Well, I would tend to agree that a lot of cities are overlooked: Hong Kong, Tokyo, Sydney, Vancouver, Miami, Berlin. But the press in England want their public to read about London vs New York so that they think that they are up there with the best.
Even when they aren't.
So please, gentlemen, continue debating London vs New York, and I shall write something of substance on the Hong Kong vs New York thread (assuming one exists).

-kinioso

That's already been said. Great minds etc.

Hoff that incident on the London Underground where the platform supervisor was swearing at the old guy provoked a huge response, if you read the JonathonMacDonald site where he talks about it. It looks like he took the video.
 

One commenter:

having visited our fair capitals great transport system a few months back. the only comment i have to say is this. When we transport animals these days they seem to get better treatment than do we. And coupled with the fact that when people are abused that everyone seems to just turn a blind eye can not be a good thing at all. The fact that 'londoners' have decided to put up with this and develop some sort of attitude that it is normal is just wrong.

Ok, I can understand that there are limitations to space and alike and that the arrogance of some of the people who almost nocked me over and the general distain that people had for everyone else on the platform just seem to be bubbling over with enthusiasm to make things worse. Coupled with the general look of the place, like it had been a some time movie set from escape from Newyork or on mass transit system passing through a urinal, I must admit that it was astounding to me that any visitor from any other country may believe that they are not passing through a what should be a civilized country.

There is a general upsurge in the increasing development of an us and them approach to customer services that seems to be emanating from this vicious circle that we seem to have adopted from some sub culture that has infected our society today. When i worked in customer services, and still do to a certain degree it had and still is and surely always will be that you treat others like you would like to be treated yourself in a similar situation. That and you always held some respect for the person you are dealing with however moronic they appeared to be.

There is a part of me that would love to say I am shocked, but to be honest I do not believe that I am. Makes me wonder though what is next. have we really sunk down to a level where swearing and rude behavior, disrespect for others no matter what age or gender and just a general contempt for everyone else has become common place.

The words that there are a time and a place for everything come to mind and watching this video make me wonder if some people should be shipped out to somewhere esle to serve time in another place.

Since I travel allot these days unfortunately i get to see a good cross section of society in general in the uk and i hate to say it but things just don't look good. the melting pot of all the mixed cultures some more arrogant than the others, some less tolerant, some more forgiving and others just down right satanic have I fear some days come to the boil and unless something is done soon then I do fear that our green and pleasant land will become a living hell for those of us who are left.

I defy anyone to tell me that having good manors and respect for the people around you cost anything other than an inconvenience that ultimately will result in your own happiness, regardless of what culture, race or religion you are. Does make me wonder though if we have not brought all of this upon ourselves.

The figures look good.

I wonder why the sudden decrease? Expensive fuel?

Article Japan Today

Operations of 35,300 trains were delayed over 30 minutes or canceled in Japan in fiscal 2008 due to ‘‘suicide divers,’’ the worst since fiscal 2002 when the data became available, a transport ministry survey showed Sunday.

Article

According to investigative sources, Shinoyama allegedly took outdoor shots of the nude models in Tokyo in the summer of 2008 at such places as a cemetery and a wedding hall for the photo book. The book, ‘‘20XX TOKYO,’’ was published in January last year. Photos in the book also include those of naked actresses at such public locations as railway tracks and waterfront areas.

Some of his work:

The building is very nice, works well in its environment and looks great with Fuji in the background, but that's really only during winter.

Can't make it to Hanabi this summer? What about having fireworks - in your own living room.

Only a few years ago (in 2005) London was dubbed the best place to eat in the world

BBC Link

London has been dubbed the best place to eat in the world. Gourmet, America's leading food magazine, says restaurants in England's capital are far superior to those in Paris, Rome or New York.

One of the restaurateurs praised in the magazine, Fergus Henderson, chef and owner of St John restaurant in Clerkenwell, said: "The kind of diversity and gastronomies that you can lay your hands on in London is happening very quickly and very impressively."

Burberry cannot escape its Chav past

Or can it?

I'll start by quoting this Slate article.

Slate article - 2006

Things got really bad when Danniella Westbrook, an ultra-chavvy former soap star, appeared in photos with her child, clad entirely in Burberry. More trouble came last fall, when Kate Moss, who featured prominently in Burberry's marketing campaigns, went into rehab.

Burberry has certainly been damaged by its walk on the "chav" side. But the British market represents only a small part of total sales. And so it makes perfect sense for the new CEO to be targeting the wealthy, deep, and comparatively underpenetrated U.S. market, which accounts for about a quarter of Burberry's revenues. Still, I can't help but wonder if Ahrendts's geographical strategy within the United States is sound.
...

More broadly, the brand as it exists today is clearly not pitched to the heartland. Burberry is sponsoring the Anglomania exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. And the company's U.S. homepage sure doesn't look like Indianapolis.

And this hilarious video showing how Burberry joins New Yorks "elite" skyline.

Elite skyline? That's laughable.

And don't forget the new Chavberry website, the Art of the Trench, which has already been lampooned here and here,

The whole concept of Burberry getting itself out of its past image of being the garment of choice of the welfare class of Britain is fascinating. The company seems content to relocate its production froin the UK to the China.

So shouldn't then the Chavberry Burberry Art of the Trench site be filled pictures of oil on hands, hard working Chinese seamstresses and garment workers, who in all likelihood get paid less in a month than what a young woman with 4 children can get paid in a month in modern London. Because they, unlike the chavs of London, cannot afford this product, which differs little in quality to the product made at the factory next door and shipped to Target so that working mothers and fathers, young entrepreneurs and whoever else fancies a trenchcoat can actually buy one, that looks very little different from a Burberry, without having to buy into the whole "LETS ESCAPE FROM THE PAST AAAH OH NO ITS CATCHING UP WITH US" adventure that Burberry seems intent to be taking.

Do the residents of Canary Wharf, or "Faux Manhattan" as it is better known, actually want to be seen wearing Chav Burberry? Do they take pains to cover the labels so that no one can see it, or choose a pattern and block that no one would immediately associate with the Burberry of yore?

It looks like Burberry is trying to hard to reinvent itself. Which would have worked in about 1950, but people are talking about it on the internet now. And they don't like it one bit. They think that people don't know how to use Google, or YouTube or other ways to get information to see the hilarious, almost super human strength like efforts needed to get away from the reality of how the brand is perceived, as they seek the attention of the US public (and also in China, Japan, Canada, Australia) etc to get over the last 15 or so years (and counting) of being a chav's first choice in clothing!

Chav Fighting commercials - Banned

A marketing campaign for a gym that promoted classes including Chav Fighting and Bitch Boxing has been cleared by the adverising watchdog despite complaints it condoned and encouraged violence against groups including women.
The front cover of a promotional leaflet for fitness centre Gymbox advertised self-defence classes called "Chav Fighting". The leaflet featured the line "Martial arts with Burberry belts and a fist full of sovereign rings".

Gymbox said Chav Fighting was a self-defence class and cited the Wikipedia definition of the word to point out that it refers to agressive young adults who often fight. The company said the leaflet was meant to communicate the class in a "witty manner" and was not offensive to anyone in particular as "nobody in society would admit to being a Chav; it was not a group to which people wanted to belong".