It has light citrus notes, a touch of jasmine and that feeling of healthy well-being you associate with sparkling water, ocean views and ozone. Who cares if London Underground is falling to bits as long as the stations smell nice? It's fresh, it's clean, it's friendly. It has light citrus notes, a touch of jasmine and that feeling of healthy well-being you associate with sparkling water, ocean views and ozone. Who cares if London Underground is falling to bits as long as the stations smell nice? And thanks to Madeleine, a new fragrance specially created for Underground stations, they will.

Starting from next week, three London Tube stations ­ Euston, Piccadilly Circus and St James's Park ­ are giving Madeleine a trial run to see if London commuters react as favourably as passengers on the Paris Metro or Hong Kong subway.It's a stupid question I know, I said humbly to the London Underground spokesperson, but isn't getting the track repaired, the signals replaced, the escalators renewed and possibly even the trains running, more important than having the platforms smelling of jasmine and sea-spray? The spokesperson replied briskly that trains and tracks fell into the technical sector whereas this particular initiative was primarily concerned with enhancing the travel experience.Just as a few extra trains here and there might enhance the travel experience, I was about to say, but the spokesperson was talking about comfort and cleanliness and access and I could see we were on different tracks.Perverse as it might sound, I like the smell of Underground stations as they are They are real They smell of wet coats, and shoes and shopping and kids. I remember getting on a crowded rush-hour train at Blackfriars station one night, pushing my way through the suits and briefcases in search of a strap to hang from and discovering with surprise that half the carriage was empty apart from a tramp asleep at the end. "What's the problem? Why isn't anyone sitting down?" I asked."Go a bit closer and you will find out,'' said a woman wrinkling her nose. So I did, and, OK he was a bit niffy, less floral and more heavy meths with overtones of stale bread, fag ash and urine, but so what? I'm not a porcelain shepherdess, and a seat's a seat. Besides, there are far worse smells than sad old tramp on District Line.There's the fresh, hand-made cosmetics shop down the road which exudes such harsh concentrated gusts of fermenting vegetation it makes my eyes water every time I pass the door.

I went in the other day out of curiosity to try and find out exactly where the smell came from. I eventually tracked it down to the brown bread, fig skin aduki bean and organic goats yoghurt face mask an assistant was spooning into a tub. "Do people really put that on their faces, it smells as if it has gone off," I said horrified."All our exfoliates are made with natural products, mainly from the Himalayas, with no added preservatives. That's why you have to keep them in the refrigerator," she explained.Madeleine is the creation of a company called Quest International, whose sole purpose, explained their girl Linda, is to understand the perception of fragrance. But who exactly decides that passengers waiting for the Jubilee Line to Swiss Cottage will feel happy if they smell jasmine? Listening to Linda expound at some length about the complexity of conveying the message of brand values through the varying tonalities of tuber rose and lily made me wish I'd asked her something a little bit easier, like what is the meaning of life?"Smell," continued Linda. "You associate certain smells with certain memories, and judge them good or bad accordingly." That, I suppose, is why I always associate religion with toothpaste and moustaches.

All the nuns at the Convent of St Francis de Sales where I spent my formative years smelt of toothpaste and most of them had moustaches.Given the choice of fragrances, I have to say I'd much rather have Lancashire hotpot than jasmine, but I dare say Linda could talk me out of it. Better still let's stay with the sad old tramps and get a few more trains coming.. At the end of a week in which British politics has become overwhelmed by questions of race, it is worth considering who it is that is really playing the race card in this country. At the end of a week in which British politics has become overwhelmed by questions of race, it is worth considering who it is that is really playing the race card in this country. Helpfully, the Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, has given us more than enough evidence to find the culprit For it is Mr Cook himself. He is no obscure backbencher due to retire from the political stage soon.