Has anyone seen that TFL are wanting to name the London overground lines?

[Dinopawus]

Saw this earlier. I don't think it's an official consultation as such but it sounds like interviews will be held with the travelling public.

I'd really like to see women represented (although not holding my breath). When I hear that Sadiq Khan wants diverse representation, I tend to assume that doesn't mean women.

Who would you like to see nominated with links to London? Rosalind Franklin,
Ada Lovelace, Cicely Saunders, Marie Curie, Millicent Fawcett, any number of suffragettes, Rhaune Laslett, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, all spring to mind but there must be hundreds of other brilliant women worthy of the honour.

tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/improvements-and-projects/naming-overground?intcmp=73299#on-this-page-1

Haha, so true! But am in Scotland so can't blame UK gov entirely

Driverless trains have been used on the DLR

If you tried to do a bit of googling you will see that even enthusiasts say all of the things you say are possible are years off.

The DLR was designed for driverless trains.

Most of our country is still living off the work done by Victorians, whether roads, rail, sewers, housing.

And by the way if drivers have been able to raise their wages through strikes it just shows they are providing an essential service. Otherwise their strike wouldn't have had an impact.

Unlike the staff on P&O(?) who were sacked in breach of contract and replaced with zero hours workers.

Like to see someone who worked in an Amazon warehouse taking over control of a train.

Apart from the fact that the level of salary is raised by level of responsibility and the consequences when they fail. It isn't just pushing a few buttons.

It amazes me sometimes (well, it doesn't) how people who are perfectly willing to sell their houses for whatever they can get are ready to criticise essential and very skilled workers for selling their labour for what the market will bear.

If you tried to do a bit of googling you will see that even enthusiasts say all of the things you say are possible are years off.

Sure, it’s a long-term thing. But some tube lines are part-automated already and the in-built potential for driverless operation of new stock is a requirement, as I understand it. There’s a Metro line in Paris that operates driverless trains.

There are big costs with the tube going driverless, that’s true. But in some respects the costs are weighted against reliability of the service and the attractiveness of London for businesses.

I don’t blame the unions for opposing it. They’re there to defend their members’ jobs. But they must expect that others will have a different view when they’re affected by strikes. As to which…

It amazes me sometimes (well, it doesn't) how people who are perfectly willing to sell their houses for whatever they can get are ready to criticise essential and very skilled workers for selling their labour for what the market will bear.

But if a market’s artificial - like a monopoly of supply or even companies colluding and price fixing - don’t you think there’s cause for complaint?

I have no problem with workers combining or striking in many situations. The special position of employment and the need to address the asymmetric power in the relationship has been recognised for a very long time. But I think it tips over into a form of extortion when a sector knows it can rig the pay market because it’s an effective monopoly.

because it’s an effective monopoly.

Its not a monopoly. The many rail companies supply an essential service.

The NHS is a monopoly, and striking doesn't seem to help their staff.

I meant that tube drivers are an effective monopoly. If they strike (and even though it’s usually not all lines every time) they are basically putting the whole system out of action and for most users there’s no likely alternative way of going to work.

It is also true that WFH, or its possibility, blunts the strikes a bit these days. But it’s still a near-monopoly on the biggest single means of travel in London. Much the same can be said for the trains. That’s why mass transit suffers from so many strikes historically.

The NHS is certainly a monopoly, or at least functionally so. But millions don’t pour in and out of it every day as a matter of routine and daily reliance. The NHS strikes are potent because of sympathy for the caring professions, and fear.

JK Rowling
Julie Bindel
Julie Burchill
Helen Joyce
Magdalen Burns
Kathleen Stock

Can’t wait for the new branding!
(apart from it will probably be that fella breastfeeding again, as apparently he’s such a good ‘mum’)