Is London: a) one of the world’s great cities, a superb place to live and do business? Or b) a litter-strewn nest of crime where people barely dare step outside their home or office for fear of being robbed?
The capital has always divided opinion. Having lived here for almost my entire adult life, I love it. Plenty of others, however, seem to think affection for my adopted city is either delusional or a character flaw.
The London question has moved beyond a matter of individual life choices and has become highly politicised.
Opponents have correctly identified crime as a weak point for the mayor, Sir Sadiq Khan, in the run-up to the 2028 elections. He insists London is safer than ever. His critics counter that he is cherry-picking data on murders that suit his book.
Numbers, of course, matter far less than perceptions.
A majority of people in the UK believe the capital is dangerous, with the exception of most actual Londoners. Portrayals of the city as corrupt, dirty and violent have a long and sometimes distinguished history.
Engine of the economy: London generates £618billion, more than a fifth of national income, at the latest count in 2023
In his poem London, William Blake describes prostitution, child labour and blood running down walls. Horror seeps from every verse.
For TS Eliot in The Waste Land, it is a spiritual void, inhabited by the living dead. Now that dystopian motif is being turbocharged by social media.
In the Square Mile, there are growing fears that ‘misinformation’ and ‘false narratives’ will scare off investors. Dame Susan Langley, the Lady Mayor of the City of London, called at Mansion House last week for the capital’s politicians and business leaders to work together to tackle the negativity.
Good luck with that, though she is right to be worried about the potential for economic harm to the whole of the country.
The capital is the engine of the economy, generating £618billion, more than a fifth of national income, at the latest count in 2023.
Talking the talk: Sir Sadiq Khan and Dame Susan Langley, the Lady Mayor of the City of London
London and the South East are the only parts of the country where people put more into the public coffers than they take out, to the tune of around £5,000 surplus per person a year.
The capital is also the site of regeneration projects that show what could be done elsewhere in the country, including Canary Wharf, the biggest in Europe.
At Battersea Power Station, a derelict turbine hall has been restored to its Thirties Art Deco glory as part of a vast development of shops, restaurants and apartments that is still expanding. Tellingly, British investors are not involved in either project. Overseas pension funds and property developers have shown more faith than their UK counterparts.
If new investors become too nervous to put their money here, Britain’s loss will be other countries’ gain.
And if visitors, already facing a tourist tax on shopping, decide London is unsafe as well as expensive, they will spend their euros and dollars in Paris or Berlin instead.
I am no cheerleader for Khan. If crime were not a real scourge under his stewardship, the hellhole depictions would not have taken root.
London is diverse, multi-faceted, complex and maddening.
It brims with culture and history, it is a financial centre rivalled only by New York, and it is a honeypot for talent.
If it becomes collateral damage in a political dogfight, it will benefit no one.
By all means bash Sadiq Khan, but ideally find a way to do it without undermining London itself.
DIY INVESTING PLATFORMS
Affiliate links: If you take out a product This is Money may earn a commission. These deals are chosen by our editorial team, as we think they are worth highlighting. This does not affect our editorial independence.