₦airaland Forum

Glad that is all over. Now back to bigging up London, my home city!


http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2006-12-05-london-top-city_x.htm

London takes a bite out of New York's Big Apple
Updated 12/5/2006 9:00 AM ET E-mail | Save | Print | Subscribe to stories like this



A Polish specialty shop sits only a few miles to the west of Kensington Palace gardens and billionaires row, in the suburb of Ealing. Storefronts boast signs offering Polish delicacies to cater to an influx of less wealthy, but no less ambitious immigrants.

By Jane Wardell, Associated Press Writer
LONDON — Indian steel tycoon Laskhmi Mittal and Russian oil baron Leonard Blavatnik are the new boys on the block at London's Kensington Palace Gardens, a street with houses so lavish it's known as billionaire's row.

Farther west in the suburb of Ealing, store fronts boast signs offering Polish delicacies to cater to an influx of less wealthy, but no less driven immigrants.

Watch out Big Apple, Big Ben may be ringing in a new age of dominance for the British capital.

In the same way immigrants flooded to the bright lights of New York last century, they are now drawn to London's galloping financial markets, inviting job market and high-octane lifestyle. New York's attractions, meanwhile, are languishing as stringent post-9/11 travel restrictions, heavy-handed financial regulations, and intrusive Homeland Security policies combine to make it less welcoming or, at times, even somewhat parochial.

"When people decide to leave their own country, more and more they choose London," said Jonathan Faid, senior economist at the Centre for Economics and Business Research.

Along with record immigration levels, property prices are skyrocketing and employment remains robust. Financially, London dominates global foreign exchange trading, leads New York in new stock market listings and is pulling ahead on hedge fund management.

On the lifestyle front, the arts and party scenes are breaking new ground in innovation (and excess), tourists keep coming in droves despite terrorism fears, and to top it all off the 2012 Olympics are coming to town.

Celebrities are giving their nod.

Woody Allen, the filmmaker perhaps most closely associated with New York, has recently made London his muse. And international non-British superstars like Madonna, Kevin Spacey and Gwyneth Paltrow make their home here, drawn to the mix of buzz and Old World elegance.

Behind the boom is money: the capital is underpinned by thriving international financial markets. While New York remains the world's largest urban economy, its wealth is founded on domestic business; experts say London has already stolen back its crown as the premier international financial market.

It all started two decades ago, when then-Tory Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher implemented her 1986 Big Bang financial reforms that deregulated the London Stock Exchange virtually overnight. Long the exclusive preserve of the rich or well-connected, the exchange became cheaper, faster and more transparent for foreigners and individual investors.

There was also a philosophical shift in Thatcher's vision of a "classless society" in which the best and the brightest of all races and backgrounds would be given the conditions to thrive — often, critics said, at the expense of the weakest.

Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair has continued that drive, using foreigner-friendly legislation to make the most of London's natural geographic advantage — it's in a convenient time zone to cut deals from New York to Shanghai — to straddle the business globe.

Despite some public grumbling, Britain has put up few barriers to foreigners taking over some of its biggest businesses, not to mention treasured institutions. One of the most notable new faces is Roman Abramovich, the Russian oil tycoon who is now frequently spotted in the home stands of Chelsea, the venerable London-based soccer club he bought in 2003.

Attempts by foreign corporations to buy US. icons have been met with stronger protest, as with the sale of New York's Rockefeller Center to Mitsubishi Estate in the late 1980s. Mitsubishi later sold its 51 stake in favor of investments in Asia. And there is little talk of "economic patriotism" in Britain that has become a catchphrase in continental Europe, with governments in France and Germany blocking takeover bids by foreign companies.

The Enron scandal led the United States to introduce tough regulations including requirements that companies listing on US. exchanges invest in software and hire auditors to vet business processes — a move critics say has a stifling effect on investment and enterprise.

"US. regulation has certainly driven a lot of business over here and London has taken advantage of that by making sure that its own regulation is as attractive as it can manage," said David Lascelles, the director of the Centre for Study of Financial Innovation.

Perhaps the most euro-skeptic European Union member, Britain has also embraced the bloc's open-border policy more warmly than any other country, welcoming workers from newcomer states after the last expansion in 2004 when most other EU nations kept the door closed.

The net inflow of people coming long-term into Britain last year was 500 a day, according to figures from the National Statistics office. The rush of immigration has been so dramatic that the government is trying to cool it off, restricting entry from workers from Romania and Bulgaria when those countries join the EU in 2007.

The hurdles to settling in the United States are greater than those in Britain, said Anastasia Tonello, a London-based lawyer specializing in migration to both countries.

"Someone with a degree and skills and experience can usually find a route to immigrate into the UK. and that simply isn't the case in the US. There's quotas, there's backlogs, there's requirements that just prevent good people from being able to get authorization to work in the US.," she said.

"The message is that we aren't just an historic financial center, we are a very dynamic, cultural city with lots of facets," said Diana Torres, the New-York based vice president for Think London, a not-for-profit organization that helps foreign businesses set up shop in London.

Seb Dovey of the London-based wealth management consultancy Scorpio Partnership said London has become so attractive for well-heeled travelers that he is seeing growing interest from Americans relocating from New York to London.

The new arrivals have pushed the price of London's luxury homes beyond those in New York, making them the most expensive in the world.

Prime residential property in London now costs around $2,300 per square foot, compared to $1,900 in New York, according to CB Richard Ellis Hamptons International.

The arts scene is also flourishing.

London's Tate Modern museum is filled with cutting-edge contemporary art, making New York's Museum of Modern Art look a little old-fashioned by comparison. Even MOMA Director Glenn Lowry has warned that New York is in danger of losing its status as cultural capital of the world if it does not invest more in arts programs.

Ever since the emergence of Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin and the other headline-grabbing "Young British Artists" in the 1990s, London has been home to a vibrant arts scene that continues to spawn new talent. In just a few years, the graffiti artist Banksy has gone from stenciling walls and bridges around the city to selling work for tens of thousands of dollars to A-list clients, including Angelina Jolie.

The major galleries are booming. Tate Modern attracts 4 million visitors a year and has announced a $400 million expansion to double its exhibition space.

