LONDON — The divide between rich and poor is widening in developed nations, according to a new report released Wednesday by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

According to the new data, economic disparity has risen more from 2007 to 2010 than in the preceding 12 years. Over this period, the OECD has documented increasing income inequality caused by the financial crisis, which it says is “squeezing income and putting pressure on inequality and poverty.”

In 2010, the richest 10 percent of people across 33 OECD member states earned 9.5 times the income of the poorest 10 percent. That factor is up from 9 in 2007. The largest differences among OECD countries were found in Chile, Mexico, Turkey, the United States and Israel, while the lowest were in Iceland, Slovenia, Norway and Denmark.

Levels of income inequality have worsened across three-quarters of all OECD countries since 2007. This gap rose most rapidly in nations where the euro crisis has hit hardest, coinciding with soaring unemployment. For example, in Spain and Italy, the average income of the top 10 percent stayed relatively stable, but the poor became drastically poorer.

Income inequality in the United States and Latin America — particularly Chile and Mexico — has tended higher than in Europe. This trend continued into 2010. The top five most unequal countries (in descending order) were Chile, Mexico, Turkey, the United States and Israel. Portugal, the European nation with the highest income inequality, was ranked sixth.

Source: OECD

Traditionally, OECD countries have had lower levels of inequality than non-OECD nations such as India, China and Russia. Despite the economic downturn, the economies of China and India grew above the OECD average over the past decade and are continuing to develop. Though these emerging economies have reduced levels of poverty, they have also seen increased levels of income inequality.

In most OECD countries, the growing gulf between rich and poor was alleviated slightly by welfare support. While most countries experienced increases in disposable income inequality and relative poverty, the levels in 2010 were only slightly higher than in 2007, perhaps due to the deployment of fiscal stimulus packages.

The OECD report warns that if governments continue to cut benefits programs and pursue austerity policies, levels of inequality could continue to grow. Michael Förster, senior analyst at the OECD social policy division, said that they have taken this report as an opportunity to “raise the red flag” about the necessity for social welfare provisions in softening the blow of the economic downturn.

“At this stage in most countries, including most European countries, the crisis is not over. Just yesterday, France announced that it is in a recession,” Förster said. “The problem is that the focus of governments has shifted from stimulus to austerity measures.”

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría explained that governments must find ways of growing their economies while supporting individuals who are most at risk.

“These worrying findings underline the need to protect the most vulnerable in society, especially as governments pursue the necessary task of bringing public spending under control,” Gurría said in a statement. “Policies to boost jobs and growth must be designed to ensure fairness, efficiency and inclusiveness. Among these policies, reforming tax systems is essential to ensure that everyone pays their fair share and also benefits and receives the support they need.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/05/16/report-income-inequality-rising-in-most-developed-countries/

LONDON – Five years after the financial crisis first hit Europe, citizens of European Union member states are growing increasingly wary of the body that was supposed to provide them with economic benefits. Public confidence in the E.U. has dropped to staggering new lows, according to an annual survey conducted by the nonpartisan, Washington-based Pew Research Center.

“The European Union is the new sick man of Europe,” according to Pew’s report of the survey results. “The effort over the past half century to create a more united Europe is now the principal casualty of the euro crisis. The European project now stands in disrepute across much of Europe.”

Support for the EU has taken a huge hit over the past year, falling in five of the eight E.U. countries surveyed by Pew. Overall, the E.U.’s favorability rating has fallen to just 45 percent, compared with 60 percent in 2012. The results of the study, for which Pew polled 7,646 people in March, suggest that many E.U. voters may oppose any further transfer of power to European Union institutions.

The report paints a bleak picture of the protracted economic crisis and its dispiriting effect on European public opinion. Nowhere has public confidence in the E.U. eroded more quickly over the past year than in France. In 2013, only 41 percent of the French surveyed said that they had a favorable impression of the European Union compared to 60 percent in 2012. This shift has revealed a stark contrast with neighboring Germany, where 60 percent continue to favor the union. France’s faltering economy and high levels of unemployment has left the country dejected and at odds with Germany.

The poll found that, in addition to losing faith in the idea of unity, Europeans also felt let down by their leaders.
“Compounding their doubts about the Brussels-based European Union, Europeans are losing faith in the capacity of their own national leaders to cope with the economy’s woes,” Pew reported. “In most countries surveyed, fewer people today than a year ago think their national executive is doing a good job dealing with the euro crisis.”

This was particularly the case in France, where 67 percent think that President Francois Hollande is failing to tackle the major economic challenges that the country faces. Citizens in most countries surveyed thought that their respective leaders were performing poorly, though German Chancellor Angela Merkel remains relatively popular at home. This is the case abroad as well: Merkel enjoys support for her handling of the European economic crisis in five of the eight nations surveyed.

One of the few positive notes from the study is public support for the euro currency, which was still quite strong across all member nations polled. In Greece, Spain, Germany, Italy and France, majorities of more than 60 percent remain in favor of using the currency.

In one of the most insightful aspects of the survey, Pew surveyed popular stereotypes by asking participants how they felt about their fellow Europeans. Both Greeks and Germans see themselves as the most trustworthy and compassionate, but the least arrogant. Most telling was the fact that each nation voted for themselves as the most compassionate, whereas they saw Germany as the least compassionate.

