Dirty Laundry

Having lived for the most part out of the UK for the last 30 years, each time I return to Canterbury and see the 1,000+ year old buildings only steps away from where we stay, I am amazed.  However when you go back in January when its just about zero and raining in that annoying way that it rains in England between November and March every year -- a sort of endless drizzle --and walk along the city walls from Canterbury East train station, I can tell you that you really don't care about how old the place is.  Its just cold and wet and you have just got a sniffle that you know will stay with you until spring.

Now that's why I left England.

Oh yes and the endless commute on the hideous trains in and out of London which is the magnet of the South East of England.  The entire country these days is that noxious term -- a dormitory town.  People sleep there and travel in and out of London to work.  That's all they do.

Thank goodness I escaped!!

So why on earth are people rushing into London?  It's THE magnet for the country and for that matter the whole of Europe.

Asylum seekers want to come in.  New EU member nation workers want to come in.  Older nation EU member nation people also want to come in.  Russian oligarchs are there as are those from the Middle East.  Someone told me in Abu Dhabi that it costs less than GBP20,000 to air freight your Maserati, Ferrari or Rolls into London for the summer.  Property is in such demand from Asian money that the papers have created a new term for the endless rows of darkened condos -- Lights Out London.  Everyone wants to be in London.  

As someone in the financial industry living in Bermuda, a so-called 'haven', I just have to laugh if it wasn't so serious (for us, that is).  Only today, Ed Milliband named Bermuda as a 'haven' that would be closed down under a new Labour government.  A BBC journalist proved he could launder a suitcase full of money in London within 30 minutes as opposed to not at all in Bermuda.  

People just don't want to hear that Bermuda is NOT a tax haven and that London is one of the biggest if not THE biggest tax haven in the world.  

The only competitor for this dubious award is the territory called the District of Columbia, that part of the US nearest to Washington.  

Yes, that one.