But the truth of the matter is this: London is now further away from its image than any other city in the world. The postcards still paint a picture of the day when Rules ruled, but the reality is a city where tourists are greeted at reception by a Latvian and shown to their room by someone from Poland. They eat arugula from titanium plates and are reminded every time they go outside that the mayor thinks he’s Stalin. They want steak and kidney, and we give them Tate Modern with a hint of the Baltic.

Are you getting the hint Jemmy?

and are you scared to mention the muslim problems?

Ian
not in uk

ian, Vancouver Island, Canada

The Union Jack was never hijacked by the BNP. They have been the only ones who have remained steadfast in their support for Britishness while everyone else - Labour, Conservatives, the media - has been dumping on British identity.

Karl Baxter, Inverurie,

Which part of the 'muslim community' finds the flag offensive other than the one dreamed up by the arrogant & chauvinistic british media? There are much more indiginous white britons who do not want to identify with it for many different reasons. .

The last time I looked, nearly all the major decision makers in this country didn't have a beard & turban or wore a hijab - In fact they all looked like Jeremy! So if your going to blame anyone, blame yourself & your community.

Don't try to pin the blame on others by making throw-a-way statements based on half-truths and outright lies & dress it up as harmless opinion giving.

Rick, Manchester,

Do not exaggerate man. I understand that nowadays the "environ-mental" people are growing in numbers and ask for ridiculous thing, like "don't build another terminal at heathrow" or "plug your cow's arse with a filter" for the as much ridiculous dioxide production but you exaggerate. First thing, Ken Livingstone is the best mayor in the world. Second, you are a bit too superficial, dear Jeremy. In one your book you wrote that the bullets with impoverished uranium are not harmful because you, yourself have been at the very bottom of an uranium mine and you still have not developped two heads, I actually think maybe a good half could have gone! There are a lots of soldiers, young men who died agonising for the cancers that the firing of those bullets, releasing microparticles of uranium in the air, causes. Don't make people laugh on really important issues, like the global warming etc etc, some day you will wake up and find your town submerget because of the ice melting, you been there..

GAETANO PELLEGRINI, Slough, England

My late aunt, who was Iranian, lived in London for a year c. 1960. When she returned for a visit in 1972, she was quite disappointed, as "there were too many foreigners"!

Aryo, San Francisco, USA

Aggy - I think you'll find that the idea of the Jack referring to the jack on a ship is a "relatively recent idea", to quote the Flag Institute, and that the Admiralty itself used Union Jack referring to both on and off boats, an Admiralty Circular stated that both Union Flag and Union Jack are officially useable in either situation, and Parliament has stated "the Union Jack should be regarded as the National flag".

Alex, Lund, Sweden

I've never been to London, and I think I'll never go there.

It SEEMS dark, impolite, confusing, "deceiving" and.....I sure don't FEEL welcome. Maybe I am wrong, but reading J.M.'s piece, and all the comments below it, made me hold on more on to my assumption.

Athens, Greece is "going down" the same way, by the way.

Still, never forget, you are a citizen and you have rights in the society you live in. Don't just give up on your town/community that easily - by just complaining nothing wrong can ever go right...or left, or whatever your goal is.

M.T., Athens , Greece

Lived in London all my life but decided enough was enough when I became an ethnic minority where I had lived for thirty years!!
As for the rest what do you expect when you elect a communist as Mayor! You couldnt make it up!!
Now living in NZ .
Miss the UK like a wheelchair bound man misses piles!!

Charles, Christchurch, New Zealand

I think you'll find our flag is the Union Flag, not the Union Jack. It's only a Jack when it's on a ship, and last time I looked, London wasn't on a ship.

Aggy, Walsall,

When I was a student in London (1973-76) I could take a shortcut through Downing Street - getting a friendly wave from the policeman at the door - and Green Park on my way back to our shared flat in Victoria. Now there is a barricade of fences six deep and a huge armed police presence.

Occasionally you would see a senior politician at a BUS STOP! Now they only seem to travel in big black bullet-proof limo's with motorcycle outriders.

I think that tells you all you need to know about who is reponsible (= to blame) for spending the last 30 years turning London and England into Politically Correct hell holes.

Tom, Chorley, England

Part of the problem is the fact that the white working class sit around getting paid to do sod all. They do not want to work and the slavs, poles, etc do. The problem with London is more closer to home than some would want ot admitt.

