I have two questions about the GN&C

1)
Why were all they Great Northern & City platforms built above the
lifts, so that you had to go up to the platform, when almost all the
other tube stations are the reverse (going down to the platform from
the lift)?

2)
Are they ever going to clean up the stations so that they have proper
lighting and less oppressive paintwork (i.e. rather than the "council
house yellow" designs of network south east) and don't look like a
mugger's paradise?