How London became the equal of New York

Published in the Evening Standard 7 September 2006

When we marked the anniversary of the July 7 bombings a couple of months ago, the question TV interviewers asked again and again was this: how much had London, and Britain, really changed?

The answer, often to the disappointment of the TV folk, was not that much. There had been no radical shift in Britain’s politics, nor in the habits of Londoners, who continued to travel by bus and Tube, nor even in the physical landscape of the city.

Here in New York, with the fifth anniversary of 9/11 just a few days away, no one is asking the equivalent question. They know that New York and the United States itself were altered profoundly by the attacks on the Twin Towers. Politically, that event triggered a radical change in direction as the Bush administration declared a “war on terror,” the consequences of which are felt across the entire world to this day.

As for New York itself, the impact of that fateful September morning is still all too visible. The space where the old World Trade Center stood remains unfilled, a gaping hole in the Manhattan skyline. Ground Zero itself is no longer covered in rubble, and construction work is underway for the new Freedom Tower, but what used to be one of the world’s great landmarks remains a void. Some New Yorkers say they still look up, expecting to see those two gleaming towers: they linger in the imagination, like phantom limbs.

There are other legacies. This week a study concluded that seven out of ten of the rescue workers involved in 9/11 were now suffering from
respiratory problems, from asthma to lung disease, the result of breathing in such large amounts of toxic air and dust. Fire fighters and paramedics speak of a black liquid seeping from their mouths when they brush their teeth or from their noses when they sleep, like a liquefied form of “barbecue ash.”

The evidence of 9/11 is all around. Arrive at JFK and you’ll see the
quasi-military staff of the Transportation Security Agency, established after September 11. Stroll into a bookshop and you can browse the special ‘9/11 Remembered’ section, with at least a dozen titles issued especially for next week’s anniversary. Among them, a book called “Love You, Mean It” by four women who lost their husbands in the World Trade Center and went on to form what they call the WC: the Widows’ Club. None was over 40 on 9/11.

And yet it would be a mistake to assume every New York minute is lived in the shadow of that event. The city still hums and throbs with life, from the commuters on the subway to the skinny, decaff latte sippers in Greenwich village. If there is a difference, it is a subtle change in the collective self-image of New York. The swagger and confidence has not gone. But now it is combined with a new story of resilience, of strength in the face of adversity.

That’s especially easy for a Londoner to detect, because the same theme has long been part of London’s narrative. Ever since the Blitz, the notion of fortitude under fire has been part of London’s DNA.

The result is that a visit to New York these days represents less of a cultural leap than it once did. I was 14 when I first visited America and I remember gaping open-mouthed in wonder. Everything was so different. The cars were bigger, the fridges, even the milk and juice cartons in the supermarket. There were dozens of channels on the TV and they all kept playing all night. Shops were open till late and there seemed to be a thousand different types of restaurant.

Most of that still holds true. But now it doesn’t come as such a shock. Not because New York has changed – but because London has.

Today so many of the excitements and thrills that were once peculiar to Manhattan are available to Londoners. We have a West End theatre that usually boasts as many Hollywood stars as Broadway. We’re getting a serious skyline – not always to everyone’s tastes – thanks to the likes of the Gherkin, the Eye and Canary Wharf. And now popping into a bookshop for a browse and a coffee, even in the late evening, is as much a London option as a New York one.

Even retail has become an even contest. Experienced shoppers tell me that the New York experience is no longer so far ahead of the London one; that even the famed Bergdorf Goodman is pretty well matched by Harvey Nicks. To even things up still further, the much-admired Barneys of New York plan to open their first shop abroad in London, at the mall planned for White City.

Driving much of these changes are two bigger shifts. First, London no
longer lags behind New York financially: the visible, roaring wealth that was such a striking feature of Manhattan a generation ago is now on display in London, too. They have Donald Trump, but we have Roman
Abramovich. Visit the right parts of Kensington or Chelsea and you’ll see just as many Aston-Martins per square yard as you can count on Park Avenue.

Second, and most crucially, London is now as diverse as New York, if not more so. We, like them, count 40% of our population born outside the country. It used to be one of New York’s proudest boasts, that it was the magnet-city pulling in people of talent and energy from all over the world, to chase their dreams. That’s still true of New York. But it’s just as true of London.

So this week Londoners should stand in solidarity with New Yorkers as they mourn their dead, just as we did five years ago. At the same time, we can reflect that we are more like them than ever. Not a pale competitor, but their equal – citizens of two of the very greatest cities on earth.

Posted on September 7, 2006 11:12 AM

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