The rise and fall of Londongrad
The era of Russian money in London is over. Other rich foreigners will fill the gap
WEARING NOTHING but a pair of shorts and a felt cap on his head, the thickset man lifts two bunches of oak, birch and eucalyptus leaves above his head. After wafting a wall of hot air across the 90-degree-Celsius sauna, he rhythmically pounds the prostrate body before him. Sweat and steam bounce upwards with each stroke. After ten minutes of thudding, and a strong sensation that his own skeleton is overheating, the dazed victim is led outside, where a bucket of water is upended over his head. A near-freezing plunge pool is the next destination. Shivering slightly, the recipient is dried and propped up in a stupor against a tree stump. A banya, or Russian bathhouse, is not for the faint-hearted. But there are few better locations in which to contemplate the rise and fall of Londongrad.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “The rise and fall of Londongrad”
Britain March 5th 2022
- The fight over Scottish independence appears to be deadlocked
- When it comes to refugees, Britons are both harsh and liberal
- England’s special-education system is on its knees
- Britain is severing financial links with Russia at a blistering pace
- The age of marriage is being raised in England and Wales
- “The Trojan Horse Affair” reignites a row over radicalisation in schools
- The rise and fall of Londongrad
From the March 5th 2022 edition
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