whitemice Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 6th place Düsseldorf, Germany - Rating 107.2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_Most_Livable_Cities Woot!!!! ...Although I've never lived in any of the other city's listed (1-5) so can't really offer a comparison. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHERWICK Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 I hated Kew because of the plane noise and constant South Circular traffic. The best thing was it was the best place on the tube to get into the centre and out on the M4 and M3. Other than that Kew was lovely - shops, restaurants, small scale, friendly, cut off by the river. I went round to see a friend last week. They have pauses in conversation while the plane goes over. Dulwich is a lovely middle class place to live, but completely cut off by road from anywhere. It is impossible to get out from, as is most of South-East London. And it is too close to Peckham to be uneventful. To be honest, I hardly noticed the plane noise in Kew - I wish I could afford to live there now. As for Dulwich, it's quite cutoff by road, but not by train. Denmark Hill to the City in 15 minutes, Forest Hill to London Bridge in 15 minutes, and West Dulwich/Denmark Hill to Victoria in 15 minutes (not to mention East Dulwich station). Add to that, loads of buses servicing central london. The only thing Dulwich doesn't have is the River Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jocohen Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-...es-1699988.htmlLondon is a blooody shiithole. i have been to other cities and what you find is that many people live in them, but not london, at night its a ghost town of ofices and shops and only the really rich can live there. compare that to my fave place amsterdam where poor people live in the city centre. admittedly its all a differnt scale but the difference is noticable, above all the shops and such there are homes with normal people living in them, not just the blooody rich. london is a concrete nightmare. What a load of C***, having lived in many cities around the world this survey must have been generated by some of those deviant sections of the community. How can a survey be taken seriously if vienna is seconfd and manchester makes the list. Grant you the canadian citites mentioned are good places, but the rest of them are bland souless dumps. London can be everything and anything to everyone. If you're looking for 24 hour london then there are plenty of places for it - if you want family london there are numerous places. I wasn't born a londoner but having travelled and lived in several places in the UK and north america and middle east, london wins hands down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bearwithasorehead Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 Thats a bit of a generalisation about British people that I find a little offensive (being British and from 'another part of the UK'). Im assuming that you arent British?To put the record straight, if its nights out youre talking about, we North Westerners started the clubbing/rave trend in the 80's it wasnt London - they have only latched onto clubbing in the last 15 years. We did it all in Manchester and Liverpool (ever heard of the Hacienda?). We introduced big clubs to Ibiza like Cream (from Liverpool) and Manumission (guess where that came from? There's a hint in the name). The best clubbing nights are still away from London but it has moved on with a more modern style. I hear music in London that is at least 6 years old. As for eating out London has far more bad places than good and the rest of the country has fantastic resaurants (usually outside of cities) TOP POST! I've lived all over the UK, and in a number of European countries. London has some great things going for it - architecture and museums, etc. But the social life sucks big time. Pub culture and club culture is easily better in any provincial city in the UK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bb7t6 Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 I'm fed up of this myth about northerners being more friendly than 'stuck up' southerners. I've lived in and around Manchester for over 10 years now and it's true to say that most of my neighbours etc.have been friendly and great fun, but no more than everyone I lived with back down south. It's funny that usually the people who insist to me that northerners are more friendly are those that have never lived anywhere else, so how would they know? On the subject of London, I love the place. If these Australian cities are so great, how come so many Aussies live over here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forcryingoutloud Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 (edited) My brother has lived in London for nearly ten years, and it is a fantastic place to visit. I live in Manchester, and though I really like living here, there is no comparison culturally. Just to give two examples, the Natural History museum and the National Gallery absolutely wipe the floor with anything comparable anywhere else in the UK, at least that I've seen. However, my brother admitted to me that he probably would never have seen some of the things we've been to see together, unless I'd been to visit him. As far as I can see, people that live in London generally lead the following lifestyle...commute, work long hours, travel home, are knackered, go to bed, get up the next day and do it again. Whenever I speak to my brother he is either (i) tired, (ii) drunk, or (iii) both, that seems to be the only way he can cope with the pace of life. Would you choose to live in London when you were in middle to late adulthood? I can't see any likelihood that anyone would, because it's too busy, too nosiy, too draining and too expensive. Edited June 12, 2009 by forcryingoutloud Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
