Whilst making interesting reading, the article on the front page of the Review, “London Bridge is Falling Down” (Sunday, 21 August), is somewhat misleading. Opening with the lyrics to the Clash song “London Calling”, it describes its authorship as a reaction to a “police state” under Margaret Thatcher’s premiership.
In fact, the song was recorded in August 1979 and penned earlier, only months after Lady Thatcher came into office in May of that year, and a considerable time before her government’s influence on law and order issues was felt.
The song is generally held to comment on Britain’s decline after the 1960s and some of the civil disorder which took place in the following decade, such as the Southall protests and the riots at Notting Hill Carnival in 1976.
The photograph which accompanies the article is also of Tower Bridge, rather than London Bridge, falling down – although I suppose that can be excused by artistic licence.
DAVID GARDINER
Edinburgh, UK
