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Colin Rosenstiel · May 28th 08, 08:45 AM posted to uk.transport.london

In article ,
(James Farrar) wrote:

On Wed, 28 May 2008 07:37:40 +0100, Martin Edwards
wrote:

wrote:
On 27 May, 19:09, Charles Ellson wrote:
On Tue, 27 May 2008 15:18:55 +0100, James Farrar
wrote:
On Tue, 27 May 2008 06:47:09 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:
On 25 May, 07:53, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 07:46:19 on
Sun, 25 May 2008, Martin Edwards
remarked:
Also it is debatable whether Luton or Stanstead are actually
in the London area. The names are a product of London's
self-obsession and the international obsession with it.
Luton qualifies under your description (even though it's as well
connected to London as Gatwick and arguably better than
Stansted)
but Stansted is the official "third London Airport".
Surely Luton isn't closer to London than Stansted is? I'd have
thought they were about equi-distant.
Luton looks to be about 5 miles closer than Stansted.
According to DirectGov journey planner:-
To Charing Cross from -
Stansted 40.8 miles
Lu'on 34.7
Gatwick 29.4
Thiefrow 17.4
Northolt 14.1
London City 8.6

Fair enough. But I still think it's difficult to argue that 35 miles
away in Bedfordshire is London, while 41 miles away in Essex
isn't...

None of it is London, precisely the point I am making. As a native of

Watford, on the very rim of Greater London, I have an axe to grind.

I agree.

In fact, I'd go so far as to say that LHR is only "in London"
because it's there.

(Or, in other words, if Heathrow hadn't been built, the site it's on
probably would be outside the GLA area.)

It straddled the Greater London boundary until a review some years ago.

--
Colin Rosenstiel