19 year mortgage 8itch Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 Manchester is the only UK city to make the top 50, coming in at 46th place and beating London’s ranking of 51st place. That's irony? Right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
50sQuiff Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 As far as I can see, people that live in London generally lead the following lifestyle...commute, work long hours, travel home, are knackered, go to bed, get up the next day and do it again. This is true, but it's not exactly particular to London is it? A lawyer, nurse or small-business owner in Manchester doing 80 hour weeks is going to feel much the same way! London only feels the way you think it does because more people are doing mentally-demanding, well-paying jobs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScaredEitherWay Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 Can someone please publish the whole list as I cant see it in the article or on the Economist Intelligence Unit website. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_M..._Livable_Cities Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expatowner Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 London is great if you have loads of cash.I currently live in Hong Kong and it puts London to shame. Also, you can live incredibly cheaply if you want to. By the way Paris is the biggest shit hole in the world. I wouldn't even let the mother in law live there. Who would want to live cheaply here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expatowner Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 Auckland 12th. , plenty of jobs, Many in construction? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
workingnomad Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 Everyone who can move out of the UK generally does. What does that tell you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adrianj Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 Thats a bit of a generalisation about British people that I find a little offensive (being British and from 'another part of the UK'). Im assuming that you arent British?To put the record straight, if its nights out youre talking about, we North Westerners started the clubbing/rave trend in the 80's it wasnt London - they have only latched onto clubbing in the last 15 years. We did it all in Manchester and Liverpool (ever heard of the Hacienda?). We introduced big clubs to Ibiza like Cream (from Liverpool) and Manumission (guess where that came from? There's a hint in the name). The best clubbing nights are still away from London but it has moved on with a more modern style. I hear music in London that is at least 6 years old. As for eating out London has far more bad places than good and the rest of the country has fantastic resaurants (usually outside of cities) Following a drug-related death and various shootings, the Hacienda was closed in 1997 The best clubbing nights are still away from London but it has moved on with a more modern style. I hear music in London that is at least 6 years old. Vast majority of music needs to be at least 6 years old for it to be listenable/danceable!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
workingnomad Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 If these Australian cities are so great, how come so many Aussies live over here? They only come over for a couple of years, earn lots of money, use London as a base, travel around Europe and then when they are old and wise enough they ride off into their Aussie sunset and buy property with their UK earnings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 Well you would expect this kind of stuff from a bunch of losers like you get on here.I'm born and bred Londoner. Yeah it's way too expensive and it has been gentrified to hell in some parts but the rest of the UK is just a dead-end. Nice countryside and all that but...you don't have anything. Ah yes, you are a born and bred Londoner. Do you have a pearly jacket? Do you take your passport with you when you get onto the M1 in Brent? If you want to sit in front of yor TV all your life and think eating a chicken korma is adventurous then you won't like London. You've summed up a typical evening for many unemployed solicitors, architects and IT people in London right now. But then you don't know London. Are you alluding to The Knowledge, or some other secret tube map only accessible to those born within earshot of the Bow Bells? Were you born within earshot of the Bow Bells? If you were, you were almost certainly born in a hi-rise office, on a photocopier or in a storeroom. Otherwise, you don't know London. As for the crap about the north doing house...you didn't know what you had. Acid house was London, it still is, Manchester is dead. All your clubs are shut. I know that The Hacienda is a block of new build flats now. Acid house never came from London though. It was quickly copied from the US club scene in Chicago by Danny Rampling et al. We have hundreds every weekend, it's the place to play for DJs from all over the US and Europe...and you can't eat cheaply here? You don't know London. You can't get around? You don't know London. Yees. You keep saying that "you don't know London". but actually, there isn't an awful lot to "know". London