Politics & Power Quote by Martin C. Smith

Smith’s line works because it smuggles a whole class war into a casual bit of cultural translation. He reaches for “yuppies” not as a precise sociological category, but as an American shorthand for smug prosperity: the well-paid, self-satisfied professional who seems to have mistaken consumption for virtue. Then he turns the dial to “multiply it by 10,” a comic exaggeration that signals we’re dealing with attitude and resentment, not a calm policy critique.

“The City” is the real target: London’s financial core, both a place and a metonym for money power. By stressing “as they call it,” Smith marks the phrase as tribal language, a local nickname that carries its own sneer. It’s not just geography; it’s a moral map. “London, the people of the south” lands like an afterthought, but it’s the punchline: the contempt isn’t narrowly aimed at bankers; it’s aimed at a whole region imagined as privileged, self-regarding, and insulated from everyone else’s consequences.

The subtext is a familiar British story about imbalance: cultural capital and political attention pooled in the southeast, while other parts of the country watch their industries decline and get told to “retrain.” Smith’s comparison also flatters the reader into complicity. If you’re American, you’re handed a translation device; if you’re British, you’re reminded that the disdain for the capital isn’t quirky provincialism, it’s a reaction to concentrated power wearing a polite suit.