John Cleese: "London is no longer English, that's why it got the Olympics"

[Wulfhere]

Maybe English culture in London isn't dead, it's just resting...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-Olympics.html

Mass immigration has turned London into a city that is 'no longer English', John Cleese claims.
The former Monty Python star says he now feels like a foreigner walking through the capital's streets.
California-based Cleese, 71, moved to the U.S. more than two decades ago, having grown up in Somerset.
Outspoken: John Cleese, pictured with new girlfriend Jennifer Wade, says that he no longer feels at home in London
The comic was asked what he thought about British culture and the recent London riots during an interview on 7.30, a television show in Australia, where he is currently on a stand-up tour.
He replied: 'I'm not sure what's going on in Britain. Or, let me say this – I don't know what's going on in London, because London is no longer an English city.
'That's how we got the Olympics.
'They said we were the most cosmopolitan city on Earth. But it doesn't feel English.
'I had a Californian friend come over two months ago, walk down the King's Road and say, "Where are all the English people?"
'I mean, I love having different cultures around. But when the parent culture kind of dissipates, you're left thinking, "Well, what's going on?"'
Performer: Mr Cleese made his comments while promoting his appearance at the Sydney Opera House this week
Far-Right group the English Defence League seized on Cleese's comments yesterday, posting a link to them on its Twitter page. A spokesman for London mayor Boris Johnson said: 'If the King's Road is jam-packed with foreign tourists then that is something we should celebrate.'
And former mayor Ken Livingstone – currently standing for the post again – said: 'To stay competitive, London must be what New York is to the U.S., a global centre of business, culture and innovation, none of which can be achieved without people of all nations working and living here.'
Diverse: Areas of London like Whitechapel, pictured, are extremely multicultural
The comedian was praised by UKIP leader Nigel Farage for articulating 'what an increasing number of people in London are thinking'.
He added: 'For him to make these remarks shows a tremendous strength of feeling on this matter.
'Of course other cultures are welcome, but Mr Cleese is right to point out that it should not be at the expense of the parent culture.'
Of the eight million people who currently live in Greater London, 2.7million residents were born outside the UK, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the city.
Legend: The veteran funnyman is known for characters such as Basil Fawlty
Last year Cleese, a Liberal Democrat supporter, lamented the state of modern England, bemoaning a decline in traditional middle-class values, which he says has been replaced by 'a yob culture'.
He is now preparing to leave the U.S., where he has been living for 21 years, revealing that his decision was partly prompted by a fall in the amount of work he is offered in the States.
The Fawlty Towers star initially moved to California in 1990.
Last year he bought an apartment near Bath so that he could be near to his new girlfriend, jewellery designer Jennifer Wade, and her family when he visited the UK.
It was seen as something of a homecoming for the star, who was born 33 miles away in Weston-super-Mare.
He said he now prefers visiting Bath than London, claiming: 'It feels more like the England I grew up in.'
However, he says that he won't be returning to live in Britain permanently, because it would mean paying vast amounts in extra tax on divorce payments to his third wife, Alyce Faye Eichelberger.
He lost more than half his fortune in 2009 when a judge granted Miss Eichelberger £12.5million, as well as £600,000 a year in maintenance payments for seven years.
Instead, he says he is considering buying a home in Switzerland or Monaco.

[Logan]

I'm of much the same opinion. Went a bit more than too far, in other places as well.

[Treffie]

If he's complaining about multiculturalism in London, why has he moved to LA of all places?

[Troll's Puzzle]

If he's complaining about multiculturalism in London, why has he moved to LA of all places?

in the story he says he doesn't feel comfortable in LA either and considers moving to Australia as he 'feels more comfortable' there (but he also says he might become a residant of Switzerland or Monaco for tax reasons )

by 'feels more comfortable', we can read 'surrounded by kinvolk', basically (whether he conciously articulates that or otherwise)

he is a Lib Dem voter, and laments the change to britain except that we're not racist anymore, and laments the changes to the middle class in particular - the class to which he belongs, and the class to which his views are common - fond of other cultures, kinda liked multiculturalsm, now all of a sudden he's a stranger in his own land he doesn't like it anymore, feels disorientated by it and RUNS AWAY to Australia; votes liberal, but is a tax dodger;

in other words, a traitor, a coward, and a hypocrite, and the kind of person who left a mound of shit on the 'real british' of the future to struggle in while he goes about his fuddy-duddy ways and jet-sets about, avoiding having to pay for or live in the hell his generation & class created.

at least he made a couple of funny movies to leave behind, which makes him a 'national hero', I think

[Fortis in Arduis]

I agree, I much prefer Bath to London.

I am a Londoner (born) who has been ethnically cleansed from his birthplace.

I lived in Haverstock Hill, the better end of Camden Town. It became too rough for me.

So, I moved to Chelsea, and it was a polished turd, so then I tried Pimlico, but that was too Establishment.

The King's Road is now a sewer of boozy bollocks and horrible people who moved in with lots of money. All white furnishings and everything Louis XV reproduction. Who the fuck are these people?

I would consider Holland Park, but really I was born in Kentish/Camden Town.

It makes my blood boil.

[Aces High]

The King's Road is now a sewer of boozy bollocks and horrible people who moved in with lots of money.

Was it ever anything else..?

[billErobreren]

Can't say I don't agree with him.

[Logan]

If he's complaining about multiculturalism in London, why has he moved to LA of all places?

Hollywood, and wives. London is becoming as LA has always been. I once heard Tom Jones say much the same thing.

[Fortis in Arduis]

Was it ever anything else..?

Yes, Aces, it was.

It was punk rock, it was the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, and families who had been there for generations, a place for artists, artisans, retired servicemen and creatives.

My father (old punk rocker) visited me there, and was just plain disgusted by the change in atmosphere. There is nothing happening there and it's all money, money, money.

Chelsea used to be like a village, with real intimacy and real community.

There is still something left, but I found the streets to be polite and decorous, yet cold, unfriendly and without 'salt'.

This is what Chelsea used to be about:



http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-carlyleshouse

That and a lot more besides.

[SwordoftheVistula]

However, he says that he won't be returning to live in Britain permanently, because it would mean paying vast amounts in extra tax on divorce payments to his third wife, Alyce Faye Eichelberger.

Oy Vey!