‘The rich need the city like an astronaut needs a spacesuit’: How the super wealthy took over London

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. I still remember the comment of a city councillor who, when I excitedly said that I was doing work on London’s rich, gently asked: “Why not something on Sheffield’s poor?” Ouch. In reality, the rich need the city like an astronaut needs a spacesuit If we really want to understand the poverty and problems of many people we would do well to look up. open image in gallery ‘As one walks these areas, small glimpses of the incredible niceness of life at the top can be gleaned’ London’s broader “offer”, of fine homes, beautiful urban neighbourhoods often attached to parks, luxury services and shops, welcoming plush hotels and a sense of grandeur and place, cement the economic value of the city as a place to actually live and take a seat alongside the existing elite. The idea of the alpha city resides in the sense that upward marching property values are a good thing, that the City of London is a gift to city and country, that the rich are self-made wizards of finance, property and technology, and that the maelstrom of urban life that results from these various ingredients makes London simply the best city in the world.