London is big, and getting bigger, and it’s influence on the rest of the U.K., Sam Bright argues, is detrimental, even malign.
In the vivid preface to his excellent book, “Fortress London”, he describes England’s capitol city as a “towering, bulbous ant-hill”, home to virtually nine million people in the city itself and up to 14 million in the whole metropolitan area. London can be likened to a black hole that has sucked in politics, jobs, media attention, whose residents identify as Londoners before English or even British. To succeed in many modern careers, one is forced to go to London.
He argues that London’s power needs to be curbed by encouraging Britain’s regions: the U.K. needs to be saved from its own capital. The focal point of a divided Britain, London is considered, mainly by those within it, to be a multicultural, progressive Mecca compared to the almost backward, xenophobic regions, made even worse by Brexit. Sam is fiercely proud of his Yorkshire roots and he admits this has coloured his writing and outlook, but that’s only to be expected. I know where he’s coming from, having had a similar background and upbringing: I like Sam as a narrator and guide. Bright examines his subject through the prism of the major talking points of our times - education, health, work, class divides etc to produce an accessible and powerful work for our times.
Making use of statistics and interviews, there is much in the book that makes for sobering reading. I often found myself getting angry at the stark inequalities being laid bare, probably due to my background. In fact, how angry this book will make you will, I think, depend entirely on where and how you were born.
Sam Bright writes with intelligence, erudition and occasional wit, producing the exact opposite of a dry, political diatribe. This is a very provocative book, very now: “Fortress London” is prescient, eye-opening (even eye-popping in parts) and vital, with a welcome strain of hopeful humour flowing through it.