Where Are All The Brits?
Is it too early for regrets? For one lament I think I’ll have, when I look back eventually at my year here in London, is that I didn’t actually get to meet many native-born locals. And that would be a shame.
I’d like to think I’ve made quite a few good friends already. But my class of just over 50 is overwhelming international. There are precious few from the UK, and they number, I would reckon, only about 10-15 percent of the cohort, although I’ve been very fortunate to befriend two lovely English ladies – one from Manchester, and the other from Dorset.
Why the low UK representation? Aren’t the British keen on studying International Public Policy as well? I’m sure they do. But I think UCL – like all other universities – would prefer international over local or EU students, as they get to charge a full overseas tuition rate. They make more money in that way. And as a result, the variety of accents one gets to hear on campus is amazing. Rarely do I chance upon a distinctive local lilt.
And back at Goodenough, the overwhelming majority of members are international students too, with huge contingents from North America, Europe and the Commonwealth. Not many Brits around. Yet given my routine so far, I’ve not had much of a chance to venture beyond the comfort zones of school and the hall.
But I don’t think things would be vastly different elsewhere. For this is the reality of life in London. The diversity of this city is staggering, and there’s a very high foreign born population. You find them everywhere, and they add to the colour and richness of the city. For instance, head into a typical London pub, and you’d find that the guy behind the counter speaks with a Polish accent. London may formally represent the United Kingdom, but it is in no way representative of the UK.
The country continues to grapple with issues of identity. For now, the established view is to conceive of the UK as a modern, multi-racial, immigrant-based nation state. This isn’t mere spin. I’ve already met a small selection of individuals who consider themselves thoroughly British, even though they have foreign roots. There’s a Pole in one my classes who wss born here to Polish parents. There’s another who’s Russian, but has lived here for more than half her life, and a third who’s Swedish, but had settled in the UK at a very young age with her family. They retain the ability to speak their native tongues, but chat with them, and nothing betrays any hint of their foreign origins.
London is exciting. London is exhilarating. London is cool. London derives much of its raw appeal from the presence here of the world’s finest. But London is not Britain. And it would be a mistake to think it so. To appreciate the full richness of the this country, we need to step out of the M25, out of London, and into the various counties and shires, the market towns and the industrial cities, the valleys and the hills, to meet the many millions who do not live in London. Only then, I think, can anyone claim to have experienced the real Britain.
I’d like to think I’ve made quite a few good friends already. But my class of just over 50 is overwhelming international. There are precious few from the UK, and they number, I would reckon, only about 10-15 percent of the cohort, although I’ve been very fortunate to befriend two lovely English ladies – one from Manchester, and the other from Dorset.
Why the low UK representation? Aren’t the British keen on studying International Public Policy as well? I’m sure they do. But I think UCL – like all other universities – would prefer international over local or EU students, as they get to charge a full overseas tuition rate. They make more money in that way. And as a result, the variety of accents one gets to hear on campus is amazing. Rarely do I chance upon a distinctive local lilt.
And back at Goodenough, the overwhelming majority of members are international students too, with huge contingents from North America, Europe and the Commonwealth. Not many Brits around. Yet given my routine so far, I’ve not had much of a chance to venture beyond the comfort zones of school and the hall.
But I don’t think things would be vastly different elsewhere. For this is the reality of life in London. The diversity of this city is staggering, and there’s a very high foreign born population. You find them everywhere, and they add to the colour and richness of the city. For instance, head into a typical London pub, and you’d find that the guy behind the counter speaks with a Polish accent. London may formally represent the United Kingdom, but it is in no way representative of the UK.
The country continues to grapple with issues of identity. For now, the established view is to conceive of the UK as a modern, multi-racial, immigrant-based nation state. This isn’t mere spin. I’ve already met a small selection of individuals who consider themselves thoroughly British, even though they have foreign roots. There’s a Pole in one my classes who wss born here to Polish parents. There’s another who’s Russian, but has lived here for more than half her life, and a third who’s Swedish, but had settled in the UK at a very young age with her family. They retain the ability to speak their native tongues, but chat with them, and nothing betrays any hint of their foreign origins.
London is exciting. London is exhilarating. London is cool. London derives much of its raw appeal from the presence here of the world’s finest. But London is not Britain. And it would be a mistake to think it so. To appreciate the full richness of the this country, we need to step out of the M25, out of London, and into the various counties and shires, the market towns and the industrial cities, the valleys and the hills, to meet the many millions who do not live in London. Only then, I think, can anyone claim to have experienced the real Britain.
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