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Posted about 1 month ago 0 responses
DOGS are amazing. Especially when you’re covered in peanut butter. But, apparently, Battersea Dogs and Cats Home says it had to put down roughly a third of the dogs it took in last year.
And not because they were heavy (thanks Tommy Cooper), but because we’re a nation of dog-hating bastards.
Posted 3 months ago 0 responses
London’s major development opportunity areas are being wasted on out-of-date development schemes that fail to tackle transport problems, according to new research from Campaign for Better Transport.
Posted 4 months ago 0 responses
Those genius weirdo jelly melders Bompas & Parr have created another thingy that made us smile. The Parliamentary Waffle House.
The Parliamentary Waffle House is an election-based bar and eatery, at 65-67 Broadwick Street, which opens tonight April 22, and runs until election night.
Posted 7 months ago 26 responses
The all-too familiar phrase “Well, something’s gone wrong deep within the bowels of Kudocities.” has never seen more apt than today, when we discovered pioneering site member and stalwart, Alan ‘Pottytime’ Potter has sadly passed away.
Posted 7 months ago 1 response
Just for one night you can don a lovely tweedy skirt, listen to cats being strangled and eat mushed up bits of gristle in a sheep’s stomach. What could be better?
Posted 9 months ago 4 responses
ONCE again, your super-soaraway RADAR is giving away something AMAZING and FREE to you ungrateful inbreds.
Posted 10 months ago 6 responses
WITH 80 gazillion people revealing the dreary minutae of their dreary existinces on Twitter, Kudocities has also decided to reveal its innards in 140 character bursts.
Posted 10 months ago 1 response
IF you like the odd sick joke, and the sick odd joke, then head to the Old Blue Last next Tuesday – November 10th – for an evening of Sikipedia-based comedy.
Posted 11 months ago 0 responses
A competition starts today (Friday October 2) across Londonshire to win a shiny new Volkswagen Polo. You have to answer a question every day for 20 days, put the answers into a crossword, and if you’re among the first 30 to submit the correct answer, you’ll then get a key, which might unlock the new car. But you have to have a Leadenhall Market card to play.
Posted 11 months ago 1 response
Brockwell Park in Brixton is hosting the Urban Green Fair this Sunday (September 20) from 11am to 7pm. All aspiring hippies, urbanites, citizens of this great burgh and familes of all shapes and sizes are welcome.
Posted 11 months ago 5 responses
Now then, from 10am to 4pm on September 20, (that’s Sunday in old speak) traffic will be banned from some of central London’s most famous streets and will be given over to London’s cyclists, young, fat, thin, novice, old and expert.
Posted 11 months ago 1 response
When the Waterloo Eurostar platforms closed two years ago, as St Pancras International opened, it was reported that the Eurostar’s former London home was being converted for suburban use, to the extortionate tune of £100,000.
Posted 11 months ago 2 responses
LOTS of people like lomography. And it’s nothing pervy. It’s basically the art of taking photos with crappy little Russian cameras. I have owned three of them, for instance. All of them took different sorts of photos. They mostly got broken or dropped into toilets, but for a glorious roll of film or two, you can have fun mucking about taking pictures and waiting, old-style, for prints to come back from the processor and then coo with disappointment as that money shot of Emma Watson’s front bottom sadly turned out to be of her shoe.
Posted 11 months ago 0 responses
Milk, cream, sugar, eggs, and flavourings. Mmmm. Ice cream isn’t really that exciting, but you’d think it was the best thing to happen in London – ever – judging by the hoo-haa generated by a new ice cream boutique opening tomorrow at Selfridges Ultralounge, the icecreamists.
Posted about 1 year ago 2 responses
The 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing pricked our interest recently, but what really captured our imagination was the launch of the world’s first mission to send cheese into space. Now there’s something interesting. Would it survive? Would aliens eat it? Would it mature? With classic British understatement, here’s the launch film, complete with a soundtrack Dom Joly would be proud of.
