Big city, bright lights

When running for president of France last year, Nicolas Sarkozy made an unusual campaign stop: London.

When running for president of France last year, Nicolas Sarkozy made an unusual campaign stop: London. Speaking in a converted fish market, before a rapt crowd of French expatriates, he called Britain8217;s capital 8220;one of the biggest French cities8221;. It had, he went on, the 8220;vitality that Paris so badly needs8221;. The two cities fought fiercely to host the 2012 Olympic games, until 8212; to Paris8217;s consternation 8212; London won. That victory still rankles on the banks of the Seine8230; For Paris and London these days are also fierce competitors: for investment, besides the more intangible qualities of inventiveness and style that make a 8216;world city8217; in the global mind.

From the balcony on the top floor of the London mayor8217;s lopsided plate-glass office on the south bank of the Thames, the din is deafening. Nine floors below, diggers and drills are ripping into the earth and cement-mixers are churning. The most arresting feature of the London skyline these days is not the new architectural landmarks 8212; the Gherkin, Tate Modern, City Hall 8212; but the staggering number of cranes. In the centre of Paris, there are none.

By most economic tests, London outstrips Paris. Its stock exchange, by market capitalisation, is two and a half times larger8230; In haute cuisine, as in haute couture, Paris may still triumph. It boasts, for instance, nine three-star Michelin restaurants; London has one. But the French capital has been slower to embrace the more informal gastronomic culture, where a three-tier cheese trolley is not necessarily a badge of excellence. Over the past few years, London has spawned a giddy mix of new restaurants and bars, as well as internet start-ups, design studios and art galleries8230; Indeed, officials at London8217;s City Hall bristle at the idea that the two cities can be compared. 8220;We don8217;t think of ourselves as in competition with Paris,8221; sniffs John Ross, Mr Livingstone8217;s economic adviser. 8220;We8217;ve won that contest. We measure ourselves against New York.8221; Perhaps most important, the city has adopted a guiding creed that belongs neither to the political left nor the right: openness to change8230; It has embraced globalisation to become an international city, while Paris has remained unapologetically French8230; And to stunning effect: the buildings, boulevards and bridges of central Paris gleam. Fleets of cleaning vehicles brush and rinse its surfaces, day and night; floodlit monuments light up a magical night sky8230; Sprawling, crowded, hectic, serendipitous: like it or not, London as a whole seems to be kept going by a form of raw energy. And after all, to misquote Samuel Johnson, 8220;When a man is tired of London, he can always go and have a three-star meal in Paris.8221;

Excerpted from 8216;The Rivals8217; in the latest issue of The Economist