Should London become an independent city state?

[TeemuVanBasten 3,327]

Does the place have anything in common culturally, politically or economically with the rest of England?

Would this solve a lot of problems?

In return for giving them a couple of ports, and the Chanel Tunnel, I propose we try and palm Luton off on them in the negotiations, and make them pay for the wall.

Edited March 13, 2023 by TeemuVanBasten

[The Raptor 1,231]

Can we give them Ipswich as well? 

[TeemuVanBasten 3,327]

1 hour ago, The Raptor said:

Can we give them Ipswich as well? 

Hell no, Suffolk deserves them.

[The Raptor 1,231]

I can see a Berlin type scenario where Ipswich is divided in two. The main issue being who gets the football ground. They'll each try to give it to the other side!

[king canary 7,654]

1 hour ago, TeemuVanBasten said:

Does the place have anything in common culturally, politically or economically with the rest of England?

Would this solve a lot of problems?

In return for giving them a couple of ports, and the Chanel Tunnel, I propose we try and palm Luton off on them in the negotiations, and make them pay for the wall.

Economically it largely subsidises the rest of the country so have at it I guess. 

[TeemuVanBasten 3,327]

18 minutes ago, king canary said:

Economically it largely subsidises the rest of the country so have at it I guess. 

But that's with the status quo. With a London-centric government making London-centric decisions. 

We've already ascertained that it would solve the migrant crisis. They will arrive in London, and very few will want to cross over into England. We would have to insist that London uses its own hotels though, unless they want to pay a 'hotel taken out of public use' tax of £50 per room per day to the English government.

Banks would need both an English and London banking license so would need to look at places like Manchester, Leeds, for their English HQ.

And we wouldn't recognise their parliament any longer, we'd need our own parliament and our own civil servants.

Our economy is far too centralised, more so than any other developed nation. That is precisely the point. 

Where are they growing the food to feed 11 million? We'd flog it to them. Unless they want to live on Jellied eels from the Thames estuary.

We'd soon build a healthy balance of payments 

I'd suggest a congestion fee and pothole tax. £14 per day per London vehicle leaving the London boundaries and entering the nation of England. 

We'll be good neighbours of course, they'll rely on us for our energy and food exports, we can start investing in wind and solar again free the shackles of Westminster and then flog the energy to London, and we'll use our navy to protect them (for a fee of course!). 

 

 

Edited March 13, 2023 by TeemuVanBasten

[TheGunnShow 5,983]

Speaking of pothole taxes, maybe we could get P/ornhub to sponsor it?  After all, their business is completely based on filling in holes.

[TeemuVanBasten 3,327]

2 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

Speaking of pothole taxes, maybe we could get P/ornhub to sponsor it?  After all, their business is completely based on filling in holes.

Think it's OnlyFans with all the money these days. Surprised they haven't recruited the Wealdstone raider for an advertising campaign yet.

[TheGunnShow 5,983]

2 minutes ago, TeemuVanBasten said:

Think it's OnlyFans with all the money these days. Surprised they haven't recruited the Wealdstone raider for an advertising campaign yet.

OnlyFans! You want some? He'll give it ya!

[How I Wrote Elastic Man 1,189]

2 hours ago, TeemuVanBasten said:

Does the place have anything in common culturally, politically or economically with the rest of England?

Would this solve a lot of problems?

In return for giving them a couple of ports, and the Chanel Tunnel, I propose we try and palm Luton off on them in the negotiations, and make them pay for the wall.

For some reason, that reminds me that I have a colonoscopy due soon 😬

[canarydan23 4,060]

The Singapore analogy was interesting. I suspect a London City state would go the same way for both London and the rest of the UK. London would end up more like Singapore and the UK more like Malaysia. And the idea that they'd be reliant on us for the food doesn't bear fruit (get it?) in a globalised world. The only thing Malaysia leads in imports to Singapore is fruit and veg, and even then only just and it still gets the majority of it from countries that aren't Malaysia. Brazil supplies most of its meat.

It remains a global financial hub (although badly hit by Brexit) and has the most active port by tonnage in the UK.

