The City? What a dump.

London no longer leads the way for Financial Services - New York, apparently, is just as attractive.

"Damage has been done to the Square Mile's perceived competitiveness relative to New York, but this is not irreversible," whimpered Stuart Fraser, who is the City of London Corporation's policy chairman. He urges the Government to make a "positive statement" on taxation and regulation.

But hang on a minute. This research was carried out on behalf of the City of London Corporation, which, according to their own website, "is committed to maintaining and enhancing the status of the business City..."

And where did the data come from for this impartial, empirical research..? From, "an ongoing online questionnaire completed by international financial services professionals." See page 7 of the 'Global Financial Centres 7' Report in PDF format.

So in short, when asked, it turns out that the guys working in The City don't much fancy a watchdog sitting on their shoulders watching what they do, nor having to pay a higher proportion of their earnings in taxes. Who saw that coming?!