OUT TO LUNCH
The City of London, as many tourists discover to their surprise, is a completely different entity from London as a city. It refers to what is known as ‘the square mile’ which stretches from Fleet Street in the west to Spitalfields in the east and includes St Paul’s Cathedral, the Bank of England, the Mansion House, the London Stock Exchange, Lloyds of London and the head offices of most of the country’s financial institutions.
On a normal working day around half a million people commute into the city to keep the wheels of capitalism well oiled. The City of London even has a separate police force distinct from the more usual Metropolitan Police and with slight variations in uniform.
While London has a dowdy, boring, shirt-sleeved mayor the City of London has a Lord Mayor, resplendent in ancient robes who hosts a banquet every year at the Mansion House and holds a procession on the second Saturday of November in a horse drawn state coach escorted by members of the various livery companies in traditional dress.
The office of Lord Mayor of London dates back to 1189AD with Dick Whittington perhaps being the most famous incumbent in 1377. The term of office is for one year only although it is possible to serve several terms but not consecutively. Whittington served four terms. The remuneration is nil so the job clearly wouldn’t appeal to our friends in the ANC.
In the 830 odd years of the office of Lord Mayor only two women have ever served and no members of the BAME ‘community’ so there is fertile ground for the ‘wokists’ to start up a new movement to decolonise and empower the office of the Lord Mayor.