Overseas visitors made a record 30 million trips to the Britain last year despite the July 7 bombings in London. In contrast, Euromonitor International warned that the United States is losing substantial numbers of business and leisure travelers to Europe because of the stringent security measures it has imposed on international visitors since the 9/11 terrorist attacks that make visas harder to obtain.

London's rise has some key figures in New York worried.

A group of US. bankers, bosses, academics and investors under the banner of the Committee on capital Markets Regulation last week released a report lamenting the rise in regulatory compliance costs and calling for a reduction in red tape. Among the group's recommendations is a suggestion that the US. Securities and Exchange Commission rely on principles-based rules and guidance, rather than detailed prescriptive rules.

The New York Chamber of Commerce has held a series of "town hall meetings" and will publish another report next spring, while the city has hired consultants from McKinsey to develop a new strategy.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined Sen. Charles Schumer to pen an op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal last month warning that New York could lose its position as the world's financial capital if steps aren't taken to reduce regulation.

The London Stock Exchange's popularity makes it a perennial takeover target for foreign exchanges. The LSE registered 78 initial public offerings by foreign corporations worth US$10.8 billion last year, while US. IPOs the same year numbered 34 worth just US$7 million — a large fall from the $41 billion worth in 1999.

"Unless we improve our corporate climate, we risk allowing New York to lose its pre-eminence in the global financial-services sector," Bloomberg and Schumer wrote. "This would be devastating both for our city and nation."

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

@Darfur


I salute you!

Siena:
Jeeze, Elo! I like you, I really do, but as for calling my darling Almond a bytch, grrr! _{That's my Nairaland wife you're insulting!}

Retract and call a truce, and I'll like you more! Relax, and don't take Nairaland posts / views too personal!

No retraction I'm afraid. Olodojoy decided to go there with the name calling first so she should be able to take it, no be so?

Thanks for the tip sha but why anyone would assume that I am taking these mere pixels on a screen seriously or even personal for that matter is beyond me. May be my words are just too strong for una. But I am only giving as good as I get!


My heart bleeds though, really it does tear me up, *sniff* because you won't like me because of it










Anyway sha, that's life!


NEXT!

VOR:
Elosela,

I have just opened this thread for the first time, and I haven't laughed so
much in ages.

Frankly you are a woman after my heart. Most of what you said in your opening
post is so true. I have many friends and relations in good old US of A and they are
ALL, without exception, amazed at the amount of paid holiday and flexibility
at work UK workers get. Your comments about maternity pay is also true and a lot of
Americans and indeed nationals of other countries are jealous of this. I note that none
of the posters here have addressed specifically either of these or other positive points
about the UK.

No mind them, na so, so bad belle de do them.
BTW which part of London do you live in.
More grease to your elbow my dear and don't let the haters get you down.

Hi Vor!

Na wa o my brother!

I don't know whether it is pure jealousy or the fact that maybe when they first applied for a visa to leave Nigeria they were turned down by the UK embassy before finally getting one to the US. Whatever the case most of them seem to have a serious axe to grind when it comes to the UK and in particular, London.

They absolutely love it when threads like this pop up because you just know they are dying to get in here just to let us UK Naijas know that we ain't worth $hit! LoL!

Check out the crazed unintelligible ramblings of that crazed bytch, Olodojoy abi Almondboy sef. This is typical. This thing has been manically posting dribble on here like it's life depended on it. That na person?

Anyway I am glad I made you smile!

Have a nice day.

scambater:
What is this world coming to why in God's name would someone in the US be jealous or have bad belle for people in the UK when Most Nigerian folks in the UK end up in America.

Scambater

See what I wrote above.

Abeg all Nigerians who don't like the UK should immediately go to the US embassy to collect their visas and leave Let person hear word jare! The visa is not that hard to get if you hold a green passport so why the song and dance?
And Nigerians in America really shouldn't visit the UK if all they are going to do is bytch and moan afterwards.
London should be left for those of us who appreciate it and actually [b]prefer [/b]living here to America.

stillwater:
Hellosela , (or do you actually think I would write hello elosela, how does that sound in your ears). It shows you are clearly not a Nigerian. Have you ever heard of yabbing? You just have to be openminded and stop keeping malice. The wolves on Nairaland haven't arrived yet and you're already heated up. When next you meet those Nigerians that tell you the UK is nothing, try and confront them, after that, come on Nairaland and tell us how it went that is if they did not eat you raw. This is just a sisterly advise because your post clearly reveals you do not understand the naija sense of humour.

Eat me raw?Ah right we'll wait and see.

All fun and games Deary. If anyone is heated up then it definitely not yours truly!

It's amazing that you can tell that I am not a Nigerian in some form from posts. By the way I know Nigerians especially the ones back home like the back of my hand and I don't expect that they are any different online but thanks for your heartfelt advice.

mrpataki:
Mad for wetin? I can come up with thirty reasons why the UK is an extension of naija. Will that get you mad?



Make sure you have almondjoy as your tour guide when visiting those places next.

re: mad? not at all


re: tour guide, er, no thanks! Abeg why you go even recommend that kind wahala for my head sef?

Siena:
Wow, I just love this thread!

Militia and Elo, love you both!

Thanks Babes!

mrpataki:
What part of my tenses did you not get right? I stated it is partially an extension not in totality. Where in Nigeria have you been, Sapele?

Whether partially or totally, I still disagree with your perspective. However, you are entitled to express your opinion as I am mine. Just don't get mad when I do me!

Lived in Sapele, visited Benin, Warri and Lagos as well as several other small villages in Delta State. Looking forward to visiting Abuja and Kano.

mrpataki:
The rate at which you reply every post in this topic is remarkable.


Yeah I have a right to my opinion, same as well confers on you, but don't always put the cart before the horse when talking about the UK in comparism to anyother country in the world. As to it been the extension of Naija, it is partially true though.

Ah right. Please don't tell me what to do though or how to think though. In my world view the UK doesn't remotely resemble Nigeria in any way shape or form. Obviously the Uk you experienced was completely different from mine for you to come to conclusion that it is an extension of Nigeria.

mrpataki:
Nairaland and its crazy threatrics.

Now it is UK -Vs- US!

Peckham -Vs- Brooklyn!

Who is the Elosela of a person sef?

