On the event's leading up to my eightieth! Born in the great depression the memory has lingered there like a caged lion; an occasional roar and a slap at the bars has kept me uneasy all these years. Then a reminder that the discovery of penicillin and the polio vaccine made it possible for me to hear the Lion roar. The thunder of WWII, kept me from becoming arrogant, while the demand for labor after the war allowed me to start my adult life with a bang.
Along the way I came to realize that...

I'm no fan of oppressive gun control laws...we've got plenty of other C-D threads to discuss that. Just the opposite, in-fact. God bless the 2nd Amendment, and Confiscationists / Hitlerites being repeatedly overturned by courts or voted out of office past few years in the United States.

That-said,...

In the 1970s it was decided to make London a world mega-city. The rest of the country greatly assisted in paying for this as money was poured into the infrastructure of London and the surrounding south east towns. The rest of the country was largely ignored leaving a collection of 3rd rate, underprovided, cities in comparison. Even the HS2 lines are all planned to slant back to London - London will be the prime beneficiary.

[B]London receives twice the level of public money pumped...