Contemporary London is in denial. It has been in denial for 4 years that the boom times are over; this denial manifests in the continual expectation of a return to reality. It is obvious in the acceptance now that we are in a 'double-dip' recession. The implication of course is that we will have two brief blips of recession before normality resumes. I can't be sure I suppose that this won't be what happens, but the absolute certainty most people have that it will is at least as unreliable. The other, related, more local denial is of the riots. No one really talks or thinks about them any more. Just like the recession, they are an uncomfortable real not fitting with our imagination of reality, and as such they will be repressed, not dealt with. But of course, this repressed will return.