LONDON — As Prime Minister David Cameron met with President Obama in Washington on Monday to discuss the benefits of a new trade agreement between the United States and Europe, a storm was brewing across the Atlantic over whether Britain should exit the European Union.

Education Secretary Michael Gove and Defense Secretary Philip Hammond, both members of the Conservative Party, escalated tensions in Parliament on Sunday when both said that if a referendum were held now, they would vote for Britain to leave the 27-nation bloc.

Gove, who is one of the most senior Conservatives to speak out in support of Britain exiting the EU, said Sunday that should that happen, “life outside would be perfectly tolerable,” and that there would even be some advantages. Hammond echoed Gove’s remarks saying, he is on Gove’s “side of the argument.”

London Mayor Boris Johnson did not join fellow conservatives in outright advocating the nation’s withdrawal from the EU, but he told the BBC on Friday that Britain must be prepared to pull out, and that an exit would not be as “cataclysmic” to the U.K. economy as some EU supporters claim.

The remarks from senior members of Cameron’s cabinet made for awkward timing as the prime minister pressed Obama for a long-term EU-U.S. trade deal, which he says would bring Britain’s economy more than $15 billion a year.

“We have a special relationship with the U.K. and we believe that our capacity to partner with a United Kingdom that is active, robust, outward-looking and engaged with the world is hugely important to our own interests as well as the world.” Obama said at a news conference with Cameron in Washington on Monday. “And I think that the U.K.’s participation in the EU is an expression of its influence and its role in the world.”

Obama added that Cameron’s, “basic point that you probably want to see if you can fix what’s broken in a very important relationship before you break it off makes some sense to me.”

Cameron, who has promised a referendum on Britain’s membership in the EU before the end of 2017, if he is reelected, also reiterated his position that no vote would be held before renegotiating the U.K.’s position within the union.

“There’s not going to be a referendum tomorrow,” Cameron told the BBC following Gove and Hammond’s comments. “There is going to be a referendum before the end of 2017, and between now and then the task is to renegotiate our position, to reform the European Union, to put a real choice to the British people. … I don’t think the status quo in the European Union is acceptable today.”

Despite the pledge, some Conservatives still think Cameron needs to do more to toughen his line on Europe.

Some 100 Conservative lawmakers have pressed Cameron for legislation in the current Parliament that would pave the way for a future referendum. The lawmakers, who also called for the legislation to be included in last week’s Queen’s Speech, have now tabled an amendment articulating their regret of its omission. Members of Parliament will have a chance to debate the amendment and a referendum plan on Wednesday.

Former foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind told the BBC on Monday that a vote on the amendment would put Cameron in an “impossible situation.”

“All they will achieve is splitting their party, raising questions about the prime minister’s authority,” Rifkind said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/05/13/u-k-lawmakers-debate-leaving-the-european-union/

By Eliza Mackintosh, Published: April 21

LONDON — Hundreds of thousands of runners and spectators converged Sunday on the first major international marathon since the Boston bombings, turning the streets of this sprawling capital into a living tribute to the victims of last week’s attack on the other side of the Atlantic.

Under the watchful eye of boosted security forces, large crowds turned out for the London Marathon, with many calling their attendance a symbol of the determination of Londoners to remain unbowed by the tragedy in Boston. Lanky runners — including elite athletes who run the global circuit as well as a host of local amateurs — wore black ribbons pinned to their T-shirts in remembrance of the Boston victims. Some carried banners simply declaring, “For Boston.”

Before the start of the race at 10 a.m. local time, a 30-second period of silence was observed. Many runners vowed to hold their hands over their hearts in a gesture of support for Boston as they crossed the finish line.

“We are here today to show our solidarity for the people of Boston, who suffered those horrible attacks,” said Martin Ilott, 48, a British veterinarian who ran theBoston Marathon last week and was being treated for dehydration when the bombs went off at the finish line. On Sunday, he clutched an American flag as he prepared to watch his 19-year-old son run his first marathon. “You have to carry on.”

In the wake of the Boston attacks, Scotland Yard deployed several hundred more officers to ramp up race-day security and reassure the public. More than 650,000 people were expected to watch 36,000 runners traverse the iconic course that snakes its way from leafy Greenwich Park to the finish line on the Mall, a wide boulevard leading to Buckingham Palace.

A few here expressed lingering safety concerns. But on a sunny spring morning very similar to last week’s fateful day in Boston, London appeared largely able to push aside any sense of fear, with many in the crowd embracing a light-hearted, even festive mood. Men running for charities wore dresses and pink wigs. Women were decked out in blue tutus, and the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations” blared over the sound system as runners stretched and warmed up.

Terrorist threats have long been a reality for Londoners, many of whom still vividly recall July 7, 2005, when four bombs detonated on subway trains and a double-decker bus killed 52 people and injured more than 700.

“That fear is always there for any big public event. It’s just the age that we live in,” said Billy Bambrough, 25, a reporter from Kent, who was running the London Marathon for the first time. “It’s important, when these horrible things happen, to not change our behavior and things we do in light of it.”

Many here like Tricia Bunn, 38, an elementary school principal from Tamworth, near Birmingham, had run the Boston Marathon only six days earlier. Rather than deter runners from turning out, the events in Boston instead seemed to inspire them to run Sunday.