I suspect if you put it to a vote, more Londoners would vote for it than those outside the M25, to be perfectly honest.

[Wings of a Sparrow 1,425]

London. Which I spell S-H-I-T-H-O-L-E.

[Herman 9,819]

Unfortunately, the way this country has been mismanaged England without London would be bankrupt within weeks.

[king canary 7,654]

18 hours ago, TeemuVanBasten said:

But that's with the status quo. With a London-centric government making London-centric decisions. 

We've already ascertained that it would solve the migrant crisis. They will arrive in London, and very few will want to cross over into England. We would have to insist that London uses its own hotels though, unless they want to pay a 'hotel taken out of public use' tax of £50 per room per day to the English government.

Banks would need both an English and London banking license so would need to look at places like Manchester, Leeds, for their English HQ.

And we wouldn't recognise their parliament any longer, we'd need our own parliament and our own civil servants.

Our economy is far too centralised, more so than any other developed nation. That is precisely the point. 

Where are they growing the food to feed 11 million? We'd flog it to them. Unless they want to live on Jellied eels from the Thames estuary.

We'd soon build a healthy balance of payments 

I'd suggest a congestion fee and pothole tax. £14 per day per London vehicle leaving the London boundaries and entering the nation of England. 

We'll be good neighbours of course, they'll rely on us for our energy and food exports, we can start investing in wind and solar again free the shackles of Westminster and then flog the energy to London, and we'll use our navy to protect them (for a fee of course!). 

 

 

Whatever works for you I guess.

I do chuckle at the idea that if you took London out of the equation you could somehow do more to move to wind and solar power- do you think it is Londoners standing in the way of on shore wind farms and solar panels?

However I just don't buy your original idea that Londoners are apparently completely alien in their views from the rest of the UK.

[TeemuVanBasten 3,327]

11 minutes ago, king canary said:

Whatever works for you I guess.

I do chuckle at the idea that if you took London out of the equation you could somehow do more to move to wind and solar power- do you think it is Londoners standing in the way of on shore wind farms and solar panels?

However I just don't buy your original idea that Londoners are apparently completely alien in their views from the rest of the UK.

I think its clear that my post is a little tongue in cheek, although support in London for independence rose from 5% to 11% after London voting overwhelmingly for 'remain', and the rest of the country voted for leave, so there definitely some fault lines there. 

[king canary 7,654]

13 minutes ago, TeemuVanBasten said:

I think its clear that my post is a little tongue in cheek, although support in London for independence rose from 5% to 11% after London voting overwhelmingly for 'remain', and the rest of the country voted for leave, so there definitely some fault lines there. 

Yeah don't worry I don't think you seriously mean it.

Sure there are fault lines. I'm just wary of any imported stuff from the states where you have elected officials claiming those in certain cities aren't 'real Americans' like those in more rural areas.

Fault lines will always exist, although it'll be interesting to see how those demographics change both in the next election and over the longer term. If work from home remains default for lots of professions we could well see more and more people who'd normally have to live in London or one of the UK's larger cities moving outwards and spreading the more progressive vote through the country.

[canarydan23 4,060]

I love London. I'd hate to live there, but to visit it really is one of the best cities in the world. We probably do 5 or 6 visits a year, sometimes just for the day, sometimes for a night or two.

[TheGunnShow 5,983]

4 minutes ago, canarydan23 said:

I love London. I'd hate to live there, but to visit it really is one of the best cities in the world. We probably do 5 or 6 visits a year, sometimes just for the day, sometimes for a night or two.

Shows how tastes vary. I was there for a translation conference a few years ago at the University of Westminster (took the train in from High Wycombe) and although the conference was pretty good, I could not wait to get the heck out.

[littleyellowbirdie 2,576]

Wherever your seat of government is, that will always attract more economic activity. If London was taken out of the UK, a new capital would be nominated, (Birmingham or Manchester?), which would immediately attract all of the lobbyists, media, international transport, international travel... eventually that capital city would be as removed from the rest of the country culturally as London is.