There are even new metro stops as part of the transformational Elizabeth line buildout, with trains now running directly from Reading and Heathrow to Abbey Wood and from Shenfield to Paddington. The London Underground Night Tube reopened more than a year ago, with the city’s other lines mostly up and running as they were before COVID.
Indeed the city is almost back to pre-pandemic capacity, if the Tube is any indication. London tops both our overall Livability and Lovability indices, leading all global cities in the Instagram Hashtags, Facebook Check-ins and Tripadvisor Reviews subcategories that in part comprise the latter. Not that the city’s promotion engine was waning. No wonder that, through all this tumult, the eyes of the world were fixed here more than on any other city-save for maybe Kyiv-reminding everyone that London is spectacular and it’s been a really long while since they visited. From the Queen’s death, to last autumn’s chaotic drama at 10 Downing Street that finally calmed down with Rishi Sunak becoming prime minister, only to take heavy local election losses this spring, London is rarely quiet these days.
The city is more indomitable and part of the global discourse than ever. Despite crippling COVID lockdowns and economic devastation. London still reigns over all global cities.