Bunn, who finished the Boston Marathon 30 minutes before the bombs went off, said the impact of the attack on the running world would bring an incredibly strong community even closer together.

“Everyone on that starting line will be doing it for Boston,” Bunn said, her voice shaking as she held back tears. “I think it will be the greatest message that there could be to the bombers, and to the people of Boston.”

Some here, however, felt a sense of unease ahead of the race.

“There had been this great excitement and buildup, but with what happened in Boston, it makes you just think what could happen here,’’ Debbie Georgiou, 36, said. “It’s unbelievably tragic.”

When the Georgiou family first saw the news of the Boston attack on television last Monday, Georgiou’s 11-year-old daughter burst into tears, begging her not to run. The family finally agreed that their two daughters would not attend the race, but would meet their mother after she finished the race.

“That gives me a little bit more peace of mind,” Georgiou said. “There is that fear — you can’t help it. I didn’t want anyone near the finish line. That’s a natural mother instinct.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/in-london-running-for-boston/2013/04/21/e4bf391c-aa63-11e2-9493-2ff3bf26c4b4_story.html

LONDON — Britain bade a final farewell to Margaret Thatcher on Wednesday, silencing the bells of Big Ben and mounting a trademark display of sober pageantry for the funeral of a towering leader who, in death as in life, deeply divides the nation.

Although not a state funeral — an honor reserved largely for monarchs — the military honors and pomp unfurled for the event marked the most elaborate goodbye for any elected leader here since Winston Churchill. As the Union Jack flew at half-staff over No. 10 Downing Street, the hearse carrying the flag-covered casket of the Iron Lady wound along a historic two-mile route. For the final leg of the procession, the casket was transferred to a gun carriage drawn by six horses.

Tens of thousands of mourners and 4,000 police officers lined the route, which stretched from the Gothic spires of the Palace of Westminster, through Trafalgar Square and over to St. Paul’s Cathedral, where a service was later attended by more than 2,300 dignitaries and others.

Well-wishers waved flags, both of Britain and the Falkland Islands, the British territory Thatcher went to war to recover after an Argentine invasion. They had come, they said, to honor Britain’s longest-ruling prime minister of the 20th century, a woman whose steely will is credited with rebuilding the country’s global status, accelerating the fall of the Berlin Wall and modernizing the domestic economy.

“She truly was an Iron Lady. She is what made Great Britain great,” said Maureen Mann, 71, whose husband and son fought in the 1982 Falklands War. Mann’s family traveled hours from central England to stand along the procession route. “Thatcher fought fiercely for that little island and the people on it. We feel a great sense of pride in that.”

Margaret Fowler, who, like Thatcher, is a grocer’s daughter, left Oxford for London at 5 a.m. to find a good spot along the route. “She put Britain back on its feet. When you see the people turning out here, you can see the support for her still,” Fowler said.

Conservatives on both sides of the Atlantic came to pay their respects, with former U.S. secretaries of state George Shultz, James A. Baker III and Henry Kissinger joining British Prime Minister David Cameron and John Major, one of Cameron’s Conservative predecessors.

In accordance with Thatcher’s wishes, the service was quintessentially British, including pieces by English composers Edward Elgar and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, delivered a blessing. Cameron and Thatcher’s American-born granddaughter, Amanda, offered readings.

Amanda Thatcher, 19, drew particular accolades for her composure as she read a New Testament verse that spoke to her grandmother’s strength: “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

The Rev. Richard Chartres, a family friend and the bishop of London, told the mourners that Thatcher had requested not a typical eulogy, laced with her political accomplishments, but a more simple and personal address. He delivered just that, reflecting on a young boy who had once written Thatcher asking whether prime ministers, like Jesus Christ, never made mistakes. Thatcher’s life, Chartres acknowledged, had been stormy. But as her remains rested in the church, he said, now “there is a great calm.”

“At such a time, the parson should not aspire to the judgments which are proper to the politician,” he said. “Instead, this is a place for ordinary human compassion of the kind that is reconciling.”

After the service, the coffin was carried to a hearse waiting at the foot of the cathedral’s west steps. A private cremation was held later in the day. Thatcher’s remains will be interred next to the spot at the Royal Hospital Chelsea where her husband, Denis Thatcher, was laid to rest in 2003.

Ed Miliband, head of a Labor Party that was forced to shift to the center after Thatcher’s 11 years in office, led those from the opposition who were present at St. Paul’s. But not all of Thatcher’s opponents were as forgiving. Furious Labor lawmakers sought to block a move to delay the start of Parliament on Wednesday so members of the House of Commons could attend Thatcher’s funeral. Several also railed against the decision to silence Big Ben for the event and to have taxpayers largely foot the 10 million pound ($15 million) bill for the funeral procession; Thatcher’s estate was to cover at least some of the costs.

“This is over the top,” said John Mann, a national Labor lawmaker. “Not even the German Luftwaffe could silence Big Ben. And I would be surprised if Margaret Thatcher herself would approve of the 10 million pound bill.”

Cameron defended the scale of the funeral, telling the BBC that the plans were made long ago. “She was an extraordinary woman, and it was right to mark her passing in this way,” he said.