Ande, Bremen, Germany

Born in London, lived in it for years. London W2 and then moved out to NW3. You can walk from NW3 via Regent's Park, Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens all the way to Harrods without crossing too many roads. You can also go from East to west via the Regent's Park canal.
On a cultural level only Paris and New York run it close.
On an academic level it has some of the best facilities in the world, i.e. Imperial college, LSE (!), etc.
Great sense of humour from the locals. Great city when you actually know iT

Iain, Manila,

Jeremy, I understand your concerns. I was born, raised and continue to live in Los Angeles, CA; a city which never had a distinct nationality, culture, or general importance to speak of. This then is fantastic because unlike London, I know Los Angeles will never change. Except for the weather, of course. Due to global warming, we have practically eliminated any inclement weather whatsoever!

Hernan, Redondo Beach, USA/CA

London is frequently called Londinistan here in the states. I had the privledge of heading to the UK on vacation a couple years ago. I must say London was the lowspot on that trip. An interesting city, but not as enthralling as Edinburgh.

Patrick , Birmingham, US/AL

Sorry, I've never been a fan of London but its difficult to disagree with Jeremy's article (and most of the posts below) - we really should do all we can to make London more attractive to Londoners so they stay out of Brighton. Thanks

Keeplondonersoutofbrighton, Brighton,

Jeremy, thank you. I am a white Anglo Saxon English speaking, understand cockney rhyming slang, born within the sound of bow bells, Londoner. And for those who think I am right wing fascist it is you who are prejudice. I have no objection to a multicultural London. I would just like to live in London and fly our national flag without apologizing. i have yet to meet a person like me serving in a shop or behind the reception at any London Hotel. I tried to check in to one in Docklands the other day and could only do so by speaking French to the receptionist from Poland. I am in favour of anyone living in London - it would just be nice if I could without apologizing for the Crusades or what my Great, Great Grandfather was ordered to do by someone from Surrey. Some of us dearly love our City. At least we don't blow it up.

Rob Smith, London, UK

If you go to touristy places - London Eye, Buck Palace - what do you expect to find but tourists? And central London round Oxford Street, Leicester Square, Marble Arch, Piccadilly etc. was always a magnet for young transients from all over the world. The suburbs are still mostly populated by Brits, who find few reasons to come into the centre. But one that does still exist - for me at any rate - is the culture, which you didn't mention. The superb galleries, the theatre which I love (although it is getting quite expensive), the concerts. With all that who cares about double decker buses.

elaine, Leeds,

I went to London last year, the first time in over a decade....

Ihad to check the Map and GPS to make sure.....Looked like a third world city to me...If I never go back, it'll be to soon!

Michael G , Perth, UK

Absolute rubbish. The features that make London distinctive are still there. And as for the absurd comments about the mix of people you meet ....... I can only assume that the London in Mr Clarkson's memory was actually formed from the sets of Mary Poppins and occasional pictures of Pearly Kings and Queens. The beauty of London, to an Englishman, has always been the extraordinary mix of its history, the grand public buildings, and the people from all parts of the world that you find there. If you want traditional England go back to the Cotswolds in your 4x4 and stay there. Ken is doing a great job in London.

mike, Herne Bay,

How on earth do you 'hijack' a flag anyway? It's just that we are the only ones with the guts to fly it any more. And I agree, London is not a part of Britain any longer..and many other cities are going the same way.

Philip Marshall, Lincoln, Englistan

It is interesting to note that all the people who agree with Clarkson think that the immigrants do bad things that destroy the country and the "native" Brits only do good.
How easily you are led.
Funny article though.

Azad, POS, Trinidad

I brought some Filipino friends to London...They had a fantastic day. Shame there were no bins and every crevice was stuffed with rubbish. Bins! Its not rocket science.

Gary, Manila,

Well darn, I was a week off visiting London, I could've seen you! But as it is, I totally agree. I was just completely and utterly bored with most of the sights of London, which was sad because it was the one thing I was really looking forward to! Thankfully my friends made it all worth while, but it seems like Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge, and Westminster Abbey have completely lost any charm that they once held. It's too modern. If I wanted to be somewhere modern I would've stayed in Vancouver which IS a young city and makes no qualms about it. Le sigh.

JB, Vancouver, BC

I spent the first 29 years of my life as a resident of Central London before heading for the Home Counties around the time Mr Blair came to power.

Look at the place now, what a disgrace.

Coincidence? Doubt it.

David, St Albans, UK

moved to Australia. We love our country and flag. England R.I.P

Dave Gibbs, Perth, Australia

i've only been to london about 4 times in 40 years, but the last time i was there about a year ago i was stunned at the lack of english people. Each time i asked for directions to my hotel it was not an english accent that answered. Everywhere else seemed not to have any english working there either.
I'm certainly not against eastern europeans moving here, after all there are considerably worse types, in fact i welcome them as i think in time they will become part of being british.

