Claus Färber said:
Not if it's London as in the Greater London Authority (or, historically, the Greater London Council, the London County Council, etc.), as opposed to the City of London which has been only a small part of the geography and government of the greater city for centuries. The GLA is a super-city authority, covering multiple cities such as the City of London, the City of Westminster, etc. Well, that just proves my point that the term "city" introduces ambiguity.
The term "city" has at least three meanings within the UK: (1) [the legal definition] A local authority area granted city status by the crown. The LA may be a District, a Borough, or a Parish. (2) [the pub lawyer's definition] A conurbation containing a cathedral. (3) [colloquial] A large conurbation. London is a city under the second and third definitions, and a local authority area containing two cities under the first. But so what? Every country has its own concept of what a "city" is and how it differs from a town. The colloquial one is probably better *FOR THIS PURPOSE* than either of the other two.
It's simply inconsistent to treat Greater London as a "city", which is made up of multiple municipalities like the City of London, Westminster, etc.,
They aren't municipalities, they're boroughs. And Birmingham is equally split up into wards. So what?
It's also inconsistent to treat Greater London as a "city" and not Greater Milan (7 million), which would be substantially larger than Rome or Greater Rome (2.5 or 3.3 million).
Does "Greater Milan" have a single governmental authority? -- Clive D.W. Feather | Work: <clive@demon.net> | Tel: +44 20 8495 6138 Internet Expert | Home: <clive@davros.org> | Fax: +44 870 051 9937 Demon Internet | WWW: http://www.davros.org | Mobile: +44 7973 377646 THUS plc | |