On Tuesday, a more intimate service was held at the Chapel of St. Mary Undercroft in the House of Commons for family, friends and lawmakers.

British authorities reviewed security plans after the bombings this week in Boston. But Scotland Yard said no additional precautions were taken for the funeral, which was always going to be a massive security operation.

Police had feared rowdy protests, along the lines of one in London over the weekend. But Wednesday, Thatcher’s supporters far outnumbered the small groups of protesters peppering the route. Anti-Thatcher chants by some prompted sharp retorts from nearby mourners. At one point, protesters appeared to throw something at the horses pulling the hearse. A cluster of Thatcher opponents turned their backs on the parade.

“We lived through Thatcher destroying this country,” said Bryony Nierop-Reading, a 68-year-old retired teacher. “We used to be a rich, powerful, industrial nation, and she destroyed the working class.”

In Goldthorpe, a town in the South Yorkshire region hit hard when Thatcher broke the coal miners unions in the 1980s, an open coffin containing an effigy of the late prime minister was set ablaze Wednesday as hundreds watched.

“In death as in life, Margaret Thatcher has drawn both praise and opposition,” William Hague, Britain’s foreign minister, said in a speech Tuesday evening, noting that Thatcher would not have minded the divergent views about her legacy.

“She, who prized freedom above all things, would not be in the slightest bit upset by the disagreement,” Hague said. “Some of us, including me, will always be inspired and shaped by her achievements, while others may never reconcile themselves to her policies or to her character. The right to form our own opinions on that count is fundamental to our democracy.”

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, her husband, attended Wednesday’s service despite long-standing reports of differences between the nation’s two most powerful women.

“I think the queen is making quite a big statement by going,” said Jane Tate, 48, a dressmaker from Kent who watched the procession on the Strand with her two young daughters. “Despite what people might say, the queen respected Thatcher because of the position she reached and all of the works she did for this country.”

Cheeseburger & fries at Meat Liquor.

By Eliza Mackintosh, Published: March 28

I can’t believe people queue for that,” says a man in a suit and tie as he walks briskly past the mass of eager customers chatting outside Meat Liquor, a popular burger joint in central London.

But after six months working in the British capital, I’m craving a taste of greasy, down-home American diner food, and no snide comment is going to deter me from trying what are rumored to be the best burgers in the city.

It’s a Wednesday night, and as we approach the restaurant, which is a short walk from Oxford Circus, I mistake it at first for a nightclub. A line of trendy 20-somethings, waiting to score a coveted table, stretches down the street. My boyfriend and I file in at the end of the queue and huddle beneath the glowing heaters in an attempt to fend off the London damp. The crowd is buzzing, cold hands clinging to cans of cider.

Details: London fast food

The line moves relatively quickly, and soon we’re inside, where the scene is dark and chaotic. The look of the space is influenced by the squat bars of eastern Berlin, which co-owners Yianni Papoutsis and Scott Collins have both frequented. The Rococo-style domed ceiling is splattered with sinister red-and-black illustrations. But any unease we feel about the punk venue fades once the cafeteria-style tray comes out, piled high with chicken wings, coleslaw, messy and oozing cheeseburgers and proper fries — not the potato chunks the Brits call chips.

Across the table, my boyfriend is already several bites into his double-patty Dead Hippie burger, which is starting to drip a mix of cheese and onions onto the table. My cheeseburger, stuffed with pickles, lettuce and red onions, is satisfying enough, but pretty soon I’m feeling burger envy. With its addictive special sauce and double-decker patties, the juicy Dead Hippie is our favorite, hands down.

When I come up for air, the crowd around the cocktail bar has grown, and I remember my drink. I admit that the familiar old American favorites are much more thrilling when paired with an absinthe-based cocktail served in the ultimate hipster accouterment: a Mason jar. But despite the allure of my cold glass of Donkey Punch, my attention is still on the skinny, salty fries.

“We worked for months to get something as close to the perfect french fry as possible,” says Papoutsis, who’s also Meat Liquor’s chef. “I love McDonald’s french fries. They’re the best in the world, in my opinion.”

As for Meat Liquor’s fries, they’re not the best I’ve ever tasted, but they’re certainly on a par with Mickey D’s.

Byronic burgers

The United States may get a bad rap as “fast food nation,” but its high-calorie comfort food has found a niche in London. And making junk food cool is something that only the Brits could pull off. Who knew that the humble hamburger could be so chic?

“The hamburger is America’s biggest single culinary gift to the world,” says British burgermeister Tom Byng, the founder of Byron. The upmarket British burger chain was inspired by Byng’s time studying in Providence, R.I., where he was a regular late-night customer at the Silver Top Diner, a local greasy spoon.

The look of the trendy location where I meet Byng on Wardour Street in Soho is a far cry from the linoleum floors and formica tabletops of traditional American diners, but I wouldn’t expect anything less in London’s popular theater district. Byron’s modern take on the classic U.S. burger joint features sleek leather booths, wooden floors, exposed-brick walls, vintage furniture and high ceilings.

I order a cheeseburger at noon on the dot. There are very few people in the restaurant, but it’s still early for the lunch-break crowd. The simple menu offers several burger options — all pink, succulent, salty and sweet. The beef is high-quality, obtained from a supplier in Scotland and minced fresh at a London butcher seven days a week.

