London the 'rip-off capital'

Subject: London the 'rip-off capital' Mon Aug 18, 2008 8:54 pm

A British academic has launched a scathing attack on London just weeks before he quits the country and moves to Australia.

Dr Oliver Marc Hartwich, who is moving to Australia to head the Centre for Independent Studies, has branded London the "rip-off capital" and says it offers a lower quality of life than other cities such as Sydney and Berlin. "Filling your car, eating out, staying at a hotel or just doing the weekly shopping are all more costly undertakings than in other industrialised countries around the globe - even without taking house prices into account," he wrote in an article for The Observer newspaper's website.

"If the UK continues to be one of the most expensive addresses in the world while it fails to provide the best infrastructure and public services, it should not be surprised if it loses its most qualified people and fails to attract foreign professionals."

Hartwich has been chief economist at conservative British think-tank, the Policy Exchange, and plans to move to Sydney in October.

He was one of three academics who sparked uproar last week when they released a Policy Exchange report which urged people to move from northern England and head south to cities such as London, arguing the regeneration of cities such as Liverpool and Sunderland had failed.
LNK

London the 'rip-off capital'

London the 'rip-off capital'

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