ABSTRACT
This chapter explains exactly what the City is and what people generally mean by it. Just as 'Wall Street' operates from one of the oldest settlements on Manhattan, so the City's markets operate on the spot where Roman London developed nearly two thousand years ago. The foundations of Bucklersbury House, home of stockbrokers, foreign banks and insurance companies, contain a well preserved Temple of Mithras; and the City's International Commodity Clearing House is carefully built over the remains of the old Roman Wall. International communications are almost equally commonplace and equally fast. The City accounts for one in six of the country's total international telephone calls, and more than half of all the international private leased circuits provided by the Post Office terminate in the City. The chapter offers a realistic assessment of the criticisms now being levelled at it and to explain precisely where people think the truth lies.