Almondjoy, you don meet your match oh

But seriously there is nothing so fanciful with the UK. It is just simply ok to me. A well coordinated society, but making it an haven of glory and splendor is ridiculous.

Do you personally know everyone on this board? Sorry I am at a loss as to why you would ask who I am?


You do have the right to your opinion sha but is it is only ridiculous when ones bigs up their home country which happens to be the UK but not so with Nigeria or the US? I don't get it.

scambater:
@ Elosela

you sure do have a lot to say, keep it up though it's attracting attention to your thread. And the next time you in Dallas, let me know so I'd take you around the city or even take you to a Cowboys game because it seems to me you em seem the best Texas has to offer.

Thanks for the offer. I have actually stayed in Texas for a few month during uni years.

davidylan:
yawn
wake me up when the meaningless rant is over.

Nice one! But you are still here reading this response? How pathetic!, *chuckle*

almondjoy:
Sorry--Make that Edgar Allan Poe! We do not read ugly bearded retarded poetry over here--in prehistoric English Languages over here! Why are you yawning? No back up? I thought you could write pages?

Brixton Brat! Now let us have some peace with your stupid London Fog of a Brain!

The lady doth protest too much


Are you saying that J Edgar is responsible for that quote, LOL! Now I know for sure that my thread had unwittingly attracted the rantings of a severely demented individual.Either that or all that quality education in the Good ol' US of A has been wasted on you. tut-tut! Obviously you have nothing constructive to say so that is why you have desperately resorted to name calling.Keep on responding like a poodle sha because this the last response you will get from me.

davidylan:
lol this thread is fast degenerating into a farce. One can't be far from the truth if he assumes an adolescent is involved.
MY thread? When did we start buying threads here? Someone wipe the sleep off my face.

How many times are people going to regale us with this "i am at work earning money" tale as if the rest of us are busy at peppersoup joints drinking palmwine all day?

Elo relax, its a forum and you will get tons of opposing posts. It is NOT your thread, the site belongs to Seun and please spare us the obsessive desire to reply to every fullstop with unecessary vitriol. Give it a break please.

We've heard, London is synonymous with heaven . . . what else do we need to know?

Er, excuse me David but why the sour grapes? We all know that it is Seun's forum which he has opened up to the world. When I said that it was my thread I meant of course that I had started it. A figure of speech which is self-explanatory so why you would take that to mean something else is kind of weird. If I hadn't you wouldn't be in here with your pretentious self trying to act smart.

If I want to reply to every response to me I don't see why or even how that could bother you so much, after all as you said it is just a public forum. I am new here but I thought it was good manners to respond to people who had taken the time to reply to me.

My response about earning money was just to let scambater know that even though I was mucking about on a PC here it doesn't mean that I am not at the same time doing something worthwhile. Why again would you take that to mean that I thought everyone else was incapable? Could that be some insecurities coming to the fore?

As I said take a chill pill because as you said it really is not that serious!

scambater:
@ Elesela.

Kind of funny but I'm at work too, "swing shift" my dear you not the only one that has to work to earn money. And thank God I don't work on PCs cause that's the most boring job IMO

I actually agree with you, re:boring. Why d'hell do you think I can find time to be on here?, lol Well at least I am still earning money while I get my rant on,

almondjoy:
I may have visited London a couple of times and I have never gone to your flea market at this Pekham you keep mentioning. Heard about it but thankfully never visited that area. All my siblings live over there because they feel it is an extension of Nigeria, ,

*yawn*

The lady doth protest too much- William Shakespeare

@Davidlyan or whatever you are called, all in the name of fun and games. If you think arguing on message board is in an indication that someone takes a message board seriously then you need to take a chill pill!

@Scambater, You are still here? By the way I am at work earning money, There are some people who work all day on PCs and as this is my thread I feel obligated to reply to everything sent to me, what are you doing?

dapsycool:
Uk ma ass, the ratio of agbero's in the Uk is increasing daily. You should be comparing UK with South Africa,another Country with many desperate Nigerians, not USA, not even Ireland.

Please. There will never be as many Nigerians as they are in the UK as they are in the US. I repeat Black people are less than 2% of a population of 60million. That 2% includes Nigerians,other Africans and Caribbeans. We have been less than 2% for years now and so it is not increasing at all.

In the states Black people including Nigerians are nearly 13% of 300million. Do your sums. There must be at least 1 million Nigerian indigences in the US, not to mention the ones who were born in the US. This is compared to less than I would say not more than 400,000 in the UK.

stillwater:
Hellosela. Defender of UK I hail you. Always complaining. Let me tell you Nigerians are jokers but to evident outsiders you would probably see their jokes as insults. You better get on with your life because people are laughing at you. tThis is just a joke, geddit?

Hellosela

People are laughing at me?ok-o!
It doesn't bother me as much as it would probably bothers the $hit out of you. And I would concede that they are [b]indeed[/b]probably laughing at you for foolishly feigning to know the thoughts and feelings of the several tens of thousands of people who post here on NairaLand.

almondjoy:
See them oh! Becuase I keep una quiet?

Ugly British people with rabbit teeth! Abeg make una go find braces take "gather" una teeth and stop spitting on people sitting across the table while you are eating in restuarants. Una even get am for "freckles" with tufts of hair in the middle scattered all over your butts! You look just like your cartoon characters in comic books.

Dirty people who only shower at night to save time every morning, since everyone has to queue up to go to the "loo" in the morning--one toilet being yanked with some kind of chain by the side to flush(them colonial toilets). Running out of the house with the same undies every morning--stinking up the whole place. Always scratching here and there like you have fleas. We have seen you guys with solidified "lip worms" and dried sputum across your cheeks as you dash for the tubes to your various destinations in the mornings. Smelling mouths!

Come on clearrrrrrrrrrout of here- you bloody london foggers! I say y'all should be quiet or we send more of you to Iraq. Ewu Blairrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs like y'all! Remember when Georgie Bushie says Jump you jump! Awon follow follows!

Uncle Alabi--no make me vex oh! I just dey respect you as ma elder!

_{Except Siena of course!}

That Elosela don wake up--make I dey go!

