I read this article from the BBC with interest. Because it was so blatent in it’s bias.

We Brits just can’t get enough of European cities. We spend holidays in romantic Rome or alternative Amsterdam, and rave about the cafes, shiny new tram systems and striking public spaces on our return.

Now, I really don’t know about that. I’m hardly calling myself a typical anything (let alone a typical brit), but I prefer the cities west of the Atlantic to those south of the Channel. Because those I’ve seen in the US seem to be busy and full of activity, while those on the continent seem to be almost lethargic.

And then more bias come out:

Our attitudes toward European cities, like so much else European, are conflicted. We hanker after European standards of city living, but these are expensive – and few are willing to pay Continental levels of tax for the privilege.

Ah, so you want continental levels of tax, is it. This is very obvious, even for the BBC. What’s behind it, I wonder…

Adam Marshall and Max Nathan are senior researchers at the Centre for Cities at the Institute for Public Policy Research

Ah, the good ol’ IPPR. Or the Provisional Wing of the NuLabour Army. It all beings to make sense now… Higher taxes, more Eurpoean infulence, stronger government control, more planning, less innovation. All those good Blairite ideals.

Why, exactly, people from the IPPR are writing articles for the state broadcaster is beyond me, though.