You should also be stinking rich, as the Lord Mayor is expected to make a "contribution from his/her private resources towards the costs of the mayoral year." This is, in other words, an official old boys' network. To become Lord Mayor you must first have served as an alderman and sheriff, and you "must command the support of, and have the endorsement of, the Court of Aldermen and the Livery". How do you join a livery company? Don't even ask. To become a sheriff, you must be elected from among the aldermen by the Livery. You're most likely to qualify if you belong to one of the City livery companies: medieval guilds such as the worshipful company of costermongers, cutpurses and safecrackers. To become a freeman you must be approved by the aldermen. To qualify for any of these offices, you must be a freeman of the City of London. There are four layers of elected representatives in the Corporation: common councilmen, aldermen, sheriffs and the Lord Mayor. It's not the workers who decide how the votes are cast, but the bosses, who "appoint" the voters. The bigger the business, the bigger the vote: a company with 10 workers gets two votes, the biggest employers, 79. In the remaining 21, the votes are controlled by corporations, mostly banks and other financial companies. In four of them, the 9,000 people who live within its boundaries are permitted to vote. There are 25 electoral wards in the Square Mile. But, as its website boasts, "among local authorities the City of London is unique". What is this thing? Ostensibly it's the equivalent of a local council, responsible for a small area of London known as the Square Mile. The protesters, in turn, have demanded that it submit to national oversight and control. Alongside the Church of England, the Corporation is seeking to evict the protesters camped outside St Paul's cathedral. But I doubt that one in 10 British people has any idea of what the Corporation of the City of London is and how it works. It's the dark heart of Britain, the place where democracy goes to die, immensely powerful, equally unaccountable.
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