Posted about 1 year ago 7 responses
Vote for a change is planning a rally in Westminster’s Methodist Central Hall at 6.30pm on July 9th.
The festival of change, while sounding like a fiscal Glastonbury, is, in fact, aimed at encouraging debate and achieving a measure of political reform and more accountability for us minions.
Posted about 1 year ago 2 responses
BODY WORLDS & The Mirror of Time sounds like a Harry Potter book title gone horribly wrong. And there’s something very wrong with Gunther von Hagens’ latest display of skinless dead bodies at the 02 – two of them are having sex.
Posted about 1 year ago 1 response
Just think, in decades to come we’ll all be waxing lyrical to our kids about the bendy bus. Campaigns to bring the articulated icons back will be launched, and Travis Elborough will write a sequel to his Routemaster paean extolling the virtues of those loveable low-slung street crawlers. Read more
Posted about 1 year ago 5 responses
Londonist Presents: Slow Exposure is an exhibition of winning images from the first photography competition run by Londonist, the website that celebrates the culture, history and daily events in the capital. And we like Londonist.
Posted about 1 year ago 1 response
There are now so many books purporting to reveal the ‘hidden’ or ‘secret’ side of London that they probably outnumber the mainstream guides. Books offering a cliché-free guide to the city are therefore becoming something of a cliché themselves. How many more volumes do we need that breathlessly implore us to visit the Watts Memorial in Postman’s Park, or the Old Operating Theatre, which are universally described as ‘hidden gems’ that ‘most tourists are completely oblivious to’? Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 6 responses
Happy St. George’s Day, folks. The day when the English celebrate some Turkish bloke called George being chopped up in Palestine for refusing to kill Christians.
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
Our friends at Londonist have done some sort of enviable deal with all the young scrotes who are playing at the Camden Crawl, whereby YOU, dear trendy reader, can download 65 tracks from up and coming bands we’ve never heard of either for no money. At all.
Posted about 1 year ago 1 response
Our city is perpetually blessed with inventive art in the public realm, from the ongoing Fourth Plinth initiative to last summer’s Telectroscope.
Posted about 1 year ago 2 responses
Fine jelly makers Sam Bompas and Harry Parr have broken the mold once again with the introduction of their ‘Alcoholic Architecture’ – the very notion of which makes the Radar tremble with thirsty anticipation.
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
Browsing through the skyscrapercity forums, we came across this vision for Camden Market from MAKE architects. The scheme would replace the fire-ravaged buildings still occupying the site of the 2008 conflagration. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 7 responses
We haven’t got this excited about road improvements since…since…hmm. The pedestrian crush of Oxford Circus should be a thing of the past now that work is starting to declutter and widen the pavements around the junction.
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
Crisis, the national charity for single homeless people, has come up with a cunning idea – Hidden Gigs. The gigs – including the likes of Hot Chip, Dodgy, Pendulum and Zane Lowe – will take place in central London throughout May and June 2009.
Posted about 1 year ago 4 responses
Fans of TV sci-fi comedy Red Dwarf will be delighted to know the cast, minus Craig Charles, will be appearing tomorrow night in Berkeley Square (Wednesday) from 5pm.
