Is London sucking the life out of the UK?

[Verbal]

So... Would you say that London is sucking the creative talent out of the rest of the country?

 

Certainly not.

 

In their small but highly visible way, Soho's VFX houses are a good illustration of how the energy of London created something from nothing in less than twenty years. Before 1995, the film and TV industry in Soho was little more than a disparate collection of postproduction houses. Then in 1995, those houses got together to finance and build the Soho Net London Fibre Ring, which gave them high-speed connectivity among each other, so that a small cottage industry suddenly had some critical mass. Together with some major technological innovations, particularly from the highly left-field Computer Film Company, Soho slowly gained the reputation for cutting-edge visual effects, at a price the LA houses could not compete with.

 

So the losers here are not the provinces in the UK, but (mostly) the film industry in LA. LA has suffered in other ways - ILM, the largest (and highest-priced) VFX house, draws talent away to its facility in Marin County, just across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. And Pixar, which in any case has had a strong affinity with Silicon Valley, is also based just outside SF. But London now produces the VFX for many of the biggest-budget Hollywood movies, using largely UK-educated talent - and ALL of that talent is developed in-house. NONE of the finance to do any of this was provided by the government - no soft loans, no tax breaks, nothing.

 

There have been attempts to create VFX houses in Manchester and elsewhere. A good friend of mine set up a brilliant Manchester-based company called Red Vision, which among many things developed software that enabled large-scale battle scenes in films and TV to be "populated" by individuated infantrymen who (according to programmed rules) did their own fighting, free of the animator. He ended up in London, though - for no other reason than that the creative edge was there, and he much preferred to be part of it.

 

If the Soho companies didn't exist, you can't deduce that regional VFX companies would have prospered. There just isn't the economic creativity or critical mass in the regions to do it.

[Barry Sanchez]

Certainly not.

 

In their small but highly visible way, Soho's VFX houses are a good illustration of how the energy of London created something from nothing in less than twenty years. Before 1995, the film and TV industry in Soho was little more than a disparate collection of postproduction houses. Then in 1995, those houses got together to finance and build the Soho Net London Fibre Ring, which gave them high-speed connectivity among each other, so that a small cottage industry suddenly had some critical mass. Together with some major technological innovations, particularly from the highly left-field Computer Film Company, Soho slowly gained the reputation for cutting-edge visual effects, at a price the LA houses could not compete with.

 

So the losers here are not the provinces in the UK, but (mostly) the film industry in LA. LA has suffered in other ways - ILM, the largest (and highest-priced) VFX house, draws talent away to its facility in Marin County, just across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. And Pixar, which in any case has had a strong affinity with Silicon Valley, is also based just outside SF. But London now produces the VFX for many of the biggest-budget Hollywood movies, using largely UK-educated talent - and ALL of that talent is developed in-house. NONE of the finance to do any of this was provided by the government - no soft loans, no tax breaks, nothing.

 

There have been attempts to create VFX houses in Manchester and elsewhere. A good friend of mine set up a brilliant Manchester-based company called Red Vision, which among many things developed software that enabled large-scale battle scenes in films and TV to be "populated" by individuated infantrymen who (according to programmed rules) did their own fighting, free of the animator. He ended up in London, though - for no other reason than that the creative edge was there, and he much preferred to be part of it.

 

If the Soho companies didn't exist, you can't deduce that regional VFX companies would have prospered. There just isn't the economic creativity or critical mass in the regions to do it.

 

 

 

Thats lovely, what about manufacturing and making things?

[melmacian_saint]

Thats lovely, what about manufacturing and making things?

 

If you want robots to be considered human beings or have 300 people living in residences with just mattresses and no heating, not sure how that would improve the situation of cities in the UK though.

[Barry Sanchez]

If you want robots to be considered human beings or have 300 people living in residences with just mattresses and no heating, not sure how that would improve the situation of cities in the UK though.

 

I refer to German and French employing and paying very well in the manufacturing sector. We have sold everything in this Country and have nothing left, all from a Nation that started it all.

 

BSA

Triumph

Norton

Ariel

The list could go on.

[Barry Sanchez]

If you want robots to be considered human beings or have 300 people living in residences with just mattresses and no heating, not sure how that would improve the situation of cities in the UK though.

 

So we have amazon paying no tax instead and have an uneducated workforce with few rights and no voice, you're good.

[melmacian_saint]

So we have amazon paying no tax instead and have an uneducated workforce with few rights and no voice, you're good.

 

Is uneducated based on flawed rankings which consider places like Shanghai against countries (for nothing more than a whitewash for massive regional imbalances within the wonderland of the Asian Tiger)?

 

I will praise Central European approaches to the manfacturing sector but it hasn't really solved the troubles in Parisian suburbs or the massive East/West imbalance in Germany has it?

 

Capital city centralism and imbalances will always exist in countries and regions. It's how it works, and frankly I think the London case has to be expected when it's the native country of the world's population official 2nd language and of the Anglo-Saxon culture which is the most widely spread context/culture/lifestyle on Earth.

[holepuncture]

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/rest-of-country-told-to-be-more-like-place-everyone-hates-living-in-2013122082238

 

I agree with comments above from Verbal, Bateman et al, London is like driving in the fast lane, the provinces in comparison are bumbling along in the slow lane. The pace really is that much faster, travelling about, on the street, at the counter, I find Londoners (not tourists, bless them all) are very savy in general. Sometimes I come out of town wondering how our provincial towns and cities survive at all as they seem years behind in comparison!

 

There are far less fat bloaters and old people about too, which I guess helps with the whole 'energy' thing.

 

I dont think any of this is a good thing by the way and I would absolutely detest living there.

 

Great for a day/night out, great to earn money 9-5, but a pretty grim existence living there on anything less than a decent professional salary.

 

Is London sucking the life out of the UK? I think so, but that isnt the fault of the capital, more the ineptitude of our provinces. I am grateful to be living near enough to London to reep all the benefits it brings.