doesn't have secrets because the secrets are all selling out to get a piece of the action - to make their mark and make their million. The last time London was as vibrant as you portray was in the 60s. There are places to eat dirt cheap in London, as long as you're happy eating the dirt with the cheap. OTOH, everywhere else in the UK is cheap to eat apart from London. You can get a small round of three drinks for under a fiver outside London. You don't know the UK. You people don't know London, don't understand it, and like many of your (often racist) postings on HPC you are fearful weak people. You embarrass yourself by slagging it off, if it doesn't bother you, why refer to it? I don't sit around with my mates and slag off the provinces, we like your farms and quaint little cities with high rise parking... Yes, you've said it again. And yes you do keep slagging off the rest of the country, as you've just done. You criticize others for critizing London, but why do you feel the need to defend London if you're so confident that its so amazing? I too, am London born and bred. But I've also lived in many other cities in the UK and rest of the world. Get yourself a passport, Coolfonz. Go and visit somewhere else in the UK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 (edited) I used to live near London a few decades ago and it was OK - people were reasonably polite, there was far less aggro. People were far less up themsleves. Now I feel like screaming whenever I go near the disgusting place. The funniest thing is it was recently hyped as the best place for food in Europe. Now, for the average Londoner, it's dire (I have eaten in some of the worst eateries anywhere on the planet in London). The funniest place was an Italian near Paddington. Full of London poseurs and dandyish waiters. I got a dollop of overcooked congealed pasta with cold plum tomatoes on top. Walked out without paying. I almost moved there a few years ago. Until my potential employer told me that London was full of winners, everywhere else was for losers. Seriously. Oh god. Quickly changed my mind. Edited July 10, 2009 by gruffydd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 Until my potential employer told me that London was full of winners, everywhere else was for losers. Seriously. Oh god. Quickly changed my mind. I've met them. They're usually from Peckham, went to the 'University of Life' (were too thick to complete A levels) and fancy themselves as self-made barrow boys that 'done good'. But actually they're self made tossers who say that they 'work in the city' but they are usually underachieving salesmen or estate agents working in East London. London is full of 'em. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timak Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 They only come over for a couple of years, earn lots of money, use London as a base, travel around Europe and then when they are old and wise enough they ride off into their Aussie sunset and buy property with their UK earnings. Property is just as expensive in Australia as it is in the UK. I know lots of Aussies and Kiwis over here and almost all of them are trying to get permanant residency, not because they don't like their homeland but because they have put down roots here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
River Man Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 Property is just as expensive in Australia as it is in the UK.I know lots of Aussies and Kiwis over here and almost all of them are trying to get permanant residency, not because they don't like their homeland but because they have put down roots here. I agree - I know lots of aussies and kiwis who are settled in Londno. Poor old London haters. I cycle 25 mins to my office each day through parks, live inear a beautiful ancient woodland, and have loads of great old - traditional - pubs and good modern restaurants in walking distance. And all the theatre and cinema and museums that the city can offer a bit further afield. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
River Man Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 (edited) Most British cities do badly in these surveys. The reason - we don't do cities very well. In fact we don't do cities at all. When frenchmen make it they buy an apartment in the best arrondisement in Paris. When an englishman does, he buys a country estate. We're obsessed with living in the country or that second-rate versiono f it, suburbia. We can't build urban places very well. DH Lawrence was good on this - still relevant today: "There's nothing to be said for the "little home" any more: a great scrabble of ugly pettiness over the face of the land." "As a matter of fact, till 1800 the England people were strictly a rural people -- very rural. England has had towns for centuries, but they have never been real towns, only clusters of village streets. Never really urban. The English character has failed to develop the real urban side of a man, the civic side. Siena is a bit of a place, but it is a real city, with citizens intimately connected with the city. Nottingham is a vast place sprawling toward a million, and it is nothing more than an amorphous agglomeration. There is no Nottingham, in the sense that there is Siena. The Englishman is stupidly underdeveloped, as a citizen. And it is partly due to his "little home" stunt, and partly to his acceptance of hopeless paltriness in his surrounding. The new cities of America are much more genuine cities, in the Roman sense, than is London or Manchester. Even Edinburgh used to be more of a true city than any town England ever