But this demi-anarchy can produce accidental conjunctions of bizarre magnificence: the triumvirate of King's Cross, St Pancras and the British Library is townscape at its most original and extravagant.The huge Docklands development, by encouraging a high-spirited architectural free- for-all, continues the great London tradition of unplanned individualism; its climax, the superb waterfront of Canary Wharf, has the cool, creamy elegance of Belgravia and Regent's Park.London is also profligate, and repeatedly throws itself away. Both vices result from an excess of variety and the necessity for tolerance.Very typical of London, therefore, is the lunatic compromise. Its greatest vice is indifference - it's hard to set the town alight Another is indecision. It is interested in the past and the future, in class, sex and money Does this sound cruel? But London is not a cruel city. People still say good morning as they scuttle along, and there's everything you want - the Mary Quant Colour Shop (of course), Daphne's, the Conran Shop, the Japanese Take-Away and the old Michelin building which houses the Bibendum restaurant.in English society for 1,000 years, and it is the same with London, which is in unceasing, minor Burkean revolution.Actually, London in not very interested in politics - or in beauty - or in the present. Exciting new things are happening here, but they haven't taken away from the village feel; it just gets more chic. Most historical cities maintain themselves; London re-designs itself every generation.

There are non-stop alterations, disfigurement, charmification, smashing down, building up. There has been no major revolution Mary Quant, the designer, has commuted to her office-cum-shop in Draycott Avenue, Chelsea, for more than a decadeChelsea Village is my patch. We bought our building here in the Sixties, and I've lived two minutes in one direction and three in the other. The Beatles once took refuge in my workroom because they were being mobbed when they were out shopping, and the Rolling Stones always used the fish restaurant nearby. Such streets are only feasible in New York because they are dead straight and open to the sea at each end.

To leave London is to admit that something inside you has died; the bright lights of London never grow any dimmer, it's only the people who grow dullernot too high-octane, rather dreamlike, in fact - and everywhere fretted with gardens, trees and more trees, a city half hidden by leaves.Most of it is on a human scale: London doesn't go for canyon streets - it would quickly paralyse itself if it did. When we've won a trophy, the council workers mowing Highbury fields wear little red and white hats, and I feel very much as though they are an integral part of my local community, reminding me of the old line about London being a collection of villages. Even the ceremonial centre is assembled haphazardly.And here is the magic - this labyrinth is not a prison It constantly dissolves into fantasy and escape. All is surprise, fascination and diversion:Tony Parsons, writer and presenterThe greatest thing about London is being able to live within walking distance of a bookshop, a Vietnamese restaurant and Highbury football ground, the home of football. There is no way of standing outside it because it is not a place but a medium which only ever reveals parts of its parts. Its space, like that of the universe, is curved; but, as with the universe, you can only be inside London. This is the nearest London ever gets to purity of form, and for the uninitiated this is London at its most terrifying.London doesn't have straight lines.