Beyond The Stiff Upper Lip

Maybe in these embattled times, you've got the wrong impression about how things really are over here. Maybe it's our fault. The image we're pumping out.

We have a Government at odds with the electorate, a city threatened by terrorism, and the resulting impression is that London has become a sort of armed camp. That we've gone from colorful swinging capital to black and white city under siege.

Not so - if you were here on this side of the pond, you'd be part of the new British renaissance. As a nation, we're drinking more Champagne than any country other than France. Thirty-two and a half million bottles poured down our throats in the last year.

And with good reason, there's lots to celebrate. Suddenly the next generation of great British actors is beginning to appear. The generation after Jude Law and Kate Beckinsale. A new and stunning production of Hamlet has opened, probably the best in thirty years, starring Ben Whishaw, a name to start quoting now before he becomes a movie superstar, along with another name to remember, Rory Kinnear.

Oh, speaking of names that show you're ahead of the pack - try casually mentioning "The Streets," or if you want to be even more hip, Mike Skinner, their lead singer, all urban angst and being touted as the authentic voice of Britain. Skinner sings about lager and fast food, bring a geezer and failure with women. There's nothing new in his message, but it sounds fresh and it's coming your way.

And there's more happening in classical music in this city than in any other, anywhere. London's five great orchestras are all packing audiences in, compared to Paris's four, Berlin's two and New York's one. Yes, we've got five - as well as two Opera Houses.

So forget all this gloom and doom and get over here to newly swinging London: where even the pubs still thrive - selling the finest, warmest, flattest beer in the world.

By Simon Bates