First London Tube map with Elizabeth Line published

 

Major £18bn underground railway route will open next week after years of delays

Transport for London (TfL) has released a new Tube map with the Elizabeth Line included for the first time.

The new east-west railway has been added to the map before its opening on May 24.

It is displayed as a double purple line rather than a solid line to “differentiate the Elizabeth Line as a new railway as opposed to a London Underground line”, TfL said.

The line stretches from Reading in Berkshire and Heathrow Airport in west London to Shenfield in Essex and Abbey Wood in south-east London.

Trains will initially operate in three sections, which are expected to be integrated in the autumn.

The new central section, built by the delayed and overbudget Crossrail project, runs through tunnels from Paddington in west London to Abbey Wood.

Services on the two other sections already operate as TfL Rail and will be rebranded as the Elizabeth Line from May 24.

The line is named in honour of Queen Elizabeth II, who visited Paddington station on Tuesday to mark the completion of the Crossrail.

The map also includes the Bank branch of the Northern Line, which reopened this week after a 17-week closure for major upgrades, and the London Overground extension to Barking Riverside, which launches in the autumn.

The Tube map is based on a 1931 design by London Underground electrical draughtsman Harry Beck. The first published version was released in 1933.

TfL’s interim customer and revenue director Julie Dixon said: “Our world-renowned map now has another iconic addition in the Elizabeth Line, which will serve London and the south-east for hundreds of years to come.

“When we open on Tuesday May 24, the new Elizabeth Line will begin providing greater connectivity and step-free access from Reading and Heathrow to Shenfield and Abbey Wood through the centre of London.

Ms Dixon called the latest Tube map “a real credit to the team who have put it together”.

“It has been both a challenge and a privilege to update Harry Beck’s original design to literally put a new piece of transport history on the map,” she continued.

“This latest version takes into account a number of wider changes to the transport network, but will ensure Londoners and visitors alike are able to navigate around our transport network with ease.”

Local election results 2022: Tories suffer heavy losses as Johnson faces backlash

 

Voters went to the polls on Thursday in 200 local authorities across Britain, with early results going against the Conservatives

Boris Johnson faced a backlash from local Tory leaders as his party lost major London authorities to Labour and suffered setbacks across England after Britain went to the polls.

Early overnight results went against the UK prime minister’s party, with the Conservatives braced for even more bad news as counting was due to begin on Friday morning in many counties across England, Scotland and Wales.

Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party strengthened its grip on the capital, taking the key authority in Wandsworth, a low-tax Conservative stronghold since 1978 and famously Margaret Thatcher’s favourite blue council. Labour also made significant breakthroughs by taking control of Barnet and Westminster councils, the latter for the first time since its creation in 1964. It was part of a trend in the British capital in which voters used the elections to express anger over the rising cost of living and fines imposed on the prime minister for breaking his own Covid-19 lockdown rules.

The overall tally due later on Friday will offer the most important snapshot of public opinion since Mr Johnson won the Conservative Party’s biggest majority in more than 30 years in the 2019 general election.

The ballot is the first electoral test for Mr Johnson since he became the first British leader in living memory to have broken the law while in office. He was fined last month for attending a birthday gathering in his office in 2020, breaking social distancing rules then in place to curb the spread of Covid-19.

As dozens of Tory councillors lost their seats, some local Conservative leaders criticised the prime minister.

John Mallinson, leader of Carlisle City Council, hit out after Labour took control of the new Cumberland authority that will replace it.

He told the BBC: “I think it is not just partygate, there is the integrity issue.

“I just don’t feel people any longer have the confidence that the prime minister can be relied upon to tell the truth.”

In Portsmouth, where the Tories lost four seats, Simon Bosher, the leader of the Conservative group, said Mr Johnson should “take a good, strong look in the mirror” because “those are people that are actually bearing the brunt on the doorstep of behaviour of what’s been going on in Westminster”.

Ravi Govindia, now the former Wandsworth Council leader, said: “Let’s not be coy about it, of course national issues were part of the dilemma people were facing.”

‘Big turning point for Labour’

Labour’s ability to take Barnet Council from the Tories will be seen as a sign the party has moved on from the days of being blighted by anti-Semitism rows under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. The north London area has a large Jewish population — a voting bloc Mr Starmer had reached out to immediately after becoming party leader in a bid to win back trust.

Before the final results were declared in Barnet, the Conservative group leader Daniel Thomas conceded defeat, saying the loss of the council “does not bode well” for the Tories and summing it up as a “warning shot” from his party’s supporters.

Speaking during a visit to Barnet on Thursday morning, Mr Starmer lauded the party’s “brilliant” result in the area and said there would be “more to come as the day goes on”.

“We’ve turned a massive corner in the Labour Party here,” he told reporters. “We’re winning in London, we’re winning north and south as well in Cumberland, we’ve won in Southampton, we’ve got more results to come.”

“This is a big, big turning point for us. This is a massive turning point for the Labour Party.

Read more:https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2022/05/06/local-election-results-2022-tories-suffer-heavy-losses-as-johnson-faces-backlash/

Billie Eilish to host climate event at London's O2 Arena this summer

 

The star will host a panel discussion as part of the Overheated event, alongside her brother Finneas

Billie Eilish is set to host a climate takeover at London’s O2 Arena during her world tour this summer.

The Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter has announced that the climate-focused event, entitled Overheated, will take place during her Happier Than Ever world tour dates at the venue.

Over the course of six days in June, climate activists, musicians and designers will discuss the climate crisis and reveal the work they are doing to make a difference.

Topics of discussion are set to include greening practices in the music industry, the benefits of a plant-based diet and sustainable fashion.

Eilish, 20, and her brother, singer-songwriter Finneas, will introduce Overheated Live — a panel event taking place in Indigo, the O2’s corporate event space.

The panel will also feature a keynote address from fashion designer and environmental activist Dame Vivienne Westwood.

The panel event discussion, hosted by BBC radio host Abbie McCarthy, will feature Eilish’s mother and campaigner Maggie Baird, as well as climate activists including Jack Harries, Tori Tsui and Vanessa Nakate.

Each day of the climate takeover will include panel discussions, live performances, a documentary viewing and opportunities for the public to take climate action.

Overheated will also host the Citizen-T Playground, a clothes swap taking place in the O2.

A short documentary made for the event will explore the concepts behind Overheated and the climate issues it hopes to address.

The film will be available to watch at Cineworld at the O2 throughout the six-day event, and will also be available online for free.

The documentary will feature Eilish and Finneas, 24, as well as other members of the music community including the Norwegian singer-songwriter girl in red, singer Yungblud and Emily Eavis, co-organiser of the Glastonbury Festival.

Presale tickets are available for the O2, Priority and Live Nation customers from May 4, with general sale available from May 6 at 9am GMT.

All ticket sales profits will be donated to the plant-based food organisation Support + Feed and environmental non-profit organisation Reverb.