But i think we need to become proud of being british and get rid of this chip on our shoulder.
we did run a quarter of the world, be proud of it.. i know i am.

Billy, edinburgh,

I could not agree more! I travel all over the world, yet each time i come 'home', I feel another small part of it has been given away. I'm British, more importantly I'm English and wish to be proud of the fact. I spent 20 years in the Royal Navy doing my bit for Her Majesty, but it feels as though everywhere I turn, every other nationality/religious belief is more important than my own. I want to fly the Union Flag or St George's Cross with pride. I want immigrants who come to live here to embrace our language and our culture, just as I would if I went to live in their country. This is my home and I want to be proud of it; more importantly, I want to keep it my home.

David Hinch, Bourne,

I couldn't agree with you more Jeremy. Last time i was in London, the ony thing english about the place seemed to be the bricks it was built out of. I went to a Mcdonalds on Oxford street where I had to explain my order to the woman behind the counter three time, before i gave up and got served a random selection from the menu. Out on the street I don't think that i even heard english being spoken. And i can only say that i was supremely sad.
It seems that in the UK these days people are more interested in giving away their culture than preserving it. And honestly it is the final fate of the empire that ruled a quarter of the world a hundred years ago. Just like the rest of it London is being given away one piece at a time in the name of a truly stupid idea: political correctness. Rome fell fighting barbarian hordes. London fell for 30 pieces of silver.

Keith, Durban, South Africa

Alas, I fear its too late for London.

Is there any way we could import Helsinki without anyone noticing?

JsD, Lincoln, Wishing I wasn't here.

Ellie from London. Here is your evidence:
As a brit having lived in the UK, France and Spain and having travelled extensively too I can say that London is far less British than Paris is French or Madrid is Spanish. Go to Barcelona and down every little side street you can find little Tapas bars and local music playing late into the night. In Madrid we have thousands of little tapas and coffee shops filled with locals just like there always has been. On top of this they fly a huge (and i mean truly massive) spanish flag in the centre of town. Flags fly from all the government department buildings and the royal palace. In paris you see the grand boulevards with the tricolor flag flying. The eiffel tower and its surroundings kept as the quintessence of france. I've seen the same in Prague, Athens, Rome, Mexico City you name it. Try telling a frenchman or a spaniard that they cannot fly their flag because it might offend and immigrant and see what reaction you get..

Rob, Madrid,

On the London Eye, they had guides when it first opened. Ours started by asking "Is anyone here from England?" She was South African. We were the only ones out of ten that sheepishly put up our hands.
I had worked in London for years and felt that it had been snatched away from me. One thing's for sure - it's not the London it was.

Keith Carter, Preston, Britain

I totally agree with you. I live in Argentina South America of English parents and when I go to London I want crumpets
and fog like you read in the novels. Well that is taking it a bit too far back but anyway I would like to see a typical English face and hear BBC english not even from the shaved heads of English youth

Pat, Buenos Aires, Argentina

If anybody asks me about my experiences in London, I'll end up talking about the punjabi at harrods that was discussing a million dollar deal and how, interestingly, his phone started ringing in the middle of his conversation.

Or the pair of Bahraini women that stalked me for two hours, thinking I was american and had no clue that I'm a native speaker of Arabic as I'm Iraqi.

Or the fact that every single face I saw at every museum was Slavic or Asian.
Instead of blending in, immigrants are allowed to transform London, from engineering to language and culture. I think London is losing its identity as the legendary capital of the old world, which is what attracted me as a tourist. But I still found it interesting.

Hava, Lisbon, Portugal (not portuguese)

Well, if you wanted to get the BNP sympathisers to crawl out of the wood work, you've succeeded admirably, Jeremy. Well done.

Your main point appears to be "London should stay static and unchanging for the tourists". The city is changing in the way that it has always changed and evolved. And you seem to think that London is losing its history or character. I don't agree.

You state that "London is now further away from its image than any other city in the world", and proceed to cite tourist postcards as an example. I don't know what London's "image" is, or whether it has only one, given its size and the huge variety of people who live here, but I certainly wouldn't use postcards as any kind of evidence. And if I were to make such a sweeping statement as quoted above, I would definitely back myself up with examples from other cities of how they conform to their intangible "image".