Did you forget to take your medication or something because seriously you are coming across as someone who is bi-polar!
You have yet to say anything intelligent in this thread in any way shape or form and so I think it is save to say in your case that you do not know $hit about the UK! Obviously when you visited you spent 100% mingling with the JJCs and illegals in Peckham or would that be Thamesmead eating amala and stockfish and that is why you mistakenly thought you were back in Nigeria. Or did you also forget to take your meds during that trip?

Godwin1:
Narialand the great i hail oh , wonder they say never end , truely indeed as i have really come to understand it even more better as i read from one topic to another on this site especially as the poster of this tread fight so hard pass her message clear to everyone of us who care to read through, abeg my sister rest your case for there are much better things you can do with your time because it seem to me you forgot that you are just a national insurance number to the uk government (citizen or non citizen),

anyway you guys make my day,

I know you are trying to remain mutual but this is the travel section and not politics so no need to bring up the UK government. When people on here big up the US and Nigeria I don't see you in there telling them to rest because they are just seen as another statistic in the eyes of their perspective government so why would you do so here?

I also think it is silly to actually respond to a thread to tell someone that they must have better things to do with time spent on a public message board. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a healthy debate; further more I am just responding to the many denigrative and demeaning posts posted on here about my home city.

Siena:
Elo! Elo!! Elo!!! Blimey, I haven't laughed so much on this board! Cat-sized rats, giant-sized cockroaches! Jeeze!! You're really funny, I read your posts from beginning to end (no skimming) and honestly, you've made my day, tears are running down my face!

Sheez!

I am glad I made you laugh. lol @ myself.

But honestly, the sheer nerve of some of these people here was just too much. Lagos being an advanced London?, please. As I said before if Nigeria was better run and structurally sound it still would, in no shape or form resemble or be like the UK, but more so America.

Abeg all Nigerians planning to leave Nigeria should just go to America straight because the one JJC and illegals who have more or less ruined areas like Peckham and Thamesmead are more than enough already. We don't need them coming here and badmouthing things that the government for Nigeria can not provide at home.

Furthermore, US Nigerians who have been to the UK but only stayed and mingled with other Nigerians,did Nigerian things and ate Nigerians foods you are literally fooling yourself if you actually think you 'experienced' London if all you can say is that it is an extension of Nigeria.

It beggar's belief that people from all over the globe have visited London from Hollywood stars, world politicians to the common man all who see London as a world class city but only a Nigerian will say that it is another Nigeria. I doubt that stars like Madonna and nearly 60,000 other Americans who live in London think it is an extension of Nigeria. P.Diddy had some very unflattering things to say about Nigeria when he visited but even he was reported to be looking for a property in London. Again I sincerely doubt he would do that if he thought it was another Nigeria. Just goes to prove that many of the comments made against my home city are completely unjustified and misconstrued.


ok, end of rant! lol

Abedisi:
Me grandma once told me a story and it goes like this, "Their use too be a rich white man and he had a bird he really cared for.The bird was spoilt and well feed,but still the bird was not satisfied and longed to go back home, on this memorable day he said to his loving rich friend oom his oom(home is home). The rich man was sad and decided to bug the bird and let him have his freedom. The rich man later went on a search for his good friend and he found him in a dirty environment and he was looking hungry but he was glad to be home"

Where is your home? Lets be proud of who we are and not where we live,

Thanks Abedisi

I make no apologies for being a Londoner.

I am a Londoner and proud of it. All respect due to the land of parents(Nigeria) but wherever I am in the world I will always be a Londoner at heart and so it is who I am.

davidylan:
All i could do was laugh! Who really cares whether you live in Germany, the UK or Iceland?

*Shock horror* You don't? , well Good for you! *rolls eyes*

scambater:
@ poster


Why so much hate for America, I'm sure the UK is a grate place to live, never been there excerpt stopping over on my way to Nigeria. There must be something you not telling us Please forgive me for not reading the whole of you essay it was too long for a lazy Nigerian American like me .

I don't hate America, , oh wait! you didn't read it. Well next time read all before responding. Reading is fundamental you know. The quote ' better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt' will not be applied to you so easily then.

stillwater:
Pathetic thread.

Pathetic response.

dtw_sola:
Abi o! It's kind of illy for Nigerians to be arguing for other man's country. If I had enough money right now, I'll be booking my ticket and packing my goods and head back home. Home is where the heart is.

Home is where you work and earn a living. Period

Which part of 'I see the the UK as my Home' didn't you understand. It is not another man's country to me it is mine. Nigeria is my motherland, the Uk is Elo's land, geddit?

@ I-man
Innit. believe me I love America but it has it's shortcomings, plenty of them. i was reading one thread where someone was saying that America was the capital of the world in Finance, Fashion and everything else.

America is not the fashion capital of the world it is in Europe, namely Paris, followed by Milan and London. New York is in there somewhere but that is just one city out of the whole of America. You guys can keep your Calvin Kline, DKNY and Tommy Hill and those ugly dooney and Burke bags. I will take the LV, Dior, Chanel and Dolce and Gabanna any time over those so called fashion.

The only thing that America can claim to be the capital of is the murder rate, namely Washington DC. followed by other American cities such as Chicago and New Orleans.

omega25red:
gosh you wrote a complete essay to talk about the fact that Nigeria is not like London

gasps and leaves

It is what people do on message boards. Post about topics we want to rant about. Are internet forums a new concept to you?

Never mind. Good bye!

almondjoy:
Okay. Dearest poster, please stay in the UK. No one is forcing you to leave. Some of us can never dream of living in the UK either. To each his own. Thiis world is large enough to contain all. Don't upset yourself too much. It is the season to be jolly!

Happy Holidays!

What a cop out after your oh fiery and passionate response to my thread.

I know no one is asking me to leave the UK but that wasn’t an issue that I was addressing.


Merry Christmas to you and yours too!

babasin:
UK is not better than Lagos.

in summer; the tube is 39sitting and 99standing.

all sweating like pigs.

the briticos even advice me against the tube. I did once, it broken down and we had to walk in the hot tunnel. terrible

No different that NY or Chicago subway during rush hour. I would rather travel on the tube and know that I will be where I want to be within 10 minutes than to be stuck in a giant traffic jam in Lagos for hours, sitting in a seat meant for 3 but used for 7, (all of whom are sweating and stinking of severe BO) on a banged out bus that should have been condemned years ago.

