remaining 70% of the population
8 million within the m25
64 million in the UK
8/64 = .125 or 12.5%
the remaining 87.5% of the population, not 70%
makes the point even more painful
hence, and I still think this is far better, if an airport in the Midlands was extended, ie. West Midlands, and more trains were run from there to/from London, we'd solve multiple problems with one piece of pavement
someone's rebuttal to that was the people don't want to fly into the midlands and then travel for an hour to get to London, but the fact is that people don't want to fly into London and then travel for an hour or two to the Midlands or the North. Let alone that if you fly into LHR it can take an hour or 2 to get into London.