Smart name

London and Continental Railways should be congratulated on the choice of the smart name Kent Thames-side (preferable without the hyphen) (News Shopper, June 20). For a start, it tells everyone it is not in Essex. To suggest that Llnafairpwllgwyngyllgogerych etc “would make just as much sense” doesn't say much for Councillor Mike Crosby. Perhaps it does say something about why people don't bother to vote if that is the best contribution their elected representatives can manage. Until the Channel Tunnel came along I and countless others had never heard of Ebbsfleet and assumed it to be an invention. The only “character and history” the name reflects is gloom, mud and recession. As lugubrious names go, Ebbsfleet is second only to Gravesend.