Migrants are very much in the news at the moment. Despite the seemingly unsolvable pressures of the current mass migration across Europe, I do think that most big cities are made more interesting by a cosmopolitan population. And where would ESNG be without our local curry house?
The BBC has come up with this article on London’s languages, based on the route of the Victoria London Underground line.
Along many stretches of the Victoria Line more than 11 different languages are listed as a main language by at least 1% of residents.
Many people originating from Bangladesh moved into the area around Euston, a major railway station connecting the capital to the north of the country, to meet hungry travellers’ fondness of food from the Indian sub-continent, says Mohammed Salique, a local community leader. “Before people get on the train they get takeaways.”
A lot of interesting statistics and some good photographs of the stations along the way. Also a high speed trip at ground level along the route of the line (or as close as one can get along the local roads.)
You might also like this geographically correct tube map. The stylish diagrammatic map is a design classic, but sometimes hides how close stations really are. (I have a friend who moved to the 1970’s who changed tube twice rather than walk half a mile – until she realised where the stations really were.)

Part of the geographically accurate map