Policy Exchange

"Without knowing why or how, we seem to have hatched our own oligarchs, and we stand aghast and bewildered at this flock of monstrous cuckoos. Almost as striking has been the absence of any plausible channels to raise hell through. The political culture seemed so exhausted during the Blair-Brown years, and not just inside the Labour Party. All the main political parties were hollow shells of their former selves. As for local government, that had been safely tucked under the control of Whitehall ever since local authorities had lost their financial independence. Even the would-be Mayors of London have seemed strangely mute on the real issues of the day.

"For London is Metroland on speed, a world apart from the rest of the country and from large parts of itself. As Neil O’Brien, the director of Policy Exchange, said of 'Planet London' in his Spectator article last week, 'Places such as inner Rochdale, where 73 per cent are on benefits, were simply out of sight and out of mind for the Londonised political class who live in the parts of the city where unemployment is zero.'"

See the full article on The Evening Standard's website