The work which will realign tunnels affects about 75000 Tube users
The work, which will realign tunnels, affects about 75,000 Tube users.. While the work is said to be "necessary" and "disruptions will be kept to a minimum", that is hardly likely to impress commuters in London and the South-east who have seen a chaotic year of delay and cancellations on the Tube.Further misery, compounded by the chilling phrase "replacement bus service", is heaped upon travellers and tourists today when, just four days after London Underground announced record profits of almost pounds 300m, a busy part of the Northern Line closes for nine weeks.Commuters heading to the City from south London will have to use alternative routes because of rebuilding work between Moorgate and Kennington. The line needs urgent replacement of track and points-switching devices to keep services running safely but weekend working alone will not be enough. Almost 60 trains an hour use the Brixton terminus - or, in London Underground jargon, the station has "250,000 train movements per year". The Transport minister Helen Liddell told MPs the Victoria Line between Brixton and Victoria will shut for a fortnight from 23 October.
THE BUSIEST section of rail track in the country, the Brixton terminus of London Underground's Victoria Line, is to close this autumn, forcing 120,000 daily commuters on to the roads, the Government said yesterday. This year they hired one of the organisers of Sydney's event, andalmost 40,000 of the 65,000 tickets have been sold for the after-march party in Finsbury Park, north London, where Steps, Billy, E17 and Boy George among others will perform.. This year it has been modelled on the flamboyant Mardi Gras events in Sydney and San Francisco. Last year the Gay Pride celebration had to be cancelled after the organisersfailed to sell enough tickets. They were led by Mark Taylor, its manager, who suffered severe burns when the bomb went offas he shepherded customers out of the bar He urged that the evening should be a celebration "We have to look to the future," he said. He was described by his boss as "one of the most courageous men I have ever met".The opening came on the eve of London's annual gay and lesbian street march and festival. Introducing himself as an "out, gay Methodist minister", he called for the bombing to be a catalyst for greater understanding between different communities.As the time moved towards 6.37pm, the exact moment of the explosion, the crowd was stilled into a minute's silence for the victims, followed by the tolling bell of the local parish church.Then the staff of the pub, who had been on duty that night, cut ribbons on a large rainbow rosette hanging in the doorway to declare the pub open again.
"The opening of the Admiral Duncan in just nine weeks sends out a powerful message to the small but very dangerous minority that wishes to terrorise and destroy London's gay and ethnic communities."The ceremony was taken by Neil Whitehouse from the charity Kairos, directly next door to the pub, which aims to provide "social and spiritual resources for lesbians, gay men and friends". It is about sadness and remembrance, but it is also about moving on," he said. Such was the charged emotion on Old Compton Street, in the heart of the capital's gay district, last night. Boy George had by then already supplied the celebrity presence at the event, wearing a polka dot top hat and escorted through the cheering crowd by a huge policeman."Tonight is about so many things. One young man on crutches, his leg still held together by a metal frame, was so overcome that he had to be escorted back inside. In front of him a small knot of victims and their relatives hugged and stroked each other, and wept openly. But as the short ceremony drew to a close, and a singer belted out a powerful version of "Somewhere" from West Side Story, the security man's eyes filled with tears. WITH CLOSELY cropped hair and outwardly impassive, as befits his trade, the security guard stood with muscular arms folded scanning the large crowd that had assembled outside the Admiral Duncan pub in Soho, London - target of the horrific nail bomb attack just nine weeks ago that left three people dead and 86 injured.
"Our decision on the euro will be made in the interests of Britain, not in the interests of those who want us to pull out of Europe," he will say.Mr Cook will defend the Government as "Labour through and through" and insist that its policies are helping people in the party's heartlands.. While they were there, they could be persuaded to come off the drug. "I might in the future consider the legalisation of all drugs because I don't believe that prohibition works," he added.Paul Flynn, the MP for Newport West, said that the legalisation of cannabis for medicinal purposes could help people who have multiple sclerosis.But Jack Cunningham, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, insisted that the Government had "no intention of decriminalising any illegal drugs".t Robin Cook, the Foreign Secretary, will tell today's Labour Party forum in Durham that the Government will not be "pandering to Euroscepticism" despite the Conservatives' success in last month's European elections. "If decriminalisation of cannabis worked, I think I would be in favour of going back to the 1971 situation where heroin addicts didn't have to go on the street and rob you first to pay for it." Dr Iddon said street heroin was dirty and could prove fatal.He would prefer addicts to go to a clinic where pure heroin could be supplied. "Five million people are now using cannabis for medical or recreational purposes - that is 8 per cent of the population. Is this the right law when so many people are prepared to break it?"Dr Iddon said he was in favour of a "step-wise" approach. "I would certainly allow the use of cannabis tomorrow for medical purposes, but I don't believe that will work entirely."Valuable resources were being "wasted" on catching cannabis users and locking them up, he said.
Brian Iddon, the MP for Bolton South East and chairman of the all-party drugs misuse group, said he might in future even consider the legalisation of all drugs. Any formal review of the drugs laws presupposes that some change ... is necessary, and would question our commitment to tackle the menace posed to society by illegal narcotics."Yesterday, during a Commons debate on drugs, two Labour MPs joined the activists' calls to decriminalise cannabis. A draft policy statement on crime warns that decriminalising soft drugs would make Britain a prime target for drug takers and traffickers and increase drug addiction. It says: "The public is very concerned about the drug problem and would rightly question any moves to change the law in this area. Activists in Manchester said: "We need to have a full and open debate about the issues and not be tied to a fixed position for the next seven or eight years."But the Labour leadership will seek to defeat the grassroots demands. In a national consultation exercise, 18 constituency parties have urged the Government to legalise cannabis or at least set up a Royal Commission to review the drug laws.