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
A celebration of 100 years of the Port of London Authority (PLA) began at the Museum of London Docklands yesterday. The temporary exhibition uses archive film and photos to chart the huge changes on the Thames from early Edwardian times to the present day. And what a hundred years. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 1 response
With all tickets sold and a hefty payday in the offing, all Michael Jackson needs to do now is see about entertaining hundreds of thousands of rabid fans. Not a performer known for his stripped-down, back to basics live shows, details are already emerging about some of the more outlandish plans in store for attendees. Read more
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
The Pet Shop Boys and Michael Jackson are back – the 80s nostalgia/revival is truly on. Timely, then, for Bring Stuff to announce their next big secret location party, in partnership with Celebrity Murder Party and the Harlots once more, Bring Back to the Eighties! Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
Well they didn’t have much choice. Confronted with a Freedom of Information request from the Advisory Service for Squatters for a list of all the council’s empty properties they had to comply as the list was in the public domain. Good news for smart “space invaders” looking for a new home and good news for the Daily Mail which gleefully dug up photos of an evicted person’s worldly belongings, riot police and a former druggie squat site to illustrate this story of perfectly above board information obtaining. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
Deciding which is better, the 100 year old Courvoisier Initiale Extra or the 130 year old Hennessy Paradis is a splendid dilemma and just the sort of quandary we found ourselves in last night at Generation XO: The Tasting Sessions. Held at the ultra-swish five star Sanderson Hotel (with a preceding dinner at the hotel’s Malaysian inspired restaurant, Suka), this was the fourth in an ongoing series of Tasting Sessions. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 1 response
The two-week festival of food that is confusingly known as London Restaurant Week is upon us.
This is a chance to try a number of swanky joints for a £15 lunch, or a £25 dinner. Hurrah!
In partnership with Visa and lastminute.com, London’s top eateries are offering you fine dining at a fraction of the price. London Restaurant Week 2009 started on Monday and continues until March 29th. Also, for each reservation a contribution is made to 95.8 Capital FM’s Help A London Child – so there’s never been a better time to clog those arteries, folks.
Posted about 1 year ago 1 response
It was only a matter of time. Londoner Tom Berge is serving eight months at Her Majesty’s pleasure after bending Google Earth to evil purposes.
The 27-year-old builder used the mapping site to spot lead roofs in South London. He’d then scale the buildings, many of them listed, and half-inch the valuable metal. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
In a new twist to London’s already byzantine parking restrictions, turns out that motorists can be fined for displaying a ‘For Sale’ sign in their car without a street trading licence.
Penge motorist Luigi Alija has been fined £350 plus costs by Bromley Magistrate’s Court after trying to sell his car in the time-honoured fashion by putting a notice inside the window. Bromley Council consider this to be street trading and slapped Alija with a £100 fixed penalty after it was spotted by eagle-eyed enforcement officers. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 1 response
Tube trains are noisy: there are heavy metal trains that run on metal rails in underground, completely enclosed tunnel systems. They’re loud, it shouldn’t surprise people that sometimes one can hear screeches, clunks and bass thumps while travelling. Complaints loud enough to close a busy station during rush hour is a more extraordinary noise that we should hope not to hear ever again. We’ll say it just once, and quietly: it’s health and safety gone mad. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 3 responses
The Mayor needs to speed up traffic if he’s to halve the congestion zone next year without causing gridlock. His simple but controversial solution: shorten the durations at pedestrian crossings…by up to six seconds. Here’s what he told the London Assembly last year:
I was driving around Ealing one Sunday and I found the traffic lights absolutely insane. Insane. There was hardly any pedestrian traffic to speak of and we were being kept at red for minute after minute. The thing was totally crackers. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
In times of turmoil and uncertainty, superstition holds free reign. But in London, one group has repeatedly risen up amid the finger-crossers and black-cat-dodgers to laugh in the face of Lady Luck. They are the Eccentrics, carrying on a tradition of 18th century scientific reason mixed with public spectacle.
