London: the most grotesque city in the world?

Marina Hyde wrote a nifty little piece for last Friday's Guardian saying: "Even Dr Johnson would tire of modern London, where bigwigs welcome global scumbags and nobody else matters."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/mar/16/london-grotesque-bashar-boris-ken

And here is a somewhat less gloomy piece about recent efforts to encourage walking and cycling in London: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/mar/15/london-mayor-cycling-walking