Inside the 2012 summer edition of the New Statesman, a special double issue on London, figures from the worlds of pop culture, academia, media and politics offered a "tale" of what the city means to them (and in one case, why they hate it).

Here are the collected capsule essays, from an eclectic mix of the capital's long-term, former and born-and-bred residents.

• A life in art galleries  - Vivienne Westwood on London’s passion and fury

• From hell to hipsville - Bim Adewunmi contemplates Hackney’s inevitable gentrification

• The City in the sky - Alex Preston urges bankers to look up at the buildings they built

• Dancing beak to beak - Ruth Padel argues that London Zoo is a place of respite and renewal

• See, hear, taste, touch - Evgeny Lebedev is grateful to a city that welcomed him

• For richer, for poorer - David Lammy questions whether London can be a place for all

• Secrets of a river - Matthew Hollis travels on a boat down the mercurial, magical Thames

• Thank you for the music - Dorian Lynskey celebrates the Rough Trade record shop

• Come one, come all - Sarah Sands insists no other city can compete with the capital

• Northern lights - Stuart Maconie is tired of all the fuss devoted to a southern town

• Sunday, bloody Sunday - Maurice Glasman recalls gloomy weekends in Palmers Green