Maybe he's a very effective 'behind the scenes' operator and I'm unfairly disparaging him. But I've never seen any evidence that he's done very much at all, truth be told. In fact, a local newspaper reporter once came to my door with a photograph and asked, "Do you know this man?" It was Jim Dowd and they were doing a story along the lines of how his own constituents don't know who he is. And I thought the Forest Hill Society had at least as big a role to play in getting the East London Line but my memory may be playing tricks on me.

However, it is clearly all to the good that anyone with any influence impresses upon the Mayor that the Paddington extension gets funding so I humbly apologise if my snarly comment about our MP appeared ungrateful for your efforts, Sherwood.