Sadiq Khan’s move to rename the Overground line to “showcase London’s rich diversity” comes after the virtue-signalling gimmick is estimated to have cost taxpayers £6.3m became clear and reached an impasse.
The decision to name the line via Wembley after the Lionesses, who won the Euros but lost the World Cup, as opposed to the England men’s team who actually won the World Cup in 1966, has understandably raised eyebrows. I hid it.
The Windrush line from Islington to Croydon and the Suffragette line from Gospel Oak to Barking probably need no introduction, but the Weaver line from Liverpool Street to Enfield has a long history, from Huguenot silk workers to rebel movements. It was apparently renamed to celebrate the Jewish textile workers who had fled. -Eastern European Judaism to Bangladeshi textile manufacturers. How much Jews across the capital will appreciate a common nod to centuries of persecution after jihadi wannabes were allowed to march through London shouting “From the river to the sea” I don’t know.
The Liberty Line celebrates the “independent spirit of the Havering community” and the Mildmay Line in Stratford commemorates the hospital of the same name, which has treated people with HIV and Aids, as a “valued and respected place for London’s LGBTQ+ community” are doing.
The virtue bingo cards are truly complete and Khan will no doubt be congratulating himself on a job well done. But there’s one overlooked immigrant group that certainly deserves its own line, given their significant contributions to London’s culture and infrastructure. It’s Irish.
Perhaps they don’t matter much in the waking mind because they are white. Rather than an Irish line, Transport for London’s description of the Weaver line mentions very little about Irish textile workers.
But consider their contribution to digging canals and building railways, running pubs and lodging establishments, and the influence of Irish culture on music, poetry, literature and art in Britain today. They were not welcomed and instead faced severe discrimination, but their historical suffering appears to have been ignored.
Mr Khan also acknowledged their contribution in 2016, saying: “We know how much we owe the Irish community for the role they have played in making London great.” Ta. How empty those words sound now!
Sadiq Khan’s move to rename the Overground line to “showcase London’s rich diversity” comes after the virtue-signalling gimmick is estimated to have cost taxpayers £6.3m became clear and reached an impasse.
The decision to name the line via Wembley after the Lionesses, who won the Euros but lost the World Cup, as opposed to the England men’s team who actually won the World Cup in 1966, has understandably raised eyebrows. I hid it.
The Windrush line from Islington to Croydon and the Suffragette line from Gospel Oak to Barking probably need no introduction, but the Weaver line from Liverpool Street to Enfield has a long history, from Huguenot silk workers to rebel movements. It was apparently renamed to celebrate the Jewish textile workers who had fled. -Eastern European Judaism to Bangladeshi textile manufacturers. How much Jews across the capital will appreciate a common nod to centuries of persecution after jihadi wannabes were allowed to march through London shouting “From the river to the sea” I don’t know.
The Liberty Line celebrates the “independent spirit of the Havering community” and the Mildmay Line in Stratford commemorates the hospital of the same name, which has treated people with HIV and Aids, as a “valued and respected place for London’s LGBTQ+ community” are doing.
The virtue bingo cards are truly complete and Khan will no doubt be congratulating himself on a job well done. But there’s one overlooked immigrant group that certainly deserves its own line, given their significant contributions to London’s culture and infrastructure. It’s Irish.
Perhaps they don’t matter much in the waking mind because they are white. Rather than an Irish line, Transport for London’s description of the Weaver line mentions very little about Irish textile workers.
But consider their contribution to digging canals and building railways, running pubs and lodging establishments, and the influence of Irish culture on music, poetry, literature and art in Britain today. They were not welcomed and instead faced severe discrimination, but their historical suffering appears to have been ignored.
Mr Khan also acknowledged their contribution in 2016, saying: “We know how much we owe the Irish community for the role they have played in making London great.” Ta. How empty those words sound now!