Thursday 21 May 2026 11:40 am
Ignore the doomerism. London has plenty to celebrate
The FT has once again remembered to write about London, the city in which the paper was founded and where the lion’s share of its staff, and its readership, is based.Though it turns out the pink’un hasn’t many nice things to say. London’s economy has lost its lustre, the paper writes. Among the evidence it cites is a respondent to an anonymous survey, who says: “Ten years ago London was a destination. Now it is a compromise.” Lovely stuff.So to counteract the doom and gloom, here are 10 reasons why London is still the best city in the world.
The startup funding king: So far this year, the UK’s share of European venture capital has risen to an all-time high, claiming almost half of the entire continent’s funding with a combined $13.9bn raised, according to Dealroom data, of which the overwhelming majority went to London.
The AI crown: London is undoubtedly the best destination outside Silicon Valley for AI, the future of the global economy (or all that will be left of it, if the edgier evangelists are to be believed). Deepmind is headquartered here, and the likes of Anthropic, OpenAI, Microsoft and more are all building their biggest non-US hubs in the King’s Cross vicinity. Europe doesn’t get a look-in. A Brexit benefit? Quite possibly.
