To speak of London as a " menace " is strong language, yet it is of the " menace" of London that the retiring Commissioner for the Special Areas writes in his third and final Report.
The menace of the Distressed Areas is familiar, but it may be that that menace will only be understood when it is, almost paradoxically, expressed as the menace of London. If the Distressed Areas are too poor, London is too rich; if they are too empty, London is too full; if they are too unpopular, London is too popular.
Positive allurements and prohibitions are recommended by the Special Commissioner to stop people and industry from making London even bigger and richer than it is.
We seem to be approaching the time when, according to Shaw's fancy, the people of England will live on chocolates alone, for of what else can the riches of London be made up, while the cows continue to graze on England's fields and the coal remains buried under her soil, unattended by the labour of Englishmen?