This is really the nostalgic American burger that I’m after, and Byng confesses that he once brought back a suitcase full of Martin’s Potato Rolls from the States for “burger research,” so that he could capture the buns’ taste and texture. Byron’s burger is far less messy than Meat Liquor’s and boasts fewer frills, but it’s nice not to need a whole roll of paper towels to wipe my hands with.

Byng won’t concede that he started the trend, but since Byron opened in 2007, a premium-priced-patty craze has swept London. In a cursory search, I’m overwhelmed by all the choices: Burger & Lobster, Patty & Bun, Mother Flipper, Honest Burgers, Dirty Burger, Lucky Chip, SliderBar, plus Papoutsis and Collins’s infamous Meat empire of Meat Market, Meat Mission and Meat Liquor.

Even American restaurateur Danny Meyer, the owner of patty-chic purveyor Shake Shack, has caught on to the movement and plans to open his first British outpost in London’s historic Covent Garden market this summer.

Fancy franks

The fad doesn’t stop at burgers. Since it opened last August, Bubbledogs, a restaurant that pairs hot dogs with champagne, has swiftly become the darling of this city fixated on poshed-up junk food. Though it may be the age of austerity here, I couldn’t believe that Brits would ditch caviar for wieners. But they have.

Instead of being scared off by the wait at Bubbledogs, which can be up to two hours on weekends, customers indulge in a pre-dinner street party outside. Fashionable media types from the local Fitzrovia neighborhood bring along cans of gin and tonic to sip while they brave the elements. (At the end of a Saturday evening, the sidewalk is strewn with empties.)

After friends warn me about the long wait around dinnertime, I decide to pop in for a late lunch on a weekday. At 3 p.m., Bubbledogs is tame, and I easily grab a seat at a high wooden table. The restaurant is relatively small, and I can see how it could quickly get mobbed.

The afternoon crowd is mixed, with a smattering of professionals, tourists and families. A few linger at the copper-topped bar, but for the most part, people seem to have come in for a quick bite. I know that it’s slightly early for alcohol, but I order a glass of Gaston Chiquet anyway.

Bubbledogs’ owners — Sandia Chang, a California sommelier, and her husband, James Knappett, former chef at Michelin-starred restaurant the Ledbury — have created a concise menu featuring 10 dogs. After mulling the New Yorker, served street-cart-vendor-style with sauerkraut and onions, I decide on the Fourth of July, a bacon-wrapped hot dog with smoky barbecue sauce and coleslaw, plus a side of crunchy tater tots.

The idea of contrasting a heavy hot dog with the crisp taste of champagne isn’t as sacrilegious as it seems when you consider other European pairings, such as Italian prosecco and lardo or Spain’s cava and Serrano ham. Despite my affinity for a cold beer with a traditional ballgame-style hot dog, the carefully selected grower champagne provides a refreshing contrast.

Fashionable fried chicken

The effort to offer glamorous but affordable midrange dining options such as Bubbledogs is a recent development here, says William Leigh, chef and co-founder of fried chicken restaurant Wishbone.

Fried chicken is something of a cultural phenomenon in London, a particular favorite of those in search of a cheap late-night snack on their way home from the pub, who may scoff at Wishbone’s chicken sandwich, which is almost $10. But unlike Chicken Cottage and KFC, prominent chicken chains on Britain’s high streets that have been maligned for using low-grade ingredients, Wishbone uses free-range Cotswolds chickens.

Leigh’s restaurant is the newest addition to Brixton’s old covered market in South London, a microcosm of the city’s many international flavors. Wishbone is across from a Mexican restaurant and a few doors down from the popular sourdough pizzeria Franco Manca.

This is my first time venturing to Brixton, and I manage to get lost. A smiling man selling flowers outside the subway station gives me directions and seems to approve of my restaurant selection, which I take as a good sign. When I finally arrive at Wishbone around 7 p.m., the upstairs dining room, a cool, industrial loft space, is already busy.

Hip-hop and rap music provide the backdrop to this venue that offers what some London bloggers have dubbed “dude-food.” But though there are a few tables full of men with barbecue sauce on their fingers and baskets of wings picked clean, I’m not the only girl in the place.

I end up sampling a bit of everything off the relatively small menu and am surprised by the range of international takes on fried chicken. I eat all of my unexpected but tasty Thai thighs paired with tamarind dressing, mint, chili peppers and shallots. But my clear favorites are the Buffalo wings — some of the best I’ve had in London — and deep-fried mac and cheese, which is sinfully rich and gooey.

As I gingerly lick my fingers, I think about how much this city — once known predominantly for its newspaper-wrapped fish and chips — has to offer diners. From its Michelin-starred fine-dining establishments to its local gastropubs, London has become one of the leading culinary capitals in the world.

With so many options, it may be hard for some to understand why these intrinsically low-cost food types have become so popular. But when you look more closely, it’s pretty simple.

Everyone loves comfort food.

Mackintosh is a special correspondent for The Washington Post’s London bureau.

By Eliza Mackintosh, Updated: Monday, February 4, 11:58 AM

(Gavin Fogg/AFP/Getty Images) – In this Sept. 12, 2012 photo, men dressed as medieval knights pose for pictures in Leicester, England, at the site where a skeleton later identified as that of British medieval king Richard III was found.

