Stephen Bayley, an prominent design critic, has issued a scathing indictment of conditions in London, speaking to a Conservative Party policy group:

"Most of them are getting worse. London is filthy, lawless and expensive. These are not great conditions for civility to flourish."

"Putting 10 million aggressive hominids into close proximity and inviting them to engage in serial acts of competitive individualism ... for jobs, schools or parking spaces, could not be considered a reasonable idea," Bayley said.

"You put rats in claustrophobic circumstances and they become homosexual, murderous and cannibalistic in no time at all.

I wonder whether he threw in the word "homosexual" to appeal to the reactionary elements in his audience.

Though has London ever been anything other than filthy, lawless and expensive?

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