London is 'suburb of Paris' and has more crime, says deputy mayor
Anne Hidalgo takes aim at London after new figures show tourists flocking to British capital
LONDON is "a suburb of Paris" and a dangerous, crime-ravaged one at that, lacking business savvy, the deputy mayor of Paris has said.
Anne Hidalgo's extraordinary attack may have been provoked by Boris Johnson's recent boast that London was "the greatest city on the planet". Then again, it could have been sparked by an article in City AM that warned France's "failed socialist experiment is turning into a tragedy".
Or perhaps Hidalgo, a socialist, is simply a little fraught after a week in which her president has become a global laughing stock.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Either way, Hidalgo's comments are unlikely to go unanswered by Johnson, particularly as the mayor of London is still on a high after recent figures revealed that nearly 4.9 million people visited London between July and September last year, a 20 per cent increase.
But London's popularity has gone down like a French credit rating on the other side of the Channel with Hidalgo letting rip to startled reporters at the Anglo-American Press Association of Paris.
"London is in some ways a suburb of Paris," sniffed the 54-year-old.
Warming to her topic she rubbished Johnson's claims that London was the best city in the world. "Boris Johnson boasts about the merits of London in different way to the French, and Parisians," said Hidalgo. "Like it or not, while London may have attracted more visitors around the Olympic Games, Paris remains the number one world tourist destination, even if we only include foreign visitors and not national ones."
The deputy mayor then turned her attention to crime, saying: "Paris is a safer city than London. There is four times less crime in Paris than in London."
In addition, Paris is more commercially-minded, she claimed, with "more shops opened on Sundays than London, as we have succeeded in saving a network of local shops and markets that London simply doesn't have". And as for business, Paris "creates more start-ups than London".
Hidalgo was obviously playing to the gallery in her attack - the Spanish-born deputy mayor is the Socialist party's candidate in March's Paris mayoral elections but is facing stiff competition from centre-right rising star Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, the 40-year-old UMP candidate whose campaign is gathering momentum.
What Hidalgo didn't mention was the almost weekly series of strikes that in recent months have disrupted the French capital, nor the increasing violence in Paris that last year saw Le Comité Colbert, an organisation of 75 luxury brands, warn that the city was fast gaining a reputation for crime. And not surprisingly she steered clear of talking about the difficulties of trying to hail a cab in Paris after midnight, something that even locals admit is a nightmare.
Nor did she have much to say about the estimated 400,000 French people living in London, most of them fleeing the Socialist government's swingeing 75 per cent tax rate on high earners.
If London is a suburb of Paris then it's très populaire.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
What would it be like in jail for Trump if he's convicted?
Today's Big Question The Secret Service has begun grappling with how to protect a former president behind bars
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
How much can you save shopping secondhand?
The Explainer Many Americans are buying pre-owned items to counteract the effects of inflation
By Becca Stanek, The Week US Published
-
Downtown St. Louis is in a real estate 'doom loop'
Under the Radar The city is ripe with abandoned buildings and vacant lots, with its real estate market in dire straits
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Weinstein's appeal: a blow to #MeToo
Talking Point Is 'shocking' reversal of symbolic conviction a sign of weakening movement?
By The Week UK Published
-
Hainault sword attack: police hunt for motive
Speed Read Mental health is key line of inquiry, as detectives prepare to interview suspect
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
Do youth curfews work?
Today's big question Banning unaccompanied children from towns and cities is popular with some voters but is contentious politically
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Sydney mall attacker may have targeted women
Speed Read Police commissioner says gender of victims is 'area of interest' to investigators
By Julia O'Driscoll, The Week UK Published
-
Why are kidnappings in Nigeria on the rise again?
Today's Big Question Hundreds of children and displaced people are missing as kidnap-for-ransom 'bandits' return
By Julia O'Driscoll, The Week UK Published
-
Can the Met Police heal its relationship with the Black community?
In depth Police chiefs accused of not doing enough to address reported institutional racism
By Richard Windsor, The Week UK Published
-
Deaths of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies hang over Sydney's Mardi Gras
The Explainer Police officer, the former partner of TV presenter victim, charged with two counts of murder after turning himself in
By Austin Chen, The Week UK Published
-
How the idyllic Galapagos Islands became staging post in world drug trade
Under the radar Ecuador's crackdown on gang violence forces drug traffickers into Pacific routes to meet cocaine demand
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published