LONDON — A team of archaeologists confirmed Monday that ancient remains found under a parking lot belong to long-lost King Richard III, successfully ending a search that sparked a modern-day debate about the legacy of the reputed tyrant.

Trauma analysis of the skeleton found 10 battle wounds, eight on the skull and two on the body, which were inflicted around the time of death, according to Jo Appleby, project osteologist of the University of Leicester. Many of the wounds provided evidence of “post-mortem humiliation injuries,” exacted on Richard III after death by his adversaries. All skeletal evidence was considered highly convincing in support of identifying the remains as those of Richard III.

The next task for authorities was to decide where to reinter the king. This has been a contentious issue, which was hotly debated on the floor of the House of Commons between members of Parliament from York — for whom Richard was the last hope against rival Lancastrians in the War of the Roses — and Leicester, where the remains were found.

Church of England protocol suggests that the bones stay where they were found and be reburied in nearby Leicester Cathedral. But some supporters insisted that his remains be reinterred at the Anglican cathedral in York, where history suggests that he wanted to be buried.

The mayor of Leicester, Peter Soulsby, announced an agreement Monday to bury the king’s remains at Leicester Cathedral. This could prove to be a tourist boon for the Leicester City Council, which plans to open a visitor’s center at the excavation site, across from the church, that will tell what it considers the “real” story of Richard III.

Before this announcement, some of Richard’s staunchest supporters argued that a royal burial at Westminster Abbey would only be appropriate for the much-misunderstood monarch. That option seemed to have been vetoed by Queen Elizabeth II, whose royal lineage would not have been possible without the chain reaction caused by Richard’s death.

“We understand the queen has suggested that she doesn’t want him there,” said Phil Stone, chairman of the Richard III Society. “But it would be nice if we could at least have a procession, with the coffin being carried in a stately carriage.”

When contacted by The Washington Post, a Buckingham Palace official said that this was not a matter for the royal household to decide.

Details of the findings were released hours after DNA tests came in late Sunday. The 500-year-old remains were discovered five months ago, using ancient maps and records to uncover the ruins of the old friary where Richard III was laid to rest.

“It is the academic conclusion of the University of Leicester that beyond reasonable doubt, the individual exhumed at Greyfriars in September 2012 is indeed Richard III, the last Plantagenet king of England,” Richard Buckley, lead archaeologist of the University of Leicester, said at the announcement Monday in the city 90 miles northwest of London.

The verification came after scientific tests were used to match DNA samples taken from Canadian-born Michael Ibsen, a direct descendent of Anne of York, Richard’s elder sister.

“For me it’s an absolute privilege to be a part, even in a small way, of such a historically significant series of events,” said Ibsen, a furniture-maker in London.

The debate that has risen out of this finding has provoked the nation to rethink the legacy of Richard III, cast in British history by Shakespeare as a deformed villain, who locked his young nephews — rivals to the throne — in the Tower of London, where they are thought to have met their demise.

Richard III’s grave, which was found underneath the Leicester site in the remains of Greyfriars friary, had been lost during the religious reforms of Henry VIII. Richard, the last king of England to fall on the battlefield, was slain in the 1485 Battle of Bosworth Field while defending his crown against the raiding upstart, Henry VII. He was famously depicted in Shakespeare’s “Richard III” crying out before his death: “A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!”

Richard III supporters such as Philippa Langley, a screenwriter and member of theRichard III Society, were driven to find the lost king’s remains by a desire to reopen the debate over his place in history. Experts say that most of what is known today about the medieval king is largely “propaganda” of the Tudor monarchs who followed him.

“I think the discovery brought the real Richard into sharp focus,” Langley said. “People are realizing that a lot of what they thought they knew about Richard III was pretty much propaganda and myth building.”

Langley, who helped pull together $52,000 to fund the project, worked with a team of archaeologists at Leicester University who were able to locate the hidden monastery and Richard’s remains.

When archaeologists uncovered the skeleton of a man in what was once the choir of the Greyfriars Church — exactly where texts said the monarch was buried — the evidence was so compelling that Langley believed the remains were those of King Richard.

From the time the bones were found, there was strong evidence to suggest the remains belonged to the monarch. The skeleton indicated a personage who was well nourished, who had suffered cranial trauma during battle and who exhibited spine damage from scoliosis, a type of curvature of the spine — all signs that pointed to Richard III.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/remains-of-king-richard-iii-identified/2013/02/04/d79e87b2-6ebb-11e2-ac36-3d8d9dcaa2e2_story_1.html

LONDON — More than 30 years after Argentina’s unsuccessful invasion of the Falkland Islands, a fresh war of words has broken out over the sovereignty of the British territory, a rocky archipelago about 8,000 miles from London but harboring outsize importance to both countries.

The latest bout of controversy erupted after Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner issued a scathing letter to British Prime Minister David Cameron, which also ran as an open note to the British public Thursday in London’s Guardian newspaper. She demanded negotiations to hand over the islands, insisting that Britain was in violation of a 1960 U.N. resolution seeking to “end colonialism in all its forms and manifestations.”

The letter sparked immediate indignation in Britain’s halls of power, with the notoriously zealous British tabloids joining the fray Friday. Rupert Murdoch’s Sun tabloid took out an advertisement in the Buenos Aires Herald, warning Argentines to keep their “hands off” the islands.

