Why Don't Londoners Talk To Strangers? James Has An Idea

29 September 2016, 12:12 | Updated: 29 September 2016, 12:24

New badges on the Tube are encouraging Londoners to chat to strangers...and Londoners have reacted with fury at the very idea. James has an idea why that might be happening.

#tube_chat has been trending on Twitter for hours, as Londoners debate whether it's worthwhile to break their silence on public transport in order to make small talk with people they don't know.

The badges may be a prank, but it's still prompted a big debate about the silence between strangers in London.

James explained that when he's visiting his mum in Kidderminster or on holidays elsewhere further north, he can't stop making chit-chat with people. The second he gets back to London? "The shutters come down."

He asked listeners to phone in and tell him if they were the same, but first he had a theory on why Londoners are less likely to talk to people they don't know - because other people living in the capital can be a bit, well, "eccentric".

Take a look above.