Founded repeatedly in incarnations stretching back to the 1780s, the Eccentric Society took an interest in challenging superstitions and celebrated among its rituals the Friday the 13th Dinner, in which free-thinking members dined under ladders and held umbrellas and generally made of themselves lightning rods to bad luck. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
The Telegraph reckons that our Head of State will make her Twitter debut today – or, as they put it, her updates ‘will appear live on the blogging website Twitter’. You’ll be able to follow her every move at the Commonwealth Observance ceremony, which today celebrates 60 years of our phantom empire. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 3 responses
You wouldn’t expect Harrods and Fortnum and Mason to be on the same side as Woolies and Zavvi, but they’re apparently also feeling the effects of the recession. The posh shops are among a group from London First who’ve written to the Mayor to complain (in the nicest possible way) about how he’s handling the fall in consumer confidence. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 1 response
‘Bionic Eye Gives Blind Man Sight,’ trumpets the headline. It’s a wonderful story, how Moorfields Eye Hospital have partially restored the vision of a completely blind man using implant technology. “My one ambition at the moment is to be able to go out on a nice, clear evening and be able to pick up the moon,” says ‘Ron’, who hasn’t registered the merest photon for over 30 years but can now sort socks into different shades.Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 3 responses
The era of glasnost and perestroika between the new-look Evening Standard and Ken Livingstone, which we hinted at just days ago, may already be over, judging by the enthusiasm with which Andrew Gilligan has confirmed that key Labour officials are talking to Sir Alan Sugar about running for Mayor in 2012. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
With 13,000 tickets sold at the South Bank IMAX more than a week before release, and additional shows scheduled for 3.45am on Sunday mornings, the words ‘hotly anticipated’ hardly do it justice. Such is the hype surrounding Watchmen, the latest movie adaptation from an Alan Moore graphic novel. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
Banished bishop Richard Williamson arrived this morning on a BA flight at Heathrow, after being given his marching orders from Argentina for claiming that no Jews died during the Holocaust. He was greeted by a police escort and legal team upon his arrival, and endured less hassle than his passage through Buenos Aires’ Ezeiza airport where he accosted a local reporter. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 3 responses
It’s grey and damp out there, the economy is still to bounce back and it’s despite being the shortest month, it’s still February. Artist Stuart Semple feels our gloom and will be unleashing his latest installation Happy Cloud over Tate Modern tomorrow morning. With the intention of lifting the spirits of all those trudging wearily over the Millennium Bridge into the City for another day in the office, Semple is putting 2,057 pink smiley faced clouds into the sky, using a new technology that ticks all the boxes for responsible large-scale art installations. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
The anniversary of Britain’s worst wartime civilian tragedy is coming up again, and the campaign to erect a permanent memorial is gaining steam. On 3 March 1943, 173 people died at Bethnal Green Tube Station during an air-raid alert (which turned out to be a false alarm). According to the official account, a lady with a baby slipped on the stairs leading to a pile up of bodies as the crowds jostled and pushed to get into the underground sanctuary. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
Even though it’s the shortest month of the year, February still feels like it might never end. Where have all the colours gone? Why is no one smiling? What can we do to cheer up? Well, try Carnival 2009, six days and six nights of what looks to be banging Brazilian fun. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 2 responses
Wimbledon-based pensioner Christopher Stevens attracted police attention after placing a Wanted ad for an electrical component in the Radio Society of Great Britain’s members magazine. It may have been the small print that did it:
“I want see if I can create a thermonuclear fusion reaction. There is a danger from radiation and a possible nuclear explosion if the power runs away.” Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 1 response
Sci-art fusions float our boat. Remember the dancing robot? So imagine our anorak rousing excitement that Kinetica Art Fair opens in London a week on Friday. It’s the first of its kind in the UK, featuring “carnivorous lampshades, pole dancing robots, man-animal-machine hybrids, mechanical writing machines, mesmerising light sculptures and cybernetics”. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 1 response
It’s one year since a fire devastated Canal Market in Camden. Now, parts of the site are set to reopen with over 150 traders moving back in.
