If you look at that map Steve mentions, there’s lots of new activity, all welcome no doubt, but very little bid spending, crossrail aside. The Hackney-Chelsea line has bitten the dust, even though preservation powers were taken on the route alignment. Basically, it’s a bit, well, cheap isn’t it? Yes, it’s good to see a vision being thought through for the future, but the map demonstrates that fundementally, TfL has no cash. Enter stage left the PFI on the Tube…
(Oh, and the circle line milk bottle was known as a vacuum flask shape by Harry Beck. Yes, I’m a tube map rockist, and Paul Garnett – creator the the ill-starred 1961 version and man who sacked Harry Beck – can bugger off. Following Frank Pick was always going to be an ask, but he made a ricketts all the same.)