The Lord Mayor’s Show: A Celebration of Tradition or a Symbol of Inequality?
The Lord Mayor's Show, a centuries-old tradition, is a grand pageant that highlights London's social and economic divides, prompting questions about who truly benefits from its historic rituals.
Society & Politics, Cultural
Every November, the streets of London are filled with the sights and sounds of The Lord Mayor's Show, a centuries-old procession that has become a dazzling display of tradition, pageantry, and civic pride. Floats, marching bands, and a grand procession of livery companies fill the streets, celebrating the office of the Lord Mayor of London in a spectacle that seems designed to showcase the City's wealth and historical significance.
At first glance, it’s easy to see why the event has become a defining feature of London's cultural calendar—a symbol of the City's enduring power and influence. This creates a stark contrast between the public image of tradition and civic pride versus the reality of deep economic and social inequality within the city and the wider UK.
The Disconnect Between Ceremony and Inequality
1. Exclusive Nature of City Traditions:
Events like the Lord Mayor’s Show, while rich in history and spectacle, are heavily tied to a system of privilege. The Lord Mayor, though ceremonial, presides over one of the world’s most influential financial districts. The show itself is a visual reminder of a class divide that seems to say, "This is the heritage of the powerful." The Freedom of the City is another example: it's granted to a select group of people, typically business leaders, celebrities, or dignitaries, and is often seen as a mark of status. To the ordinary citizen, these ceremonies can appear detached from their day-to-day concerns, especially when they don't have access to such privileges or power.
Photo: iStock/lovemax
2. The Role of the City of London Corporation in Global Finance:
The City of London Corporation, as highlighted in a documentary released in 2017 at the London Film Festival called The Spider's Web: Britain's Second Empire, directed by Michael Oswald, is at the heart of Britain’s financial empire. Its influence stretches far beyond the borders of the UK, with a significant role in offshore banking, tax havens, and financial deregulation that allows money to flow freely but often at the expense of transparency and accountability. The Corporation’s influence over the British government has historically allowed it to preserve certain privileges, such as exemptions from certain regulations and taxes, that ordinary citizens don't have.
These privileges contribute to widening the wealth gap in London and the UK as a whole. There's a key focus on how the Corporation’s financial operations—sometimes opaque and hidden from public scrutiny—have enabled the super-wealthy and large corporations to prosper while the city itself, and particularly its poorer residents, face increasing economic pressures. This duality of privilege for a select few and struggles for the majority speaks to a deeper societal issue in Britain.
A celebration of wealth and power often obscures deeper issues that continue to shape today's political and financial landscape.
3. The City's Role in the Empire and Its Legacy:
The "spider's web" metaphor mentioned above, suggests that the Corporation is a kind of hidden, often invisible, power that continues to shape the global financial system. The wealth generated through colonialism and empire-building has left a lasting legacy of inequality that persists today. In this context, the ceremonial aspects of the City of London seem almost out of place—they represent a bygone era of elitism, while the economic and political structures they sustain continue to concentrate wealth in the hands of the few.
4. Modern Inequality:
While the Lord Mayor’s Show or the granting of Freedom of the City might seem like harmless traditions, they can be seen as symbols of a broader, entrenched inequality that still exists in London and beyond. The City's economic dominance has created a situation where, despite the gloss of modernity, the rich get richer, often at the expense of the most vulnerable in society. As ordinary people face soaring living costs, housing crises, and the dismantling of social safety nets, the exclusivity of these ancient ceremonies can feel not just outdated but out of touch.
Lords Mayor’s performance 2024. Photo: City of London
5. PR vs. Reality:
Much of the City’s power is shrouded in a veneer of tradition and civic pride, although, this image is often used to deflect attention from the Corporation’s more controversial role in global finance. By promoting its role in maintaining London’s “heritage” and its commitment to public events, the Corporation can present a more positive image, even as it maintains its outsized influence in the world of global finance. The question then becomes: how much of the public affection for these traditional events is a carefully managed PR campaign, and how much is tied to genuine civic pride? For many, it may just be another example of elite capture, where the rich use history, tradition, and spectacle to further cement their position.
Is It Time for a Revaluation of These Traditions?
Given the critical issues surrounding wealth inequality and the concentration of power in the hands of the few, it’s reasonable to question whether the City of London Corporation should continue to be celebrated as a bastion of tradition. The contrast between the pomp of the Lord Mayor’s Show and the harsh realities of financial inequality presents an opportunity for broader discussion about the relevance of such traditions in a modern, more inclusive society.
Questions for Reflection:
- Do these events truly represent the civic pride of all Londoners, or are they simply a show for the elite?
- How much of the City's financial power is built on systems that perpetuate inequality, both in the UK and globally?
- Should there be more transparency and accountability in how the City operates, especially regarding its role in tax avoidance and global finance?
Ultimately, as we reflect on the legacy of the City of London Corporation and its role in both historical and contemporary economic systems, it becomes clear that these traditional ceremonies and institutions are not just quaint vestiges of the past—they are intricately connected to power structures that continue to shape the lives of millions of people, often in ways that are hidden from public view.
In the era of increasing inequality and a growing divide between the rich and the poor, these celebrations of heritage can no longer be viewed as neutral or uncontroversial. They require critical scrutiny, and perhaps, reimagining.
About the Author
Razvan Chiorean is the published author of Art Buzz News, online content curator and contemporary art documentarist, committed to advancing diversity and accessibility in the art community. With a keen focus on innovation and a steadfast commitment to inclusivity, Razvan strives to unite cultures, serving as a bridge that seamlessly integrates art and innovation, all within the universal language of creativity.
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