The New York Times has run a lengthy piece asking “Will London fall?” that has sent Twitter all a flutter.
As a newspaper based in just about the only metropolis that could justifiably dispute London’s claim to be the world’s top city (writes a lifelong, unbiased Londoner), the New York Times is not exactly a disinterested party.
Besides which, the generally accepted rule of journalism for any article that has a question for a headline is that the answer is always “no”.
Mind you, that may have changed in the internet age, where apparently posing a question in the headline is more likely to get people to click on the story.
Will gullible web surfers click on any old tosh?
That’s not a question; it’s the title of my next article.
READ a round-up of the day's news from Proactive Investors
Any road up, I was going to say that London has been a leading city for several hundred years now and it will probably survive Britain’s exit from the European Union but others have not only beaten me to it but done so in a style that I almost consider to be imitation.
"Will London Fall" Nonsense. London survived The Romans, The Blitz, The I.R.A. & Princess Margaret's bar tab. We make it through anything.
— London Fetish Fair (@HeatheryDoune) April 11, 2017
Call that an inflation rate?
UK inflation figures were out this morning and some commentators seem to be getting a bit twitchy about the inflation rate running above 2%.
Some of us – not mentioning any names but they’ve stupidly been on a fixed rate mortgage for the last 20 years – remember the days when the inflation rate was in double figures (the first of which was a “2”).
Which is not to say that some people are not suffering in the current climate …
Today's inflation figures show the squeeze on households across Britain continues. https://t.co/rRZB0vRzT7 #Inflation pic.twitter.com/4RMgoZC4MA
— NEF (@NEF) April 11, 2017
… but some are evidently suffering more than others.
@BBCRadMac plenty of money-grabbing ice cream vans round my way selling 99's for more than 99p #inflation
— Tim Dunford (@tim_j_d) April 11, 2017
I have never understood the rationale behind the “99” name for an ice cream with a stick of Flake in it, but so long as the ice cream is made by Rossi’s, who cares? That said, I am pretty sure the name had nothing to do with the price, otherwise it would have been known as a 19 shillings and ninepence ha'penny back in the sixties.
I'm not looking for new England
While the Twitterati worry about the future of London, over on Google the word “England” is trending.
Proving what a diverse place it is, the news stories generated by the “England” tab are all over the shop: there’s the aftershock of the Bank of England’s alleged involvement in the Libor fixing scandal; there is ‘Deep England’ – place of warm ale, village greens and cheeky milkmen [ale should be served at cellar temperature, so we must be living in a land of heated cellars]; and there are various sport stories, including the England Women footie team and the return from injury of Jack Butland.
Why all of these stories are surfacing in the Business section, I do not know.
Is Barclays set to fall?
The inclusion of Barclays PLC (LON:BARC) in the business section is something I can understand.
One of the articles featured is from the Daily Telegraph and is entitled: Barclays is ripe for a takeover or break-up.
You can probably spot the newspaper’s error, there, can’t you?
“Is Barclays ripe for a takeover or break-up?”
As they say on internet message boards: FTFY (fixed that for you).