d'Hondt

STV is not proportional - it's still winner takes all: just that "winner" has to have the approval of at least half the voters (on 2nd and subsequent preferences if necessary).

The d'Hondt system apportions seats in an approximately proportional way, but has to handle the fact that you can't have a fractional seat. The larger the number of seats, the more proportional it gets. Compare the North East, where Brexit got two of the three seats on less than 40% of the vote, with the South East where they got four of the ten seats on 36% of the vote). (In a hypothetical single-seat constituency it reduces to "First Past The Post".

What happened in the East Midlands is that no party other than those that won seats got more than 11% of the vote. (Conservative 10.7%, Green 10.6% - Brexit scored more than three times that). It would have been just as disproportionate for either of those to get one of the five seats available. (In fact 13% would have been enough to take the fifth seat).

Parks in Kingston

Most of Kingston's many open spaces are called something other than 'Park', like Canbury Gardens or the Fairfield. Until 1995 Kingston had a part share of Richmond Park.

Queen Victoria bicentenary

George III was still on the throne in 1819, so we have had nine monarchs in the past 200 years.

We have had six Prime Ministers in the past 40 years and nine in the past 50 years.

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

The boundary between Tower Hamlets and Newham is the same as the old Middlesex/Essex boundary - the main channel of the River Lea, which cuts through the park. So if Middlesex Way is in the old county of Middlesex, it's not in Newham.

Norwich

I've never been to Norwich, but many of the places are very familiar from "Tombland" by CJ Sansom, the latest in his "Shardlake" series of novels set in the Tudor era. Most of the action of this one takes place on Mousehold Heath during the anti-enclosure rallies led by John Kett.

Hammersmith Bridge bus changes

What seems to be the problem is that everyone, whether they needed step free access to the Underground (or indeed wanted to use the Underground at all) were being directed to the 533 instead of the quicker alternatives of walking across the bridge or using the Underground or mainline stations in Putney.

I thought TfL's suggestion for Roehamptonites was the 265 to Putney Bridge, whose frequency has been increased for that reason - not much good if Hammersmith was your objective though.

Hammersmth Bridge was closed for 17 months in 1997/98.

D'Hondt

With the D'Hondt method a split vote will usually still result in some representation for at least one of the parties in the split, unless there are a very small number of seats available.

Animal injuries

Many cattle, horse and deer related injuries are actually, caused by dogs, either because the herd animals gang up to defend themselves against the dog and the owner gets caught up in it , or because a dog chases a horse which then throws its rider or runs into traffic - I have seen this happen in Richmond Park when a runaway horse threw it's 12 year old rider in front of a car

Richmond Park

I had often wondered why the cycle clubs insisted on using the park roads rather than the Tamsin Trail, until I replaced the all-terrain tyres on my own bike with narrow road tyres and quickly realised how unsuited they are to loose surfaces. The racing bikes are easily capable of keeping up with cars keeping to the 20mph limit.

Class 319 Channel Tunnel stock

Neither of the two units that went into the tunnel (319008 and 319009) are currently in service, but one of them is being converted to a "bimode" Class 769 and is earmarked for Transport for Wales.

The reason units from that rather humdrum class were chosen for the honour was that no Eurostar train had yet been completed and so it was, at the time, the only type that could operate on the electrical supply on the London to Folkestone route, and also the supply in the tunnel.

Heathrow rail service intervals

Because of the service intervals, the ranges for Heathrow - Central London travel are
Hex 15-30
TfL 30-60
Tube 40-45

So the Hex is always fastest, and the Tube is a slightly better bet than TfL. (I've assumed figures for the Tube are to Earls Court - the first Zone 1 station on the Piccadilly Line. Paddington would take longer).

However, if the first train out is a TfL, waiting for the Hex will only save you ten minutes. If the first train out is a HEx, waiting for the TfL will cost you 25 minutes, or 40 minutes if the second train is another HEx. Forty minutes might be worth paying the extra tenner for.

Jubilee line history

The section from Neasden to Stanmore is rather older than 40 years, having originally been opened as part of the Metropolitan Line in 1880 (Neasden to Wembley) and 1932 (Wembley to Stanmore).

The only new (as distinct from renamed) section in 1979 was south of Baker Street.