What is your point?

Home is Home but com'on now even some of us Nigerians have standards.

@Almondjoy

Re: better job opportunities. Is that why it is not unusual for an American to have more than two jobs?

Re: Ugly people

No answer to even justify this nonsensical response.

The general conception of Americans is that they are quite dumb and it would appear that some Nigerians have taken on this quality in a vain attempt to fit in with their host country and appear even more American! Pitiful!

folahann:
This is not worth a question lkie that

Why? I have read so many denigrating comments on this board and I sincerely want to know why because most of the reasons people give are so shallow.

I find it insulting that Nigerians in America would be so demeaning to their counterparts in the UK. Many of us work very hard and we live very well.
Don’t assume that we all sign on and claim benefit because we don’t!
Don’t assume that we all live in council properties because we don’t! Many people own homes but unlike in Nigeria, these homes are seeing as an investment. Just because you see someone living in a box room in the heart of London city it doesn’t mean that they can not afford a mansion in the suburbs. Most likely they probably bought that property for about £50,000 and are looking to sell it for £150,000.
Just because Ken is trying to make London and car free zone, don’t assume that there are no roads to drive on or quality cars to drive. Germany, not America, the car capital of the world is only a mere hour away!
Don’t assume that we are all cleaners and trying to save up money to go to America because… er…no…we're not!lol

P.S not having a go at you, just stressing my point further.

almondjoy:
@Poster

I think you were born in Nigeria and are a Nigerian. A true Brit would not make all this noise you are making here without provocation. You should worry more about Nigeria than waving the Union Jack all over Nairaland. Let the REAL citizens of the UK worry about whatever "complexes" may exist between both. You are only a guest over there, so act like one!

Frankly speaking--the UK is an extension of Nigeria. You will have to live outside of the UK to understand what that means not visit for a short while. The mindsets are different. Just think of UK as Shagamu and US as South Africa!

Yes, the housing and road net works are restrictive. UK has a highly claustrophobic environment. You cannot move around in a typical house without knocking things over. I like a lot of space and cannot imagine family of 6 sharing one toilet in a homewith 3 sardine can of rooms without closet spaces, all in the name of "conservatism". --- Like Buckingham palace is like that or what? No parking spaces for your vehicles. In this day of central heating and air conditioning, those guys are still mounting those ugly metal heating crap against the walls. Gosh!

Don't get me wrong--UK has its own appeal, but you can never adjust to that kind of lifestyle over there when you have tasted driving on 6-8 lanes of dual carriage freeways and interState highways! They do not ride horses on roads in the US. People over there have RANCHES!

One more thing--the ugliest red neck in the US is prettier than the most royal of Brit citizens! For example, most of the white trailer thrash rat packs featured on Jerry Springer show are prettier than your Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles.

Mennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn! Those people in the UK are damn ugly with terrible weather bitten skin like Cow hide! The girls are way to ugly compared to those in America! Just accept it! Don't be be hating! Most oyinbo British people are ugly and usually have bad teeth--sticking out of their lips!!!!!!!! Fashion sense---ZERO!!!!!

Better job opportunities in the US than in UK/Nigeria too!

LOL! why would anyone want to lie about being born in the UK? This is what I mean by Nigerians making a big deal out out stuff that we take for granted. The fact that I was born in the UK is really no issue but something that I thought I would mention so that people would understand where I was coming from and why I felt the need to start this thread. I am new to the forum and I have been reading many of the threads in the travel section (seen as I like to travel) and I was a bit incensed about what I read about London.

Of course you would see the UK as an extension of the Nigeria if you only manage to sample the sights and sounds of Peckham. I mean I near by came to the same conclusion when I was in Houston and Dallas. Nigerians in every shape or form were everywhere. They had their own churches and shops. The same thing in Atlanta. I think every Nigerian looking to leave Nigeria should just go there because they would feel right at home. The Americans love their big houses and cars, a Nigerian man’s dream and sign of prosperity. In England we have a different focus. Yes we have the big houses and the cars but it is really no big deal.

In New York I met several people paying at least $1000 for a room not even big enough to swing a cat. One even shared their room with several giant sized cockroaches. I was once caught in Chicago without any money and was forced to stay in an area where there were plenty Nigerians, near a university. There were drug addicts galore and the place stunk of piss. A train line ran just outside my room and with the metal clashing every time creating a thunderous sound. Everyday I used to wake up from this sound thinking that someone was trying to murder me in my bed. Pleasant it was not. Now if I had the money I could have stayed somewhere better but I did not. My point is many Nigerian come to England with just a pittance to spend and when there money doesn’t go as far as they like they moan. When they choose to spend every hour hanging around Nigerians, they claim that England is like Nigeria. Please it is a very ignorant statement to make considering the fact that England is made up of a population of 60million and black people (Nigerians and other blacks) make up less than 2% of this population. Now do your sums. If you come to England and choose to spend your time hanging around the minority of a population are you being biased when you claim that the country is an extension of Nigeria? I think you are.

And yes there is central heating, lol@ you thinking and making a big deal about not having one. And in America, especially in the suburbs most homes use a boiler (furnace) to heat up their homes just like we do. We call it central heating don’t know what you guys call it. Again why make an issue out of something so petty? It is just like my relative telling me that people in Nigeria have mops just because I hadn’t been bothered to go out and replace the one that I had thrown out a few months before and had been using a cloth to wipe my wooden floors…lol

About the horses, I have only seen policeman ride horses in the London the same as in New York. Horse riding is popular in the country areas as in America but not in the city.

From what you have written however, I can deduce that you have never really been to the UK otherwise why would you make an issue about the kind of roads you drive on? I hope you don’t foolishly assume that there aren’t any motorways in London?

Most Nigerians in America always seem to have an axe to grind when it comes to England and I can’t for the life think why.

Seun:
What part of your essay has anything to do with the idea that the UK is just like Nigeria?

I am asking a hypothetic question hence the question mark and stating reasons why I feel that that is not indeed the case contrary to what I have read on this board.

The UK is just like Nigeria?

To Nigerians in America and Nigerians at home….

