Likewise, there may be cities that would welcome a planned $2bn (£1.6bn) investment to create a version of Sphere, based on the stunning Las Vegas venue which recently opened with a U2 concert.
But not this one. Last week, Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, rejected the plan on the grounds of potential noise pollution. Every euro that music fans might have spent in the most progressive music venues on the continent can go elsewhere, thank you. The risk of a U2 choir escaping with or without you into the quiet evenings of East London is too much to bear.
It doesn’t stop there. M&S is suing the government over the dysfunctional decision by Michael Gove, the Leveling Up minister, to prevent it from redeveloping its Oxford Street store, regardless of the fact that its seedy collection of sweet shops and souvenir shops is an embarrassment of what it should be. To be one of the wonderful shopping streets in the world.
Likewise, a plan to create a new data center in Buckinghamshire, which is desperately needed to serve technology companies trying to grow in London, was rejected earlier this month on Gove’s behalf because it apparently might “spoil the view” of the Green Zone. The belt, although it was confined to the M25 motorway.
As for a new airport, or even a runway at an existing airport, we will continue to discuss that for at least another decade or two. The list goes on and on. The message is very clear. If you want to build something in London, or invest in new businesses, forget it. The city’s politicians and planners, to borrow a phrase from traditional D.C. vernacular, couldn’t deliver on Kate Moss.