produced. That silly little individualism of the "Englishman's home is his castle" and "my own little home" is out of date. It would work almost up to 1800, when every Englishman was still a villager, and a cottager. But the industrial system has brought a great change. The Englishman still likes to think of himself as a "cottager" -- "my home, my garden." But it is puerile. Even the farm laborer today is psychologically a town bird. The English are town birds through and through, today, as the inevitable result of their complete industrialization. Yet they don't know how to build a city, how to think of one, or how to live in one. They are all suburban, pseudo-cottagy, and not one of them knows how to be truly urban -- the citizen as the Romans were citizens -- or the Athenians -- or even the Parisians, till the war came. And this is because we have frustrated that instinct of community which would make us unite in pride and dignity in the bigger gesture of the citizen, not the cottager. The great city means beauty, dignity, and a certain splendor. This is the side of the Englishman that has been thwarted and shockingly betrayed. England is a mean and petty scrabble of paltry dwellings called "homes." Edited July 10, 2009 by River Man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bingobob777 Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 Everyone who can move out of the UK generally does. What does that tell you? Tells me that you're in the running for the most ill informed post ever? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I want a house! Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 Well you would expect this kind of stuff from a bunch of losers like you get on here.I'm born and bred Londoner. Yeah it's way too expensive and it has been gentrified to hell in some parts but the rest of the UK is just a dead-end. Nice countryside and all that but...you don't have anything. If you want to sit in front of yor TV all your life and think eating a chicken korma is adventurous then you won't like London. But then you don't know London. As for the crap about the north doing house...you didn't know what you had. Acid house was London, it still is, Manchester is dead. All your clubs are shut. We have hundreds every weekend, it's the place to play for DJs from all over the US and Europe...and you can't eat cheaply here? You don't know London. You can't get around? You don't know London. You people don't know London, don't understand it, and like many of your (often racist) postings on HPC you are fearful weak people. You embarrass yourself by slagging it off, if it doesn't bother you, why refer to it? I don't sit around with my mates and slag off the provinces, we like your farms and quaint little cities with high rise parking... Mind you Barcelona and Berlin are better cities right now imo... (clue: they are abroad) Ai... Big up London. I live in South West London! Awesome place, next to a nature park, the river wandle, loads of parks, the biggest Sainsbury I've ever seen (sad, I know), load of entertainment, neighbours who do talk but aren't creepy friendly. You know the type, the ones that drop in. Close to everything and I have a garden. All this for the grand price of 1000 PCM. I make serious money so when I've had enough of London, I can afford to fly anywhere in the world. I can always get a well paid job here if I lose the current one. No biggy. The weather here is a lot better than the North and the accent nicer too. Seems people from the North are so damn grumpy I conject its due to their rubbish cold weather. Also, I've never seen so many shell suits as I do in the North of the UK. So please don't make your problems our problems. You can keep Liverpool, Manchester or what other Northern City you want, we'll keep London and we love it. Long live the Independence of London from the scronging Northerners.... He he he... Speak soon, Sibley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeDavola Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 It is because they escaped but couldn't move their jobs they got the transport hell. The problem is getting the good jobs outside of London. You never see a job on £200k+ outside of London that don't require you to be a main board Director. Pardon my ignorance, but what sorts of jobs (outside of banking), actually pay over two hundred thousand pounds a year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PopGun Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 London must be one of the few places in the world where the bourgeois live just around the corner from the unwashed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timak Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 Poor old London haters. I cycle 25 mins to my office each day through parks, live inear a beautiful ancient woodland, and have loads of great old - traditional - pubs and good modern restaurants in walking distance. And all the theatre and cinema and museums that the city can offer a bit further afield. London is a big place though. I was in Tottenham/Edmonton last night and won't be returning in a hurry. Most of my friends have lived, or do live, in the Clapham, Wandsworth, Tooting area but it has never appealed to me even though I enjoy it when I visit. I live in Cambridge and much prefer it to London. If I want any of the museums,theatres,concerts etc then it is less than an hour to the centre of London from my front door which is not that much more than if you live somewhere like Tooting anyway . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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