A couple of days ago, I got offered a job back in Beijing (as regular readers of this website will know, I recently spent a year working in China) totally out of the blue.

China is arguably the only country to have emerged from the financial crisi relatively unscathed yet this time around I wasn’t remotely tempted to take up the offer. For one thing, I have a job – at CD-Traveller towers – that I absolutely adore (cheesey but true) but leaving work to one side,  even George Clooney couldn’t persuade me to leave London in 2012.

The capital has entered the most extraordinary and exciting year, with the Olympic and Paralympic Games guaranteeing a summer like no other. Of course London in 2012 isn’t only about sport. There’s the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations to look forward to, plus a cornucopia of cultural events.

In February we have the Lucien Freud exhibition over at the National Portrait Gallery, while Daniel Barenboim arrives at the Royal Festival Hall in April. Factor in London Fashion Week next month, the Arts Festival in June and a summer that will see an array of events including free al fresco music sessions in Heddon Street and West End musicals in Trafalgar Square and you have to wonder: why would anyone in their right mind leave?

Or as The Clash once sang:
“London calling at the top of the dial.

And after all this, won’t you give me a smile?

London calling

I never felt so much alive”