I think we seem to have lost the actual aim of this discussion.
It was all started when the subject of London's airport restraints came up and Birmingham was proposed (quite rightly I believe) as an alternative to building a new facility as with a new train service the time from BHX to the centre of London would be quicker than that off the Stansted/Heathrow/Gatwick Expresses.
mickyman then came in with his comments regarding "Londinium" and how people
do not want to travel via LHR (again without your required stats).
Then I replied regarding how important transport into London is so important for Britain as a whole. BP, HSBC, Lloyds, Aviva, Royal Bank of Scotland, Tesco, Prudencial, Vodaphone, Legal and General and Barclays are all in the top 100 companies worldwide (
source). 7 of those have their world HQs in London. Add in the hundreds of others companies with UK/European HQs in London and you see the need for ease of access and to be fair to everyone who thinks we can get everywhere on the train - trains don't run on water.
Shed then made a post about how we should not be patriotic and stick with BA (the person who actually brought BA up!) and that the banks are not good for this country. Banks maybe not - but get rid of BP and other oil companies then this country really is in a dire state.
It then grew from there into a BA bashing really about how they offer unreliable services to London and how bad connecting in is Heathrow. Oh and a bit of rubbish about getting rid of the top 10% to Switzerland, and the best bit about spending the money they owe us on the NHS (actually my favourite sentence ever on Pprune I think).
They're the facts and a few figures thrown in for help.