I have been reading many denigrating posts about my home city on the Nairaland forum and I just wanted to respond to some of inaccuracies and misconceptions of the UK and especially London. And before anyone of you start and ask why I am defending ‘another man’s’ country or city the truth of the matter is that I do not see the UK as another man’s country, IT IS MINE! Yes that is right. God gave the UK to me for I was born here when I didn’t ask to be and so I happen to have a deep affection for it as I do for my parents country, Nigeria. Just like I would defend, Nigeria to the hilt against non-Nigerians which I often find myself doing I will also defend the country of my birth. Like it or lump it!

I can’t for the life of me think why anyone would say that London is like Lagos or that London, UK is a stepping stone in order to get to America. I, myself don’t see how the comparisons are even warranted or further more why some Nigerians in America think or would that be assume that they somehow a cut above Nigerians in the UK as if they themselves are living the life of Riley just because they happened to have made it over to America by the skin of their teeth.

Please.

BIG DEAL! America is not all that is cracked up to be and I speak from experience.

I travel at will and I have been all over the US from NY to LA and most states and cities in between including Detroit, Chicago, Vegas, Atlanta and Florida. If you ask me once you have seen one city or state in America you have practically seen it all. In my opinion I would even say that America is more like the advanced version of Nigeria and that Nigeria in no aspect is like the UK at all. If Nigeria were organised and more structured it would look exactly like America.

I have been to Houston and Dallas where there are Nigerians galore flossing and acting like they are the bee’s knees when that is far from the truth. During my first time in America, Houston to be exact, I came across a load of Nigerians who were quite demeaning in their manner and asked really silly questions designed to embarrass me because I happened to be from London; they only made themselves look foolish in the process.

They assumed that I didn’t have access to the things that they had such as a car or a driving licence?? Mobile phone or a credit/debit card?? That I didn’t have any money and assumed that I was after theirs, lol. Many of these people were working two or three jobs for every God sent hour just to make ends meet. They even made a big deal out of things we take for granted here in the UK like being able to go online at will or using a wireless connection. When I was in the US in 1995 I had my mobile. If I recall correctly everyone there at that time still had pagers. When I brought out my phone to use I was told promptly that the mobile phone was old technology and that was why Britain was still using it. The exact words were ‘That one don pass for here’. I was like ok, all the while wondering how anyone would think that a pager was so much more efficient than a mobile phone.

Another time in LA, a Nigerian even asked me if we had Range Rovers or Rolls Royces in London? Another stated that it was ‘hard to get an office’ job in London and he assumed that I had a cleaning job gig. This one proceeded to try and make a big deal out of having just an Office Admin job himself, lol. Some of the questions were downright hilarious to be honest but sad and pathetic at the same time. To me they still had the ‘Never left Nigeria’ mentality. It was like they had transported themselves to a more advanced Nigeria and taken on a ‘Homer Simpson’ like quality.

Is it a Nigerian thing to be pretentious, demeaning and over-egotistical when one wants to prove that they have it better than the other? This I believe is the reason why many Black Americans that I know say that they can not stand most of the Nigerians who live in America that they come across. When I was in Atlanta I heard a lot of them slag off Nigerians while I was present and then become embarrassed when I would reveal to them that I was of Nigerian descent…but they still continued. I am also frequent member of many African American boards and one in particular always has a bash Nigerian thread every so often. Why is this? Could it be that the same demeaning attitude that some Nigerians in America display on here is also practised against their Black American counterparts? I wonder?

Recently I had a relative from Nigeria visit London for the first time. I took this person out and showed them the sights and sounds of London, including several shows at Theatre land, posh Italian and Japanese restaurants, the London Eye, Live music and cultural events at the National Theatre and shopping at Lakeside and Bluewater, the second biggest shopping centre in Europe after Gateshead, UK. This was all to no avail because this person still turned around and told me that they were not impressed with anything they had seen. I was like ok O!. This coming from someone who had lived in Ketu, Lagos most their life! Why the front? Of course next time I won’t bother. That person is now back in Nigeria burning up my phone and leaving messages asking if I can sponsor them to come back.

Anyway I think that any Nigerian who is planning to leave the Nigeria should go straight to America. Just bypass the UK.

You hate it, I love it!

The UK is just an Island but a very rich Island.

London is not overrated at all as some Nigerians in America have suggested. It is an extremely beautiful city. Bill Bryson stated in his book Notes from a Small Island that there were 445,000 listed buildings, 12,000 medieval churches, 1,500,000 acres (6,000 km²) of common land, 120,000 miles (190,000 km) of footpaths, and public rights-of-way, 600,000 known sites of archaeological interest and that in his Yorkshire village at that time, there were more 17th-century buildings than in the whole of North America! In fact it many World leading Analysts argue that it is the Financial capital of the world and NOT New York. I know some Nigerians working in the heart City earning at least £200k per annum not to mention the fat bonuses that they bank every year.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/27/business/worldbusiness/27london.html

It is also a leading cultural and business centre. There is nothing and I mean absolutely nothing that one cannot get in London. It is an International transport hub with at least 4 major International airports. Why would a city need as many airports if no one wanted to come here? And yes Heathrow is the busiest airport in the world.

We have Nigerians in America and Nigerians at home complaining about the London underground, ignorant to the fact that every subway system in the world has been derived from the London system, which also happens to the be the first such public transportation system in the world. You guys can keep the hard plastic seats and the noisy ‘clangy’ metal carriages of the New York and Chicago systems together with the overfed cat sized rats that constantly run riot in the city; I will take the soft cushioned seats and the and the sturdy steel carriages of the tube any day of the week!

Those complaining about the houses being too small obviously don’t have the funds to live in a mansion in Kensington, Chelsea, Belgravia or Mayfair, just like many at home in Nigeria don’t have the funds to live in any of the exclusive places in Lagos such as VI or Lekki.

I enjoy living and being in London. The quality of life I feel is miles better than America for me. When I have a baby I will know that I can take a whole year of work for maternity leave and still get paid a full salary for at least 6 months and half pay for the other 6. My husband can also enjoy paternity leave.

When I was in The Gambia last year I met an American lady who told me that after she had her daughter she was allowed to take just 6 weeks unpaid leave. Now if that is not backwards then I do not know what is.

