# 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:** 3
**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, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/41 "2011-12-11T22:21:36Z")
> [@RaftPeople](#): > > New York has 2 words in it’s name, London has 1. Thus London is more efficient. 🙂 ---
**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, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/42 "2011-12-11T22:44:51Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > Thus London is more efficient. 🙂 Or shy and scared. Who are you? “We’re NEW and YORK!” Who are you? “Uh, we’re London” ---
**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, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/43 "2011-12-11T23:14:37Z")
> [@RaftPeople](#): > > Or shy and scared. Who are you? “We’re NEW and YORK!” > > Who are you? “Uh, we’re London” You point to the only reason New York is leading in the poll. It doesn’t appear to reflect reality, though. Not just on a specially selected metric, but so far on every metric. Still waiting for the New Yorkers to argue their case. Beginning to accept they don’t have one. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/44 "2011-12-11T23:27:02Z")
Perhaps it’s my biased opinion but New York seems more culturally diverse. Just about every nation seems to have some representation. Also I suspect there are far more Londoners moving to New York than the other way around. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/45 "2011-12-11T23:38:10Z")
I vote for Rome. The Empire never really fell, it just re-invented itself. ---
**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, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/46 "2011-12-11T23:44:02Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Perhaps it’s my biased opinion but New York seems more culturally diverse. > Just about every nation seems to have some representation. Given that you’ve presented that as an opinion, but one assumes you’ve spent time in both? If so, I find that an extremely odd perspective. My experience is much the same in each. Both are _extremely_ cosmopolitan cities. > [@](#): > > Also I suspect there are far more Londoners moving to New York than the other way around. Suspicions ain’t evidence! I suspect you have green hair and tusks! C’mon New Yorkers, you can do better than this! I’m SURE there are stats you guys can cite (despite my arguing otherwise, I don’t actually believe it’s as clear cut as the stats I’ve found - I assume I’m subconsciously selecting to search for things I know London will win on), but nobody’s cited a single one so far; and plenty have been cited in support of London. Where’s that New York spirit? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/47 "2011-12-11T23:50:35Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > Still waiting for the New Yorkers to argue their case. Beginning to accept they don’t have one. 🙂 I am not a New Yorker, but I made the obvious case for New York; that the presence of the United Nations means that New York already _is_ the de facto capital of the world. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/48 "2011-12-11T23:55:53Z")
> [@RaftPeople](#): > > New York has 2 words in it’s name, London has 1. I would say that New York is just the new version of York, which is a city in the UK. London is the greatest city in the UK, thus London is greater than York. And since the sequel is never as good as the original … London \> York \> New York ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/49 "2011-12-12T00:01:33Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I am not a New Yorker, but I made the obvious case for New York; that the presence of the United Nations means that New York already _is_ the de facto capital of the world. You scored a point for New York with that, I’ll agree; and it’s a valid one. But that’s going up against a good dozen points for London so far. I’m sure New York has other points it can score (crap, we need to keep an actual scoreboard!) but they need to be presented. So far the NY camp is just voting and not backing it up. Which is tantamount to saying “We are the best… but don’t ask us why, ‘cos we got nothin’” This is just conforming by assumption that NY merely tells everyone loudly and repeatedly it’s the best, because it can’t actually prove it, while London is busy actually _being_ the best. Now, if that emotive taunt doesn’t bring out the New Yorkers with actual evidence, nothing will. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/50 "2011-12-12T00:07:42Z")
Scoreboard so far (scroll up to see explanations): **London: 9** Financial capital of the world Most international airport traffic West End bigger than Broadway Subway bigger and older Olympics most times in the world Tourism most in the world Home to one of three most famous people in the world O2 biggest music arena in the world BBC biggest broadcaster in the world **New York: 1** UN HQ New Yorkers, bolster than scoreboard! I know you can do it! ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/51 "2011-12-12T00:09:40Z")
Oops. Another point for London. London 10 / New York 1 [London Overtakes New York as Fashion Capital of the World](http://londonist.com/2011/08/london-overtakes-new-york-as-fashion-capital-of-the-world.php) ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/52 "2011-12-12T00:13:39Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > New York, New York (city, state) This is also true of Tokyo. Tokyo City, Tokyo Prefecture. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/53 "2011-12-12T00:43:22Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Perhaps it’s my biased opinion but New York seems more culturally diverse. > Just about every nation seems to have some representation. > > Also I suspect there are far more Londoners moving to New York than the other way around. I don’t know about the second point, but I doubt it (if there’s a difference either way it’ll be small) but London is extremely, extremely culturally diverse. NYC is either the same or less diverse - I was surprised by how many New York-accented people I met when visiting there, in comparison to London, but that’s only a small point. NYC is where the aliens all bomb first though. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/54 "2011-12-12T01:00:21Z")
New York already has a K. London didn’t, but was jealous so tried to add one. Point: NYC. ---
**Author:** ![figure9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@figure9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/figure9)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/55 "2011-12-12T01:22:32Z")
The world’s clocks are all based off London (GMT) time. Point London. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/56 "2011-12-12T01:39:48Z")
I never realized that anyone thought of London that way. How quaint. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/57 "2011-12-12T02:02:52Z")
London is a country coming down from its trip. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/58 "2011-12-12T02:05:29Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > I never realized that anyone thought of London that way. How quaint. What way? Maybe that’s why NY has lost its position. Its denizens have become complacent, and not noticed they’ve fallen behind in almost every measurable way. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/59 "2011-12-12T02:51:28Z")
If it were _19_11, I’d most definitely vote for London. After all, how many skyscrapers have been destroyed in London with airplanes hijacked by terrorists? ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754/60 "2011-12-12T03:04:58Z")
> [@Darth\_Sensitive](#): > > New York already has a K. London didn’t, but was jealous so tried to add one. > > Point: NYC. Lonkdon? 😕 > [@BlankSlate](#): > > If it were _19_11, I’d most definitely vote for London. After all, how many skyscrapers have been destroyed in London with airplanes hijacked by terrorists? Yeah, isn’t London lucky for not having had terrorist bombings? 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-of-the-world-london-or-new-york/605754.md?page=4)