# Capital of the World: London or New York **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 10, 2011, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754 "2011-12-10T18:17:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/21 "2011-12-11T17:13:31Z")
I live in London but selected New York,but now some of you are persuading me otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/22 "2011-12-11T17:42:41Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > I live in London but selected New York,but now some of you are persuading me otherwise. Come to the dark side! Together we can rule the galaxy! ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/23 "2011-12-11T17:52:28Z")
What! No votes for Tokyo? ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/24 "2011-12-11T17:54:48Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > What! No votes for Tokyo? Nah, it’s not in the running. There are only two cities in the world classed as Alpha++. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/25 "2011-12-11T17:58:01Z")
I think NYC is the most amazing city in the world, but it’s also aware that it’s awesome, and thus insists on itself. London is definitely more outward-looking and self-aware. That said, I vote ‘other’ because I think Hong Kong absolutely deserves the title. It has aspects of both of the above cities, is keenly West-aware but is also absolutely in the milieu of the East. (Why yes, I am anthropomorphizing cities in a pretentious manner. Donc, mord-moi.) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/26 "2011-12-11T18:22:09Z")
I’m trying to decide whether the fact that New York isn’t the (political) capital of the U.S. (or even of its state) is a point **for** or **against** it being capital of the world. London is unquestionably one of the world’s great cities, but it’s also _the_ quintessential _English_ city, which maybe works against its being “capital of the world” as a whole. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/27 "2011-12-11T18:33:17Z")
Oooh! I came up with a delightfully trivial and irrelevant point for London. But I thought I’d share my idlings. The three most famous people in the world are the British monarch, the American president, and the Catholic pope. London is home to one of these; NY is not. And yes, I agree this isn’t a real point. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/28 "2011-12-11T18:41:52Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > Meh. Neither’s a world leader on that metric. Both have a LOT of poor people. There are lots of places with much higher per capita GDP. I don’t think we can use that as a factor. Well, I didn’t mean that we should pick the richest city in the world. I mean that, purely by population density, the “centre of the world” would probably be a point somewhere in the Middle East. However, if you factor in level of economic activity, as you might when considering where a world capital should be, the centre of gravity probably moves westward a bit, let’s say to somewhere in south eastern Europe. Now, considering the great cities of the world, which are closest to that point? London? Paris? Istanbul? London seems to be the strong contender. I’m also not saying that this is the be-all and end-all of what makes NYC and London great cities. Just that, on this count, I think London has the edge. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/29 "2011-12-11T18:42:14Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I’m trying to decide whether the fact that New York isn’t the (political) capital of the U.S. (or even of its state) is a point **for** or **against** it being capital of the world. > > London is unquestionably one of the world’s great cities, but it’s also _the_ quintessential _English_ city, which maybe works against its being “capital of the world” as a whole. And New York is the quintessential American city. I’m not convinced there’s a point to be made here. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/30 "2011-12-11T19:02:55Z")
Voted for NYC but not for particularly good reasons. You will note that Wall Street did a fantastic job of putting things in motion to fuck up the world economy. Also, having lived in Berlin and also working in Switzerland, plus traveling around Europe, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but the rest of Europe doesn’t quite embrace London as the hub of anything. Not that they have great affection for NYC either, but they consider it the loud mouthpiece of the USA. So, while I really do love both London and NYC and would gladly live in either, I would give NYC the edge in being the leader, simply because they seem to have more obnoxious assholes who have a stellar track record for world class clusterfucks. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/31 "2011-12-11T19:08:14Z")
Aha! Wikipedia loves me! The two biggest music venues in the world are the O2 and Madison Square Garden. The O2 is bigger in both terms of size and revenue. Plus the BBC is the largest broadcasting corporation on the planet. So, home to biggest broadcaster and biggest music venue in the world. Gotta be worth a point or two. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/32 "2011-12-11T19:13:26Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I’m trying to decide whether the fact that New York isn’t the (political) capital of the U.S. (or even of its state) is a point **for** or **against** it being capital of the world. > > London is unquestionably one of the world’s great cities, but it’s also\*\* _the_ quintessential _English_ city, \*\*which maybe works against its being “capital of the world” as a whole. (My bolding). Really? It’s very different to the rest of the country - the biggest city in a country often is. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/33 "2011-12-11T19:27:23Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > (My bolding). Really? It’s very different to the rest of the country - the biggest city in a country often is. Both London and New York share that trait. Both are viewed as quintessential from outside; neither even vaguely actually are. I personally consider this one a non-point. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/34 "2011-12-11T19:45:24Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > And New York is the quintessential American city. I’m not convinced there’s a point to be made here. 🙂 > [@SciFiSam](#): > > (My bolding). Really? It’s very different to the rest of the country - the biggest city in a country often is. I guess what I meant was, if you asked lots of people to “name an English city,” London would almost certainly be the most common answer by an overwhelming margin. The percentage of all English novels, movies, and T.V. shows that are set in London dwarfs (I’m pretty sure) the percentage of all American novels, movies, and T.V. shows that are set in New York City. So London “dominates” its nation in a way that New York doesn’t. But I don’t know which way, if either, this should influence the OP’s question. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/35 "2011-12-11T19:53:07Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I guess what I meant was, if you asked lots of people to “name an English city,” London would almost certainly be the most common answer by an overwhelming margin. Ditto New York. Do you imagine otherwise? There’s a reason these are the only two Alpha++ cities in the world. > [@](#): > > The percentage of all English novels, movies, and T.V. shows that are set in London dwarfs (I’m pretty sure) the percentage of all American novels, movies, and T.V. shows that are set in New York City. So London “dominates” its nation in a way that New York doesn’t. Sure. So? 🙂 > [@](#): > > But I don’t know which way, if either, this should influence the OP’s question I don’t personally see it as being relevant. YMMV of course. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/36 "2011-12-11T19:57:56Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I guess what I meant was, if you asked lots of people to “name an English city,” London would almost certainly be the most common answer by an overwhelming margin. The percentage of all English novels, movies, and T.V. shows that are set in London dwarfs (I’m pretty sure) the percentage of all American novels, movies, and T.V. shows that are set in New York City. So London “dominates” its nation in a way that New York doesn’t. > > But I don’t know which way, if either, this should influence the OP’s question. That doesn’t make London quintessentially English. But yeah, London probably does dominate the UK slightly more than NYC does the US, as it should be, given how much bigger the US is, but if anything that makes London _more_ important. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/37 "2011-12-11T20:08:16Z")
NYC, just seems no contest really. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/38 "2011-12-11T20:30:50Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > NYC, just seems no contest really. Every statistical measure presented in this thread so far says otherwise. The New Yorkers need to try to argue a case. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/39 "2011-12-11T22:06:52Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > Every statistical measure presented in this thread so far says otherwise. > > The New Yorkers need to try to argue a case. New York has 2 words in it’s name, London has 1. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/40 "2011-12-11T22:19:10Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > That doesn’t make London quintessentially English. But yeah, London probably does dominate the UK slightly more than NYC does the US, as it should be, given how much bigger the US is, but if anything that makes London _more_ important. Seems to me that London massively dominates the UK in a way that NYC doesn’t for the US. There’s no real cultural, political or economic power in the UK that provides a real counter-balance to London in the way that Washington DC, Los Angeles or Chicago do in the US context. But anyway, it’s either London or New York as the major world city. Honourable mentions to Tokyo, Berlin, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Paris. Beijing probably too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754.md?page=3)