The Standard Repents

The London Evening Standard's new owner and editor are washing their hands of the paper's recent editorial past by launching an ad campaign which apologises to Londoners for "losing touch", "being negative", "taking you for granted", "being complacent", "being predictable".

They could also have chucked in "denigrating the city we serve by pandering to the prejudices of home county commuters" but their list isn't a bad start.

The paper was recently sold by Associated Newspapers and the ads represent a significant statement of intent, underlined by the fact that've given Ken Livingstone a column this week.

We hope that their repentance extends as far as South East London and we can look forward to some consideration of the issues that matter most to those in this part of the city.

In a similar vein we'd like to say sorry to Max Calo for this piece we wrote a couple of years back. Although we still believe that a new pool in central Lewisham is preferable, the headline was needlessly provocative and we should have given more credit to the original campaign and have more consideration to the idea that Ladywell Pool should be kept, regardless of whether a new one materialises.

It's a post that we occasionally recall with a shudder, so it feels good to unburden ourselves. We stand by every other word we've ever uttered, of course.