The latest exchanges underscore the extent to which the sparsely populated islands, which cost the lives of more than 900 people in the 1982 Falklands War, remain a hot-button issue on both sides of the Atlantic.

“The future of the Falkland Islands should be determined by the Falkland Islanders themselves,” Cameron said in a statement on British television. “Whenever they’ve been asked their opinion, they’ve said they want to maintain their current status with the United Kingdom. They’re holding a referendum this year, and I hope the president of Argentina will listen to that referendum and recognize it’s for the Falkland Islanders to choose their future.”

London’s efforts to preserve the Falklands, one of the last outposts of the British Empire, have long been viewed, at least in part, as an attempt to maintain a vestige of its glorious past. But over the past 18 months, the issue of ownership has also become a question of economic gain, with the discovery of potential vast stores of oil. Rockhopper Exploration, a British oil firm, thinks that it has found a cache of 450  million barrels, with the potential for more.

Equally central to Britain’s position is the fundamental belief that the Falkland Islanders should have the right to self-determination. Residents of the English-speaking islands have long stated a desire to remain British. In the face of mounting political pressures from Argentina, the residents of the Falkland Islands have scheduled a referendum for March in order to reaffirm their standing as a British overseas territory.

The evolving struggle over the islands has, over the past few months, resulted in another kind of war — an economic attack on the cruise ship industry. Tensions have risen as Argentina has begun prohibiting ships flying United Kingdom or Falkland Island flags from docking in Argentine ports.

These escalated measures have resulted in several cruise lines canceling trips to the Falklands altogether.Among them, Holland America’s Veendam, German liner AIDAcara, and Prestige Cruise Holdings’ Regent Seven Seas Cruises and Oceania Cruises have scrapped visits, blaming pressure from Argentina. Eighty-one cruise ships and 60,000 passengers were scheduled to visit Stanley, the capital, this season, which lasts until April, but that number has already been drastically reduced.

In what might be considered a patriotic stand, major British cruise line P&O Cruises, a subsidiary of Carnival U.K., has canceled all scheduled visits to Argentine ports in 2013. The news came after Britain summoned Argentina’s ambassador to London, Alicia Castro, to protest what the British government considers to be “increasingly aggressive actions against the people of the Falklands Islands.” Among these was an attack led by masked men who tore apart a shipping services company in Buenos Aires. The British government alleges that the assault was made in an effort to deter vessels from visiting the Falklands. After the incident on Nov. 19, the cruise company associated with the shipping agents decided to cancel a trip to the islands.

Attempts to squash the Falklands’ tourism industry have taken a toll on Stanley, where about a quarter of the working population is involved in cruise ship tourism.

Small-business owners Kevin and Hattie Kilmartin run Bluff Cove Lagoon Penguin Tours near Stanley.

“We had a war here 30 years ago; we’re not unused to the fact that Argentina has certain issues with us,” Kevin Kilmartin said. “But recently they’ve been cranking up the economic warfare.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/britain-argentina-sparring-again-over-the-falklands/2013/01/04/14e63e22-56a1-11e2-8b9e-dd8773594efc_print.html 

(Andrew Darrington/Alamy) – Turtledoves have virtually disappeared from areas of the U.K.

LONDON — Good luck trying to find a partridge in a pear tree in Britain this Christmas, or even less likely — the true love’s token of two turtledoves.

More than 200 years since the popular carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas” was first printed in London, many of its holiday icons are on the decline.

Recent statistics on wild birdlife in the U.K., published in a report by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, have raised concerns about the survival of such classic Christmas symbols as the partridge and turtledove.

While the number of gray partridges in Britain is dwindling, turtledoves have virtually disappeared from Wales and northern areas of England, decreasing by 60 percent between 2005 and 2010. The remaining 14,000 turtledove pairs are confined to southeast England, down from 140,000 breeding pairs in 1970. The grey partridge population, estimated at 43,000 pairs, is faring slightly better with a drop of 30 percent over the same period.

If the decline continues at the same rate, scientists from the Royal Society for Protection of Birds estimate that there could be as few as 1,000 pairs of turtledoves a decade from now.

“We could lose this bird,” Mark Eaton, an RSPB scientist, said. “Many people might not know what one looks like or see one very often, but it’s in the Christmas song, it’s a symbol of love, Shakespeare wrote a poem about turtledoves, it has a great cultural significance here.”

In the spring, Operation Turtle Dove was launched as an emergency response to the bird’s decline. The group’s mission is to get support for research and to help “find ways of restoring the population to get turtledoves back in the countryside, where they belong,” RSPB spokesman Grahame Madge said. The RSPB says that cuts in the British government and European budgets could jeopardize agricultural subsidies, which help farmers care for birdlife on their lands .

“If they become extinct, all that will be left is a line in a song and nothing more,” Eaton added.

Turtledoves and partridges are not the only stars of the song taking a hit in Britain. Maids-a-milking, lords-a-leaping, pipers piping and drummers drumming also have been affected.

Since milkmaids were replaced by modern milking machines in the 1900s, the dairy industry in the United Kingdom has gradually decreased in size. According to statistics from DairyCo, the number of dairy farms in the U.K. has nearly halved over the past 10 years. In June 2011, there were 14,793 dairy farms, compared with 26,556 in 2001.

