London, not ‘English’ enough for John Cleese

Isn’t it strange how some people feel they have every right to live in every corner of the globe, and yet when others who look don’t like them live in their country they just don’t like it.

The once revered comedian, John Cleese, has come out blasting the capital because it ‘no longer felt English’. He added, “London is no longer an English city which is why I love Bath,” he said. “That’s how they sold it for the Olympics, not as the capital of England but as the cosmopolitan city. I love being down in Bath because it feels like the England that I grew up in.”

There are two aspects of his comments that I find very troubling: First the hypocrisy. For Cleese to live in California, USA for a number of years, regularly poking fun at the American culture is fine, almost his right. But why is it right for him and not for others?

The second disingenuous element about his comments is surely his view about London. Of course London has changed over the years, but for centuries London has been an international metropolis, attracting people from all over the world: some fleeing persecution, and others attracted to what has essentially been of opportunity: a ‘city state’.

Surely its cultural mix and energy are the dynamics that have made London the great city that it is.

Cleese’s comments sadly reflect a colonial ideal, which could be responded to in a Gary Younge fashion: ‘We’re here Mr Cleese, because you were over there’.

Simon Woolley

Picture: John Cleese