He argued that the failure of london was rooted in the English fear of cities.
A protestant fear of pot pourri and socialism.
the fear of europe
that disenfranchised Londoners and undermined their society.
He denounced the anachronisms of the city and its constitutional privileges.
In Fleet St, I had to restrain his attempts at violence towards the Lord Mayor.
But later, when we stood on the Portico of the Royal Exchange, he became quiet.
and reflected:
For Londoner's London is obscured, too thinly spread, too private for anyone to know, its social life invisible, its government abolished, its institutions to the discretions of either monarchy or state, or the city, where, at the historic centre, there is nothing but a civic void, which fills and empties daily with armies of clarks and dealers, mostly citizens of other towns.
The true identity of London, he said, is in its absence. As a city it no longer exists. In this alone it is truly modern. London was the first metropolis to disappear.
We walked home across Southwark Bridge in silence.
- Patrick Keiler.
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