I am riding the London Eye high over the south bank of the Thames and enjoying a  bird’s eye view of one of the world’s great cities.  West down the river I can make out Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and, in the distance on my side, the MI6 headquarters of James Bond fame.  To my right, I can see St. Pauls’ and the financial district.  Everywhere, I see the signature double-decker red buses of the city, the tiny ants of people scurrying to their jobs in the banking sector, and the inevitable gaggles of tourists.

It’s a fun ride, but a total rip-off at around $30 per person.  In fact, all of London is a rip-off, when you consider that my very good Italian lunch which consisted of spaghetti ragu, some bread, and a glass of wine costs $38, and my rather average but trendy hotel (Ibis Blackfriar) in Southwark will set you back over $200 a night.

Begging the question, is it worth it?  In a word, no.  Not for a second time around.  Yes, for the first visit.  But as a city to live in, which is part of my search?  Ludicrous.  Not even close to consideration.

London has some world-class attributes.  The British Museum, the Tate modern, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar square, Big Ben, The Tower of London…the list goes on, London is unique.  There is fine dining and great theater as well.  Not to mention the charm of old-time taxis and a fantastic Underground that puts Paris’ Metro to shame.  In fact, I used it this morning and immediately figured out how to get to my hotel without the slightest knowledge of the system in advance.  Not to mention that they still have many helpful, friendly people.

But.  A bottle of Veuve Cliquot will set you back over $60.  I know, because I’m quaffing one down in the safety of my hotel room, where London’s voracious appetite for my money can be temporarily fended off.  It’s about 50 degrees with a pretty stout 30-knot wind on the pedestrian Golden Jubilee Bridge, and rain is threatening.  If this is the weather in late May, what’s April like?  I think London skips spring and fall altogether.

That’s not to say it isn’t a great city.  It is.  But the weather and cost of living are ridiculous.

And one other thing.  Is it London anymore without English people?  Everywhere you go, you see Indians, Nigerians, Hasidic Jews, and Muslims (decked out in full burqas).  Yes, I am probably still in the majority here in the City Center, but I doubt that’s true anymore on the periphery where I get the feeling most of these folks live.

I’m a big believer that cities, nations, and civilizations don’t happen by accident.  In large part, they’re a product of the people who produced them.  Yes, it’s true, some of the wealth, maybe even much of it, came from the conquered peoples who have now invaded the Mother Country and are rapidly repopulating it with the same blood that has been unable to create a viable culture of their own back in the hinterlands of Africa or the ghettos of Delhi.  It may have been stolen by force of arms, but that is the story of world history.  Great civilizations produce great armies, or navies, in the case of England, and they sally forth to seize the day.  The fact that they were so successful at conquering other sub-cultures is a product of the Englshman’s unique characteristics, which can’t be separated from race or place of birth anymore than you yourself can say that it doesn’t matter who your parents are.  It matters, and soon London will not be recognizably English anymore.  I don’t think I want to live in a city that has committed cultural suicide.  Or, more precisely, a city that has been administered the poison of Globalism by the New World Order types that are scurrying to and fro in the banking sector even as I speak.

So London is a horrible place to choose to live, unless your time horizon is very short, less than 5 years, I would say.  For the money, you can live literally anywhere in the world.  Paris, Vienna, Barcelona, Tuscany, a Greek Island, San Francisco, Vancouver, Buenos Aires…and in some cases for half the price.  But, like the saying goes, it’s a great place to visit, and I’m going to enjoy it. My advice to you, dear reader, is to do the same thing yourself…while it is still a safe place to travel, and still recognizably English.

See you tomorrow, if my rant hasn’t alienated you.  If it has, wake up or tune out.

Post Script:

I penned the above piece two days ago and have been sick as a dog ever since.  In re-reading it, I thought perhaps I was being a bit harsh in my assessment of the harmful effects of multiculturalism on the Great City, and I even considered editing my posture.  That was before this morning.

Today in the local paper, I read about a couple of black Muslims who ran their vehicle into British soldier in London, and then fiercely but unsuccessfully tried to sever his head with a meat cleaver, all the while inviting tourists to take pictures of the corpse as the grisly spectacle unfolded.  Of course, no one had even so much as a box cutter to take these assholes down, but luckily, the assailants patiently waited 20 minutes for the authorities to arrive before they were apprehended.  During the murder, these chimps are heard saying it was to protest the death of Muslims around the world who die at the hands of the English.  I only added that part at the end because too many times today the so-called “media” attempts to distort the message by saying it had nothing to do with their faith, just like when a white couple is tortured and the girl sodomized repeatedly by black thugs is not a “hate” crime in the USA, even when both of the innocents die.

I don’t know if this got any press across the pond (yes, they DO say that here) or not.  What I DO know is this: I wasn’t wrong about what I said.  There will be more of this, and there will be more general crime and unemployment because of the New Londoners that I see here.  It will lead them to ruin, eventually.  If you want to see the New London, look to South Africa or even Detroit as role models.

But the real story here is not in Muslims atrocities, but rather who is engaged in promoting irresponsible immigration, and who is ignoring the sad results of that on a nation of people, not just in England but around the world.  Cui bono?  The answer is simple, if you look for it.