The chap on the mic was so chuffed he announced it five times consecutively, prompting ripples of characteristically restrained cheering through the concourse. Despite the inevitable Englishness it might have been more raucous, but most of the travellers were tourists of course.
I confess I had tears in my eyes last night as I watched the BBC Ten O'Clock News coverage from Singapore when the decision was announced. I wanted to write an article today on how delightful it was to see a positive, happy news story dominate the agenda for at least a day.
And then I woke up this morning - my birthday morning, as it happens - to carnage in London.
Online coverage
Peter Bale, editorial director for Times Online, left work on a scooter to find out what was going on and took some eyewitness accounts near Aldgate station. The site is asking readers to email pictures and personal accounts, and also has a timeline of events.
Interestingly, Telegraph.co.uk - which claims (although I'm sure this will be disputed) to be the only major news site that stayed up during the news rush on 9/11 - loaded quickly but asks readers to register to read stories. That's a real turn-off when you want news immediately.
Guardian Unlimited is running perfectly and the Newsblog has been updating every few minutes.
Google News is running perfectly, offering a typically helpful overview of coverage from around the world.
ThisisLondon.co.uk has a story up - just the kind of story it needs extensive coverage of...
BBC.co.uk and Reuters were overwhelmed by demand at times this morning but Ananova was fine. BBC.co.uk also has many eyewitness reports and the reporter's log is being updated by reporters on location.
Cambridge Evening News has set up a dedicated message board so that readers can let friends and colleagues know they are safe.
Citizen reporting
On the grassroots side, WikiNews had coverage up within minutes and there's a steadily-building wave of comment on the UKBlogs aggregator.
Flickr.com has been updated with the public's photos from London under tags including bomb and blast.
Comments? Found good coverage online? Email me.
Comments
From Pete, 00:15 8 July 2005
There's a Wikipedia entry being written:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_London_transport_explosions
Sorry to read that it's your birthday today, if that's the right way to phrase it. It's also my wife's birthday today and she's had better ones too. I'm a tad happier after finally getting through to my kids in the UK as outgoing phone lines from Aus were choked for nearly three hours today.
Have a good a birthday as you can under the circumstances.
Free daily newsletter
If you like our news and feature articles, you can sign up to receive our free daily (Mon-Fri) email newsletter (mobile friendly).
Related articles
- 'Lords review of media is in danger of achieving nothing'
- 'None of the papers have grasped the fundamental difference between the internet and print'
- 'Journalists are too often reduced to a cross between call-centre workers and data processors'
- 'UK offline media is one of the most competitive and creative in the world. You have to ask why that hasn't followed online'
- '40,000 citizen journalists working to report one story for your paper? It's possible, we did it'
