Home OpinionCommentLondon, ten years later

London, ten years later

by Gareth Smith

When I left England in 1996, I had no e-mail address and no cellular phone, Tony Blair was yet to become prime minister, and Manchester United had just won the English premiership with youngsters Paul Scholes, David Beckham and Gary Neville. Eleven years on, a Japanese diplomat in Tehran warned me London had become expensive and a British diplomat assured me there was a wider variety of food in supermarkets. Both were right. Renting a one-bedroom flat in central London can easily be $1600 a month, and my municipality tax is another $200. A pretty average curry is $100 for two, and a Lebanese breakfast in Edgware Road can top $50. Britain is unquestionably more affluent. The average income is £1800 ($3,600) a month, with living standards rising 2.3% a year since 1996. The over-50s have accumulated more wealth, largely from rising house values, than the combined GDP of the UK,

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