I also enjoy having 30 days exclusive of sick days, which equates to 6 weeks paid vacation time a year. A person who loves to travel like me would find it hard in America because I heard that 10 days on average paid leave are the standard. Working hours a week are only a maximum of 40 in the UK, (I do just 35 a week) in the US I have heard of people doing up to 50-80 hours a week which is downright ridiculous!

Many complain that the UK is racist. But do you think America is less racist? A country where convicted felons are not allowed to vote and where many of these felons happen to be black men and women? If that is not racism on a grand scale then I do not know what is. A country something like the Jena 6 can happen??

The list goes on.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2224553,00.html

Children are targets of Nigerian witch hunt


Evangelical pastors are helping to create a terrible new campaign of violence against young Nigerians. Children and babies branded as evil are being abused, abandoned and even murdered while the preachers make money out of the fear of their parents and their communities

Watch the video: Child witches in Africa, and click here to see a related gallery

Tracy McVeigh in Esit Eket
Sunday December 9, 2007
The Observer


The rainy season is over and the Niger Delta is lush and humid. This southern edge of West Africa, where Nigeria's wealth pumps out of oil and gas fields to bypass millions of its poorest people, is a restless place. In the small delta state of Akwa Ibom, the tension and the poverty has delivered an opportunity for a new and terrible phenomenon that is leading to the abuse and the murder of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of children. And it is being done in the name of Christianity.

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Almost everyone goes to church here. Driving through the town of Esit Eket, the rust-streaked signs, tarpaulins hung between trees and posters on boulders, advertise a church for every third or fourth house along the road. Such names as New Testament Assembly, Church of God Mission, Mount Zion Gospel, Glory of God, Brotherhood of the Cross, Redeemed, Apostalistic. Behind the smartly painted doors pastors make a living by 'deliverances' - exorcisms - for people beset by witchcraft, something seen to cause anything from divorce, disease, accidents or job losses. With so many churches it's a competitive market, but by local standards a lucrative one.
But an exploitative situation has now grown into something much more sinister as preachers are turning their attentions to children - naming them as witches. In a maddened state of terror, parents and whole villages turn on the child. They are burnt, poisoned, slashed, chained to trees, buried alive or simply beaten and chased off into the bush.

Some parents scrape together sums needed to pay for a deliverance - sometimes as much as three or four months' salary for the average working man - although the pastor will explain that the witch might return and a second deliverance will be needed. Even if the parent wants to keep the child, their neighbours may attack it in the street.

This is not just a few cases. This is becoming commonplace. In Esit Eket, up a nameless, puddled-and-potholed path is a concrete shack stuffed to its fetid rafters with roughly made bunk beds. Here, three to a bed like battery chickens, sleep victims of the besuited Christian pastors and their hours-long, late-night services. Ostracised and abandoned, these are the children a whole community believes fervently are witches.

Sam Ikpe-Itauma is one of the few people in this area who does not believe what the evangelical 'prophets' are preaching. He opened his house to a few homeless waifs he came across, and now he tries his best to look after 131.

'The neighbours were not happy with me and tell me "you are supporting witches". This project was an accident, I saw children being abandoned and it was very worrying. I started with three children, then every day it increased up to 15, so we had to open this new place,' he says. 'For every maybe five children we see on the streets, we believe one has been killed, although it could be more as neighbours turn a blind eye when a witch child disappears.

'It is good we have this shelter, but it is under constant attack.' As he speaks two villagers walk past, at the end of the yard, pulling scarfs across their eyes to hide the 'witches' from their sight.

Ikpe-Itauma's wife, Elizabeth, acts as nurse to the injured children and they have called this place the Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network, a big name for a small refuge. It has found support from a charity running a school in the area, Stepping Stones Nigeria, which is trying to help with money to feed the children, but the numbers turning up here are a huge challenge.

Mary Sudnad, 10, grimaces as her hair is pulled into corn rows by Agnes, 11, but the scalp just above her forehead is bald and blistered. Mary tells her story fast, in staccato, staring fixedly at the ground.

'My youngest brother died. The pastor told my mother it was because I was a witch. Three men came to my house. I didn't know these men. My mother left the house. Left these men. They beat me.' She pushes her fists under her chin to show how her father lay, stretched out on his stomach on the floor of their hut, watching. After the beating there was a trip to the church for 'a deliverance'.

A day later there was a walk in the bush with her mother. They picked poisonous 'asiri' berries that were made into a draught and forced down Mary's throat. If that didn't kill her, her mother warned her, then it would be a barbed-wire hanging. Finally her mother threw boiling water and caustic soda over her head and body, and her father dumped his screaming daughter in a field. Drifting in and out of consciousness, she stayed near the house for a long time before finally slinking off into the bush.Mary was seven. She says she still doesn't feel safe. She says: 'My mother doesn't love me.' And, finally, a tear streaks down her beautiful face.

Gerry was picked out by a 'prophetess' at a prayer night and named as a witch. His mother cursed him, his father siphoned petrol from his motorbike tank and spat it over his eight-year-old face. Gerry's facial blistering is as visible as the trauma in his dull eyes. He asks every adult he sees if they will take him home to his parents: 'It's not them, it's the prophetess, I am scared of her.'

Nwaeka is about 16. She sits by herself in the mud, her eyes rolling, scratching at her stick-thin arms. The other children are surprisingly patient with her. The wound on her head where a nail was driven in looks to be healing well. Nine- year-old Etido had nails, too, five of them across the crown of his downy head. Its hard to tell what damage has been done. Udo, now 12, was beaten and abandoned by his mother. He nearly lost his arm after villagers, finding him foraging for food by the roadside, saw him as a witch and hacked at him with machetes.

Magrose is seven. Her mother dug a pit in the wood and tried to bury her alive. Michael was found by a farmer clearing a ditch, starving and unable to stand on legs that had been flogged raw.

Ekemini Abia has the look of someone in a deep state of shock. Both ankles are circled with gruesome wounds and she moves at a painful hobble. Named as a witch, her father and elders from the church tied her to a tree, the rope cutting her to the bone, and left the 13-year-old there alone for more than a week.

