When I lived in London and used my local tube station, Finsbury Park, I wouldn't even have noticed such vandalism because it was an ugly interchange, designed by a fool and decorated soullessly, so it deserved no better. In London, public transport is a joke. When I lived there I had to cycle to work - anything else was hopeless. Journey times too unpredictable, parking too expensive, contribution to environment woeful. Journey times too unpredictable, likely proximity to other strap-hangers' armpits offputting.
Public transport is the most obvious example of the differences between the two capitals.
It is emblematic of the success of one and the failure of the other. Paris seems to be enjoying the best of times, London the worst of times. Despite all this, the American Associated Press correspondent Mort Rosenblum suggested recently that the differences between the two cities are overstated. Thanks to the Eurostar, Paris and London are becoming a tale of one city. But this is nonsense.