SteveBannister

London gets black mark for pollution

London, the city often denigrated as "the Smoke", is the dirtiest EU capital apart from Athens, according to a survey published today.

Severe traffic congestion causing high levels of air pollution and problems with rubbish collection combined to make the city an environmental black spot.

Restrictions have been placed on car usage in Athens, the notoriously polluted Greek capital, in an attempt to alleviate its air pollution problem.

London was placed 102nd out of 215 cities in a global survey of cleanliness, close behind Rome (98th) and Paris (84th).

"These are sprawling cities with public transport problems and severe traffic congestion, producing a detrimental effect on air quality," said Slagin Parakatil, senior researcher at William M Mercer, the consulting firm which produced the survey.

"Waste disposal systems are also under pressure from the cities' dense populations, making them less efficient than in other EU cities."

Glasgow was the highest ranked of the three British cities surveyed, finishing 62nd in the world league table. Calgary in Canada and Honolulu in Hawaii were rated the two cleanest cities in the world.

Mr Parakatil said: "They don't suffer the pollution associated with many industrialised cities, usually caused by car and factory emissions.

"The cities that have the edge, however, are those that have the infrastructure to deal with sewage and waste removal efficiently."

Helsinki was named the cleanest capital in Europe, followed by the other Scandinavian capitals and Zurich.

The world's lowest ranking city for environmental cleanliness was Mexico City, which suffers dreadful air pollution due to its location between two volcanoes on a high central plateau.

Traffic fumes and releases from manufacturing plants become trapped in this "pocket".

It is the first time environmental cleanliness has been included as a category in the annual quality of life survey.

London dropped one place in the overall quality of life table, falling from 40th last year to 41st.

Glasgow and Birmingham both jumped two places to finish joint 57th in the analysis which looks at crime, schools, health services, recreation opportunities and other factors which contribute to good city life.

Charles Secrett, director of Friends of the Earth, said: "London's standing as a world class city is too often tarnished by its world class problems.

"The capital's low ranking shows this all too clearly. Every Londoner is paying the price of failure to tackle traffic and pollution, our shameful waste of energy and resources and continuing social inequality."

Three of the 10 best cities to live in, according to the survey, were in Switzerland, with Zurich taking the top spot.

The world's least appealing city remains Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo.

Other notably unattractive locations include Bangui in the Central African Republic, and the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.

Quality of life

1 Zurich (Switzerland)

2= Vienna (Austria) and Vancouver (Canada)

4= Sydney (Australia) and Geneva (Switzerland)

6 =Frankfurt (Germany), Helsinki (Finland), Auckland (New Zealand) and Copenhagen (Denmark)

10 Bern (Switzerland)

41 London

57= Glasgow and Birmingham

Don

Vienna is definitely a pretty good city, skiing 30 minutes away, full of history, good cutural context and excellent beer. Plus all the other things you might look for too, like world beating health service, good educational system, great traffic/ public transport infrastructure etc. No sea or coastline, though.

pommie bastard

Stop reading Media crap and bloody shite like your thread and start looking at what real people in Australia have to say.


We're not so lucky

THERE'S no doubt Australia is a lucky country.

Young people are lucky if they can find a job, afford a university education, or a house when they're married, while the elderly are lucky if they can survive on a pension, have a hospital bed available or an operation when required.

Meanwhile, the rest of us are just lucky if we aren't burgled or assaulted by some drug-using teenager.

I hope former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani might address this problem when he visits Perth later this month.

He could pointout to local politicians and magistrates the effectiveness of zero tolerance towards crime. That policy may have been responsible for a few mistakes but the good it achieves far outweighs the bad.

Mr Giuliani was able to reduce crime in New York so surely Dr Gallop is capable of doing the same in a city one-twentieth the size.

While he's at it, he might consider paying police, nurses and teachers, some of the most valuable members of our society, what they're worth. Or do public works, like a useless rail link, take priority over people?

BARRY WILLIAMS, East Victoria Park. Perth