JIM BLAKE's second volume of his photographs featuring the London Underground cover the period from 1985, shortly after the Thatcher regime's destruction of London Transport and its re-birth as London Underground Ltd., to 2021 when the Northern Line gained its new branch from Kennington to Battersea Power Station. This was a turbulent time in the system's history, encompassing the withdrawal of the last pre-war passenger rolling stock (in 1988) and then the abolition of two-person operated trains at the beginning of 2000. With the exception of the Waterloo & City Line, which was transferred from British Rail to London Underground in the 1990s, all Underground lines are covered together with the rolling stock operating them. Jim's photographs concentrate on the older types. What is very striking in them is how the system seemed to be going downhill rapidly during the Thatcher years when this survey begins - plagued by the curse of graffiti and liberally littered thanks to cuts in staff who once dealt with such problems. Fortunately, since Transport for London's takeover of the Underground from 2000 onwards, things in that respect have markedly improved, trains and stations are much cleaner and therefore welcoming to passengers. The contrast between the late 1980s/early 1990s and today's Underground is very clear in Jim's photographs featured here, most previously unpublished. It is unfortunate that further improvements, not to mention long-planned extensions to the system, continue to be frustrated by government spending restrictions at the time of writing.

Published in conjunction with TFL, this is a comprehensive guide to the London Underground, combining a historical overview, illustrations and newly commissioned photography.

An updated version of this classic book which includes an examination of transport developments since 1974, and particularly those of the Thatcher era.

Revision 1.1 London is the most important political, financial, cultural and artistic center of the United Kingdom, and one of the most important cities of the world. In London there are many institutions and corporate headquarters of global importance; many important buildings: palaces, museums, theaters, concert halls, airports, railway stations, numerous embassies and consulates. London is a huge engine of the world economy. City is the largest financial center of London, home to banks, securities companies, insurance companies, law and accounting. A second financial district is developing, Canary Wharf. More than half of the top 100 British companies have their headquarters in central London and more than 70% in the metropolitan area of London. 31% of the world monetary transactions take place in London. Here are selling and buying more dollars than in New York, and more euros than in all other European cities. Tourism is one of the most important industries of the United Kingdom; over 350,000 people worked in tourism in 2003 only in London. With a number of universities, colleges and schools, London has a population of about 378,000 students, making it an important center of research and development.

Surveying an unusually wide variety of material, ranging from the Victorian triple-decker novel, to Modernist art and architecture, to Pop music and graffiti, this book suggests that the tube-network is a transitional form, linking the alienated spaces of Victorian England to the virtual spaces of our contemporary consumer-capitalism.