Oh to be in........... Paris
The FT has another of those awfully well researched and written features that it is always worth reading. This time about the success of Paris in attracting bankers, post Brexit.
It was bound to happen and once it has started it is difficult to stop. London cannot be overtaken by Paris or Frankfurt, at least not anytime soon, but it is losing large numbers of very well paid and highly taxed individuals. They are telling their mates how nice Paris is and how convenient for work it is and the word is spreading.
This is a zero sum game, every gain for Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam or Milan is a loss for London. So is every gain for New York or Hong Kong, the reasons for staying in London are diminishing.
They are still great, it still has the schools, parks, football, theatre, Wimbledon and all the rest that make it an attractive place to live and work.
But it is increasingly relying on those factors, it is not quite as pre-eminent in Europe as it was. It is still the financial capital of Europe but the EU and its members have every incentive to take advantage of its problems and weaknesses.
And they can do that because we are no longer in the club to stop them.
Economics, trade and Brexit, not necessarily in that order but the dog always comes first.