The View from the Spaghetti Factory

Tube booze party ‘irresponsible’

… according to the RMT Union.

Yes, but during the course of public drunkenness and anti-establishment revelry, was anyone stabbed, punched, robbed or molested? Nope, doesn’t look like it!

[Later edit: Looks like there was some disorder, but it's hard to tell whether that's TfL applying a bit of spin to discredit the protesters. Still, it only really demonstrates the usual "few bad apples" truism, rather than conclusively justifying Boris's new policy.]

Network Rail have an unenviable task in repairing and maintaining our rail infrastructure after years of neglect, while trying to create the minimum of disruption to the regular service. In the long run, most rail users would probably accept a few weekends of inconvenience in return for a better service in the future.

Yesterday morning, though, I wondered if they have access to PR advisers or, better still, a calendar. To shut down a large chunk of the south London suburban network (basically, a triangle between Sutton, Croydon and Streatham) for 24 hours is never going to be a popular move, but to do so on the day of the London Marathon, when hundreds of thousands of people congregate in central London from all over the country… well, what can you say?

Anyway, enough complaining. Despite the reduced transport options and the rain, the Marathon was a great spectator event, with plenty of plucky determination, joviality and general backslapping. Congratulations to everyone who took part, for whatever reason.

London Marathon 2006 photos on Flickr