Nasaroc wrote:

Sorry, Nasaroc, 'analysing letters' is my thing! If you're right in your suggestion that the decision was taken by the Government on quite arbitrary grounds,I reckon there would be a prima facie case for asking Mr Dowd to refer the matter to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration ('Ombudsman').

I've now written to Mr Dowd, in response to an email he sent me as long ago as 26 October, as follows:

I was very sorry to hear about your operation, and was glad to read that you are now back in the House. Best wishes for a quick and complete recovery.

I wondered whether you are yet in a position to let me the outcome of the joint letter to Sadiq Khan which you signed? I understand that the direct service in the evenings from Charing Cross to Forest Hill is being withdrawn from next Saturday, and I have still not read an adequate explanation of why Southern have found it necessary to impose this significant inconvenience on us. (TfL are clearly not going to respond to the email I sent them). I suggest it will bear particularly hard on elderly and less physically fit people who will be less inclined to travel up to the West End in the evening if they face a more complicated journey than now (with even more steps!) on the way home.

Fancy dress on a station platform at midnight is a step too far for me, I'm afraid. But if I can help it any other way, I hope someone will contact me.