wait forty minutes to be wedged in a stranger?s armpit on the tube ? a daily occurrence for any of us who happen to live in that vast, vomitous mass that is sneeringly referred to by the wealthy as 'Sarf London?, even if parts of 'Sarf London? are more expensive than truffles sprinkled in gold and served on a platinum plate with diamond detailing.
He never had his toes broken by a wheely suitcase, and he was never sworn at by a cyclist who careered into him after running a red light. Had Dr Johnson come to London now, he would have been completely exhausted by it. People would be shouting blue murder at him as he slept-walked slowly through Victoria Station; they?d be elbowing him out the way as they raced to be swallowed whole by the tube.
Can I let you in on a little secret? Nobody likes London, especially not the people who have the misfortune to live in it. There?s a popular misconception that people who reside in the capital are all members of the metropolitan elite, and that we walk around with a sense of entitlement, our noses turned up because we happen to live near some good museums and the Prime Minister. "
Continued
London is over...and it's about time too - Telegraph