Capital visit proved a pleasant surprise

Read Philip's column every week in the Western Morning News

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I MADE a rare trip to London last week and found myself ever so slightly fearful about the experience before I set off. I think I have been reading too many of the wrong kind of newspapers and online news sources the ones that warn about spiralling crime rates in the capital, violent fare dodgers at every station and a general takeover by malignant forces.

My destination for a business meeting was a leafy enclave a few miles north of the centre a beautiful and historic 'village' in the heart of the capital. But my route had to take me though parts of the city that, according to some commentators in certain sections of our media, would be like entering Dante's Seventh Circle of Hell.

It didn't help that Britain marked 20 years since the tube and bus bombings of 7/7 a couple of weeks before my trip and warnings of a rising risk of further Islamist terrorist plots were thick in the air. Oh, and we were also experiencing the tail end of a heatwave Britain's third this summer - with weather experts issuing extreme heat and health warnings, especially for the south east and London. So what did I find? Well, actually, a transport system that worked a treat, people that were generally kind and courteous and a capital city that, considering the extreme weather, the influx of summer visitors and the sheer numbers it supports, looks to be remarkably up together.