1. Where a standard weekday overnight stay in an upscale hotel (Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental) will set you back over a £1,000 this month
2. Where a reasonably-priced ticket in January to a West End musical such as Cabaret will set you back over £300
3. Where securing a lunch or dinner reservation in a desirable West End or City restaurant on a weekday night requires a minimum 14 days without insider knowledge or assistance
4. Where bars in popular neighbourhoods such as Soho, Marylebone, Mayfair or Chelsea are humming both inside and outside with the chatter of locals and tourists
5. Where a steady 75% of people have sufficient care for others well-being to wear masks on buses and the Tube. The memo to tourists, particularly from the Gulf countries appears to have gone missing.
6. Where businesses and employees have largely established a rhythm of working from home and the office. Whether that is agreeable to management is a matter of conjecture, the reality from now onwards is it is going to be harder to shift behaviours without bigger disincentives.
7. Where more expats and returning UK nationals are arriving and finding a common sense balance to quality of life and Covid restrictions than more draconian cities such as Singapore. Not forgetting “irritations” such as congested streets a predictable result of planners, who don’t have real skin-in-the-game, a hapless Mayor and bureaucratic planning application processes.
8. Where state and private schools have largely found a resilient way to operate with most Covid-19 disruptions but the same pre-Covid 19 issues about the paucity of public education in many inner London schools has not been properly prioritised.
9. Where the desire for small, private business and social dinners and gatherings has never been higher but “marrying” that to everyone’s schedules is excessively tricky after an Autumn of hyper-activity.
10. Where large events and conferences are finding the competition for impressive figures time and attendance very challenging. It is all about the immediacy and relevance to their lives, right now.
11. Where finding a bank that will willingly allow you to pay in a cheque, yes they do exist, is a more time-consuming exercise than running around the edge of Hyde Park.
12. Where the city’s principle print newspaper, The Evening Standard, resembles one of those 80s pop icons faced with a populus largely ambivalent to their future existence. Forced to gift their content away for free. “Read All About It”, a hit from another century. A sign of today’s digital priorities some pass it off as but the uncomfortable reality is owners and journalists beset by a lack of love, relevance and excitement.

A LinkedIn invite starts “we have mutual connections in common, I thought we might want to speak”. Delete!

If your idea of building a relationship is cold email invites, calls, letters and so forth, I have zero interest.

If you have a connection to me, and let’s presume it is genuine, why wouldn’t you ask them to introduce us? Lazy or ignorant, which is it?

What I know immediately is you are not credible, nor worth the benefit of doubt.