There are sibling groups such as Prince, four, and Rita, nine. Rita told her mum she had dreamt of a lovely party where there was lots to eat and to drink. The belief is that a witch flies away to the coven at night while the body sleeps, so Rita's sweet dream was proof enough: she was a witch and because she had shared food with her sibling - the way witchcraft is spread - both were abandoned. Victoria, cheeky and funny, aged four, and her seven-year-old sister Helen, a serene little girl. Left by their parents in the shell of an old shack, the girls didn't dare move from where they had been abandoned and ate leaves and grass.

The youngest here is a baby. The older girls take it in turn to sling her on their skinny hips and Ikpe-Itauma has named her Amelia, after his grandmother. He estimates around 5,000 children have been abandoned in this area since 1998 and says many bodies have turned up in the rivers or in the forest. Many more are never found. 'The more children the pastor declares witches, the more famous he gets and the more money he can make,' he says. 'The parents are asked for so much money that they will pay in instalments or perhaps sell their property. This is not what churches should be doing.'

Although old tribal beliefs in witch doctors are not so deeply buried in people's memories, and although there had been indigenous Christians in Nigeria since the 19th century, it is American and Scottish Pentecostal and evangelical missionaries of the past 50 years who have shaped these fanatical beliefs. Evil spirits, satanic possessions and miracles can be found aplenty in the Bible, references to killing witches turn up in Exodus, Deuteronomy and Galatians, and literal interpretation of scriptures is a popular crowd-pleaser.

Pastor Joe Ita is the preacher at Liberty Gospel Church in nearby Eket. 'We base our faith on the Bible, we are led by the holy spirit and we have a programme of exposing false religion and sorcery.' Soft of voice and in his smart suit and tie, his church is being painted and he apologises for having to sit outside near his shiny new Audi to talk. There are nearly 60 branches of Liberty Gospel across the Niger Delta. It was started by a local woman, mother-of-two Helen Ukpabio, whose luxurious house and expensive white Humvee are much admired in the city of Calabar where she now lives. Many people in this area credit the popular evangelical DVDs she produces and stars in with helping to spread the child witch belief.

Ita denies charging for exorcisms but acknowledges his congregation is poor and has to work hard to scrape up the donations the church expects. 'To give more than you can afford is blessed. We are the only ones who really know the secrets of witches. Parents don't come here with the intention of abandoning their children, but when a child is a witch then you have to say "what is that there? Not your child." The parents come to us when they see manifestations. But the secret is that, even if you abandon your child, the curse is still upon you, even if you kill your child the curse stays. So you have to come here to be delivered afterwards as well,' he explains patiently.

'We know how they operate. A witch will put a spell on its mother's bra and the mother will get breast cancer. But we cannot attribute all things to witches, they work on inclinations too, so they don't create HIV, but if you are promiscuous then the witch will give you HIV.'

As the light fades, he presents a pile of Ukpabio's DVDs. Mistakenly thinking they are a gift, I am firmly put right.

Later that night, in another part of town, the hands of the clock edge towards midnight. The humidity of the day is sealed into the windowless church and drums pound along with the screeching of the sweat-drenched preacher. 'No witches, oh Lord,' he screams into the microphone. 'As this hour approaches, save us, oh Lord!'

His congregation is dancing, palms aloft, women writhe and yell in tongues. A group moves forward shepherding five children, one a baby, and kneel on the concrete floor and the pastor comes among them, pressing his hands down on each child's head in turn, as they try to hide in the skirts of the woman. This is deliverance night at the Church of the True Redeemer, and while the service will carry on for some hours, the main event - for which the parents will have paid cash - is over.

Walking out into the night, the drums and singing from other churches ring out as such scenes are being repeated across the village.

It is hard to find people to speak out against the brutality. Chief Victor Ikot is one. He not only speaks out against the 'tinpot' churches, but has also done the unthinkable and taken in a witch to his own home. The chief's niece, Mbet, was declared a witch when she was eight. Her mother, Ekaete, made her drink olive oil, then poison berries, then invited local men to beat her with sticks. The pastor padlocked her to a tree but unlocked her when her mother could not find the money for a deliverance. Mbet fled. Mbet, now 11, says she has not seen the woman since, adding: 'My mother is a wicked mother.'

The Observer tracked down Mbet's mother to her roadside clothing stall where she nervously fiddled with her mobile phone and told us how her daughter had given her what sounded very much like all the symptoms of malaria. 'I had internal heat,' she says, indicating her stomach. 'It was my daughter who had caused this, she drew all the water from my body. I could do nothing. She was stubborn, very stubborn.' And if her daughter had died in the bush? She shrugged: 'That is God's will. It is in God's hands.'

Chief Victor has no time for his sister-in-law. 'Nowadays when a child becomes stubborn, then everyone calls them witches. But it is usually from the age of 10 down, I have never seen anyone try to throw a macho adult into the street. This child becomes a nuisance, so they give a dog a bad name and they can hang it.

'It is alarming because no household is untouched. But it is the greed of the pastors, driving around in Mercedes, that makes them choose the vulnerable.'

In a nearby village The Observer came across five-year-old twins, Itohowo and Kufre. They are still hanging around close to their mother's shack, but are obviously malnourished and in filthy rags. Approaching the boys brings a crowd of villagers who stand around and shout: 'Take them away from us, they are witches.' 'Take them away before they kill us all.' 'Witches'.

The woman who gave birth to these sorry scraps of humanity stands slightly apart from the crowd, arms crossed. Iambong Etim Otoyo has no intention of taking any responsibility for her sons. 'They are witches,' she says firmly and walks away.

And by nightfall there are 133 children in the chicken coop concrete house at Esit Eket.

· Watch the video: Child witches in Africa

I find that some or would that be most of the posters on NR are immature and I often wonder at times if they are able to string two sentences together. There have been many a time when I have seen a thread with a title that promises to offer a really good debate only to click on it to find the whole thread full of one liners and smileys. There are whole threads with up to 50 pages full of that crap and to say that is annoying is to say the least.

Here on NL i love the debates and most of the posters seem intelligent, so far so good. I have only been a member for less than a week and it looks promising. I just hope that new moderators don't go taking the life and soul out of the forum by deleting all views which are not spam that they don't agree with.