Andrew Marr Thinks London Would Be Improved By LA Manners

"What is it about us on this small island of ferocity?" asks Andy Marr in today's Telegraph, where no-one smiles or helps anyone else, engaging in a fist fight is necessary to get on the tube in the morning and "in supermarkets, people jostle and glare as if shopping were a deadly competition".

It's not as though he thinks LA is perfect though: "They still can't do coffee, white wine, airports, motorway signs, irony or television news" but "they're as strong as ever on bookstores, optimism, friendliness, sushi and patriotism.

He certainly has a point but you have to wonder why there's such a difference between the two cities. Perhaps if we all drank freshly squeezed orange juice throughout the day and rollerbladed about the place wearing hotpants we'd be a little less sulky. Anyone up for that?

Perhaps though, he's a little sensitive about the subject after his own experiences in England. In his book "My Trade: A Short History of British Journalism" he recounts the story about being approached in a shop by a man who said "Here, you look just like that Andrew Marr...you poor bugger."

And if you want to experience the L.A. lifestyle but can't afford the airfair, may we reccomend a quick read of LAist?

Image courtesy of luisa_m_c_m_cruz's Flickr stream.