Mind the gap

But, like riding a bike, learning how to do "joined-up writing" is suddenly easy — well, for most people — and you never forget how to do it.

It has also become common to talk about "joined-up politics", "joined-up policies" and "joined-up thinking". In these cases, "joined-up" means "coordinated" or "integrated". For example, different government departments can coordinate their policies so that they work well together.

London should have been more joined up last weekend. This was the weekend of Open House London, subtitled "Celebrate the Capital's Architecture". Some 700 buildings of "every conceivable type, shape and size" opened their doors to Londoners free of charge.

All very interesting, I'm sure. But unfortunately, this was also the weekend that saw major engineering works on London's underground network, commonly known as "the Tube".

So rather than being open, many tube stations were closed. But as the announcer said — without any trace of irony, as far as I could tell — "apart from those lines affected by engineering works, we are operating a good service". Well, let me tell you something: apart from the games my football team has lost, they are having a great season.

The result was chaos in London. I know because I was caught in the middle of it. I wasn't trying to celebrate the capital's architecture — I was just trying to celebrate my football team's success. (It didn't work: they lost again.)

On the way back by bus, I met a very nice Czech couple who had also been to the game. She had lived in London for over a year. He was on his first visit to the city and couldn't believe what a nightmare the transport was.

The next day, a report in The Obsever suggested that more misery is on the way for London's commuters. Fares are likely to rise significantly because fewer people are travelling as a result of the loss of thousands of jobs in the financial sector.

I was quite glad to return to the efficiency of Munich.