The House of Lords, which dates to the 14th century, suffered a brief scare this summer when Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg put forward a bill to reform the government body. The House of Lords Reform Bill, which aimed to make the chamber more democratic, was voted down in its second reading. Conservative Members of Parliament argued that reform was not a priority in such a difficult economic climate.

Financial woes could also affect British regiments, which have pipers and drummers in their ranks. Ministry of Defense cuts, announced in July, will result in 23 military units being disbanded or combined, with 17 fewer units overall. The restructuring of the British army will reduce a force of 102,000 soldiers to 82,000 by 2020, although it is not clear what will become of the military bands.

Despite PNC Wealth Management’s claim that the economy is improving, prices continue to rise on almost all items featured in “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” The PNC’s yearly Christmas Price Index reports a 6.1 percent jump in the price tag for all of the song’s 364 gifts, which now rack up to a total of $107,300.

But, in the future, PNC may have to account for the utter lack of some of the carol’s Christmas staples.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/turtledoves-and-gray-partridges-are-on-the-decline-in-britain/2012/12/20/895fd816-4923-11e2-820e-17eefac2f939_story.html

By Eliza Mackintosh, Published: December 9

But at a time when the national government’s austerity crusade is slashing local spending, a host of mayors say they have no choice. In an effort to combat $160 million in cuts, for instance, the downtrodden East London borough of Tower Hamlets is selling “Draped Seated Woman,” a 1957 bronze by British abstract sculptor Henry Moore. Moore sold the sculpture to the London County Council in 1962 at the generous price of $11,800, under the stipulation that it remain in a visible public space for everyone to enjoy. “Old Flo,” as the work has been nicknamed, is expected to bring in anywhere from $8 million to $32 million when it goes up for auction at Christie’s in February.

“Henry Moore said he wanted his sculpture to benefit the residents of the borough and through the sale the council can achieve this in a tangible and practical way,” council member Rania Khan, cabinet member for culture and regeneration in Tower Hamlets, said in a statement. “We are not the first council to do this in order to benefit our residents and I am sure we will not be the last.”

Moore’s sculpture is one of many public artworks that have recently been slapped with a price tag. The council of Northampton, a large town north of London, plans to sell an Egyptian statue dating to 2400 B.C. and estimated to be worth $3 million. Last year, Bolton Council in Greater Manchester, which faces budget cuts of more than $95 million, cashed in on 36 pieces of art from its collection, including works by Picasso and the 19th-century English painter John Everett Millais. Meanwhile, Leicestershire County Council in the Midlands raised more than $270,000 last year by selling off art originally purchased for display in schools, and Newcastle City Council offered portions of a public sculpture worth $430,000 on eBay.

The sales have caused an uproar. Filmmaker Danny Boyle, who staged the opening ceremony at the London Olympics, and Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate galleries, joined others from the British art world to denounce the sale in Tower Hamlets. In an open letter published in Britain’s Observer newspaper last month they wrote, “while we understand the financial pressures that Tower Hamlets faces, we feel that the mayor’s proposal goes against the spirit of Henry Moore’s original sale to London County Council.”

“The value of public art is diminished by being monetarized,” Boyle said in a statement last month. “The Moore sculpture defies all prejudice in people’s minds about one of London’s poorest boroughs. That alone makes it priceless to every resident.”

Yet, in several cases, supporters of the sales note that many of the works being offered had been in storage or were not on local display. For instance, the Moore statue in Tower Hamlets — once adorning the Stifford Estate, a low-income housing association in East London — was moved 15 years ago after the compound was demolished and the sculpture was vandalized. It now rests 200 miles north of East London, in the rural rolling hills of 500-acre Yorkshire Sculpture Park in West Yorkshire.

In 2010, conservative council member Tim Archer started a campaign to bring Old Flo back to the borough, but the Tower Hamlets Council shot down the effort because of the exorbitant cost of insuring the sculpture.

Andrew Shoben, professor of public art at Goldsmiths, University of London, sympathizes with Tower Hamlets. He said the sale could offer an opportunity for commissioning new works by up-and-coming artists.

Members of the Tower Hamlets Council say most of the revenue will be used to fund public housing. Although they say a portion will also go toward a local art fund, Rushanara Ali, a member of Parliament for Bethnal Green and Bow, a ward in Tower Hamlets, calls that “wishful thinking.”

“The rationale that has been given by the mayor of Tower Hamlets is that the sale is to delay a gap in terms of costs that the council faces on services,” said Ali, who opposes the decision to sell the sculpture. “The issue is that there has been poor management of public finance.

“There’s a wider question that this whole affair raises, which is, where does it stop? Where do you draw the line in terms of selling off public art?” Ali said.

Ian Leith, founder and deputy chairman of the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association, said he worries that selling national treasures such as “Draped Seated Woman” is becoming a trend.

“We are worried about the precedents for further public removals in order to realize assets,” Leith said. “A whole host of further pieces are potentially at risk.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/cash-strapped-british-cities-and-towns-sell-art-masterworks-prompting-a-national-debate-over-their-true-value/2012/12/09/3500d8ca-3400-11e2-bfd5-e202b6d7b501_story_1.html