Fear and Loathing in West London.

Mayor Boris Johnson's plan for a new "fantasy island airport on stilts" in the Thames Estuary seems unlikely to become reality anytime soon but you never can tell. The idea has been around for years, Grocer Heath being a previous enthusiast for an airport on the Maplin Sands. The sandbank in question was of course named after the famous leisure entrepreneur Joe Maplin who at one time wanted to establish one of his holiday camps there. Wake up at the back.

The loss of wildfowl habitat would be regrettable, but here in leafy West London we tend to be gung ho for the project. Anything to stop the expansion of Heathrow. Anything to take our minds off falling property values, school fees and the indignity of having to go on the school run (desert storm) in last years 4x4. Also we tend to view anywhere east of Bow Creek as one vast shit hole populated by tattooed neanderthals and ethnics various. This view used to extend to anywhere east of Bishopsgate until Thatcher's spawn seeped into the East End and the area became "interesting", "desirable", albeit a bit "edgy".