Ellie, London,

I whole heartedly agree about the way that London's public spaces have become politicised by endless public service posters and sloganeering, I recently returned to London after several years overseas and was surprised to see the amount of the public's own money that is spent telling them what they should and shouldn't do compared to where I had been living, nothing unusual about this I suppose except that I had been living in the worker's paradise that is the People's Republic of China!

Gilman Grundy, A factory with 200K+ workers, China

If anybody asks me about my experiences in London, I'll end up talking about the punjabi at harrods that was discussing a million dollar deal and how, interestingly, his phone started ringing in the middle of his conversation.

Or the pair of Bahraini lesbians that stalked me for two hours, thinking I was american and had no clue that I'm a native speaker of Arabic as I'm Iraqi.

Or the fact that every single face I saw at every museum was Slavic or Asian.

No offense to anybody, and no I'm not racist . But if were interested in cultural diversity, I could have gone to NYC or LA. That's what the US is there for. Or better yet, go to Asia or Eastern Europe to see all those populations in ther "natural habitat".

Instead of blending in, immigrants are allowed to transform London, from engineering to language and culture. I think London is losing its identity as the legendary capital of the old world, which is what attracted me as a tourist.

But I still found it interesting.

Hava, Lisbon, Portugal (as the name suggests, not portuguese)

The Union Jack was NOT hijacked by the BNP - only the BNP bothered to pick it up and cherish it after the politically correct media and Lord Parekh said it was "racist" and even "fascist", leading the general populace to distance thenselves from it.

Proud to be British, nottingham, uk

London is now a multi culti hell hole compared to what it was when it was British . In those days , long gone , it was possible to ride the tube system at anytime of day or night with no fear of who was getting into your carriage at the next stop . And I regularly walked about the east and west end 24/7 without any worry . When the indiginous population eventually wake up they will sweep the BNP into power to replace the decadent fools and traitors who brought us to our knees over the last fifty years .

Celtic orning, Llandeilo, Wales

Yes, If you get carried along on the wave of hustle and bustle you will miss it. But the real London still does exist. I manage to find it whenever I visit. You just have to visualise outside of the disused telephone box.

Life on Mars, Hornsea, E. Yorkshire

All I want to know is have you caught that fox yet? If not, I have a beagle x PJR who would be more than happy to do the job for you ... for a price, of course!

Chris, West London, UK

The BNP never hijacked the Union Jack. They've always flown it as true patriots and genuine indigenous Britons. In fact they raised it from the gutter where it was flung by those now destroying every last vestige of our once stable and happy national life.

Angharad, Preston, England

It's all part of Red Ken's highly successful cultural revolution, and repopulation of London, and New Labour's grubby 'Cool Britannia'. Just look at that graffiti Olympic Logo being forced on the reluctant, but cowed, nation.

Jake, Luton, UK

Oh Jeremy, London is still great. True, not that great, but I've spent 24 years of my short life here and I can't get away from the place. It's always been a rude, hell hole whether there were routemasters and telephone boxes or bendy buses and blind and deaf mobile addicts. The problem is we still try to sell it as though it's a 1950s dream - which never existed in the first place and never can now. When you're not laden down with kids and doing the tourist thing, take a trip into the City on a Saturday or a Sunday, get out of your car and walk. Look up, listen and find the history of the place again. It still exists believe me.

Jan , London ,

Very funny.

brian case, burlington, va

It's wrong.

Timothy in UK, Birmingham,

From now on, Clarkson may drive only English-designed and built cars, to ensure his columns are purely English.

Learn that England is part of the world.

John, Stockholm, Swedeb

Jeremy, you're not wrong. It's just that every time you write something it's not what anyone was expecting.

jimbo, Oslo, Norway

Jeremy Clarkson, why on earth do you think that many people avoid London, unless it is to commute to work or to pass through and on to Heathrow or Gatwick to get out of the country? London must now be the multi-cultural centre of the universe but in achieving that title it has gradually lost all sense of Britishness, or rather Englishness, and style once associated with the capital of the United Kingdom. I am surprised it has not been re-named Londonistan, Londerabad, Lonbasa or Londhaka.

Kenneth Armitage, Suffolk, England

Jeremy you are right! I have never been able to understand why there is change for the sake of change. For example when policemen wore black uniforms they actually loooked like policemen. They had a sense of authority - now in cheap looking yellow kit they appear to be a part of the local council municipal road repairs department.
it is the little things that matter. For example,the approach into London is not welcoming - Heathrow is a mess and the motorways greet travellers with huge threatening signs about the congestion charge.
I pay tribute to Londoners for putting up with all the bureaucratic nonsense and not moving out to Somerset.

Paul Jackson, Sidcup, England