Rod Liddle’s comments on the facile rebranding of London’s Overground rail network (Comment, last week) hit the spot — but why is he using this to launch an attack on London itself and, by implication, Londoners?
Liddle says: “London has its own values, which are markedly different from our own.” Most Londoners would disagree, me included. We are just as annoyed by Sadiq Khan’s ridiculous posturing as Liddle is. We were not consulted about this stupid exercise in self-aggrandisement but, nevertheless, are having to pay for it.
I would welcome scrapping the whole mayorship. It does nothing to improve Londoners’ lives and costs us a fortune. A government minister for London would be better and more accountable.
Martin C Reynolds, London SW11
Eating up money
Thank you, Rod, for highlighting the mayor’s crazy scheme to spend £6.3 million of my money on changing the names of some railway lines. I read the column just after having contributed to a collection for the local food bank. This tells you a great deal about the mayor’s sense of priorities. Please believe me: we are not all this mad.
Keith Makin, Croydon Labour Party member, Croydon
Northerners exposed
The way Liddle spits venom at London from his northern fastness brings to mind the reproach of Dex to Emma in the first episode of the Netflix series One Day: “You know, the thing about northerners is that you rate yourselves so very highly for your sense of humour, but actually you’re just really bloody rude.”
Tom Stubbs, Surbiton
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The hole hog
Having spent £6.3 million on renaming railway lines, if Sadiq Khan has any money left over, he could allocate funds to naming our other notable transport landmarks: London’s potholes. They are large, permanent and of great local interest, so surely names would be appropriate. I am sure Khan could come up with some creative and interesting selections.
Tony Kramer, London
What’s in a mane?
I am surprised by the Lioness line. I thought such gendered names were no longer acceptable in progressive circles: we’ve done away with actresses and heroines, after all. Shouldn’t lionesses just be called lions? Although I can see that naming it the Lion line could cause confusion.
Eric Redmond, Melbourne, Australia
