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You're completely right about the economy outside London. I'm from London and love it but i can frankly say the UK's biggest problem is having only one genuine
by mpswardle 10y ago
You're completely right about the economy outside London. I'm from London and love it but i can frankly say the UK's biggest problem is having only one genuinely world-stage level successful city.
Look at our productive friends in Germany, they have Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg.
It's not surprising rent is so high when all the good jobs are in one place.
- maze-le 10y agoOn a smaller scale, you have these problems in germany too. Gentrification has been an (not so small) issue in Berlin since the early 90ies. And no one I know who lives in Berlin (or Hamburg for that matter) is satisfied with their rent-cost to living-quality ratio. A notable counter-example is Leipzig (cheap rent, lots of parks, good quality of living [my opinion]), but things are changing here as well...
- lagadu 10y agoIf you think renting in Berlin is expensive, check out Copenhagen. I know a few people living in Berlin, rent is 60-100% more expensive here.
- ptr 10y agoI thought Berlin was known for being very affordable when it comes to housing -- low rents for nice apartments. "Berlin is poor but sexy", which I would think feeds the hipster and start-up cultures.
- hyperbovine 10y ago> Gentrification has been an (not so small) issue in Berlin since the early 90ies. Yeah, I heard Berlin really changed a lot in the 90s...
- arethuza 10y agoWell, as an Edinburgh resident I'm personally mystified as to why anyone would want to live in London! :-) [NB Of course there are perfectly good reasons for wanting to live in London - just never appealed to me!]
- wrong_variable 10y agoAs a Londener - London sucks ! Would love to Live in Edinburgh - but the world's laundered money doesn't flow through Edinburgh :(
- arethuza 10y agoFinance seems to be a big employer here - obviously not on the scale of the City but proportionally (Edinburgh isn't that big) it's a fairly high percentage of jobs.
- pjc50 10y agoYes, although they're "back office" and all the sexy high-paid trading, quant, actuarial stuff is stuck in London.
- arethuza 10y agoDon't think I've ever seen "sexy" and "actuarial" used together :-) What do all the actuaries do in Edinburgh then - I've seen to have known loads of them over the years! Or is pensions/life stuff not on the "sexy" side of things?
- pjc50 10y agoGood point, there's Sun Alliance etc here. I get the impression that they have the "good" but not "stratospheric" pay rates? i.e £50-£150k.
- arethuza 10y agoWhere's your "here" - Edinburgh? :-) Of the places I know employ actuaries in Edinburgh: Standard Life, Scottish Widows, Royal London... and there are quite a few consulting actuary companies around as well.
- cm2187 10y agoThe problem is rather the combination of: 1. 2-3 floors houses, so low population density 2. narrow, middle-age style streets which means commuting by car is close to impossible 3. public transports already used way over their capacity (it's a small miracle every morning that on over-crowded tube platforms which do not have doors that people do not get pushed / fall on the tracks while the trains are accelerating 10cm away from their face - a miracle only thanks to british commuters being overly calm and courteous). 4. Very restrictive planning permissions which makes it very difficult to build anywhere outside of a few spots, which become covered with sky scapers, and a gvt / local councils determined to keep the real estate bubble going at any cost, including sponsoring 100% LTV loans with tax payer money, instead of allowing new developments.
- Chris2048 10y agoMaybe Leeds will get bigger? :-)
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]