Redevelopment has been hampered by over-running repairs to the railway arches by Network Rail. Those works finished four weeks ago, finally allowing demolition of dangerous structures on Chalk Farm Road and clearance of the market space behind. That’s quite an achievement, considering the amount of debris evident in this video from a passing train one month ago. Traders affected by the fire shared a £750,000 pot of compensation, and will get first dibs on the reopened market space. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 1 response
Were he still alive, Charles Darwin would have been celebrating his 200th birthday today (imagine how long his beard would be). His simple yet potent idea, evolution by natural selection, remains a hot potato. If one poll is to be believed, a third of British people believe that a god created the Earth less than 10,000 years ago. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
Any schoolchild knows you need to revise before an exam, but perhaps they do things differently at Eton? Boris Johnson’s appearance before the home affairs select committee into the Damian Green arrest certainly suggests so; the Mayor waffled and changed his story so much that he’s been accused of lacking “respect and courtesy”. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
In a week potentially dominated by Valentine’s Day, we aim to bring you a balanced round-up of the cultural events in the capital. Sure there’s some awkward lovey dovey stuff around; there’s also some heartbreaking drama and some diary-clearing closures too.
Posted about 1 year ago 3 responses
The film world shivered and huddled under brollies on the red carpet outside the Royal Opera House for last night’s BAFTAs, presumably reciting a mantra about the Oscars and sunny LA not being far away. But the cold couldn’t stop the Brit bandwagon as Slumdog Millionaire cleaned up and Kate Winslet continued her Extras-esque road to the Academy.
Posted about 1 year ago 2 responses
St Etienne want to soundtrack the 2012 Olympics. The band’s music has long been inspired by the capital, and they’re also noted for London documentaries Finisterre and What Have You Done Today, Mervyn Day? (the latter all about the lower Lea valley). In short, they’re more Londony than Robert Elms in a chimerney-sweep costume clutching an eel pie. But who else might the Olympic organisers turn to? Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 1 response
Brave the snow and beat the blues tonight with a new evening of comedy and variety that sounds very good indeed. The ‘Girls With Guns’ all-female night (with a token geezer) takes place tonight, Thursday February 5th, at The Phoenix , Oxford Circus.
Posted about 1 year ago 1 response
Get out the birch twigs and the cat-o-nine-tails – after yesterday’s (and today’s) snow chaos and general city-wide collapse, it seems to be time to stop making snowmen and start the recriminations and flagellations.
So why-oh-why-oh-why did London grind to such a halt? A war of words between TfL and London councils about gritting the roads has been going on since yesterday morning. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
At 08.30 this morning TfL issued a winter weather travel advisory email probably way too late for any commuter presumably already standing in snow and swearing at bus stops or getting turned away from suspended tube services. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
Even in these straitened times, the UK’s thirst for professional American football appears unquenched as 70,000 tickets that were put on sale a few days ago for October’s NFL clash at Wembley have already flown into the hands of eager purchasers. It’s not too late to buy in this window, but you’ll have to be quick. Tickets for the match between the New England Patriots and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are due to be taken off sale not long after Sunday night’s Super Bowl…Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
If you’re looking for somewhere to live, a squat may not be top of your des res list. Yet Mayfair and Park Lane squats have brought squatting into the news..ahem… Daily Mail recently. Unconvinced that all squatters are “hippies, activists, freeloaders and stragglers” we talked to someone who knows.
Posted about 1 year ago 1 response
Imagine a Tube where there is no gap to mind. A train that could whisk passengers direct from point of boarding to final destination without making calls at all the stations in between. Imagine a Tube where those getting off need never jostle with those getting on. Imagine a Tube that never stops. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
Happy Chinese New Year to all our readers! Today is the first day of the Year of the Ox, so if you are know anyone who is going to be born between now and this time next year, or will be turning 12, 24, 36, 48 or any other multiple of 12, then they are an ox and this is their year. Be nice and resist cracking bovine jokes.
Posted about 1 year ago 4 responses
We reckon the last Monday in January is a pretty bleak one so here’s a suggestion for perking up the day – stick a lecture on London’s favourite tipple (gin) and its associated bad behaviour in the middle of it.
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
There’s a bit of confusion on the crime statistics front, particularly that perennial favourite, knife crime. National figures for last summer show a jump of 18% in knife crime, but the Met are claiming a 12% drop. Eh? Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
If you fail to clock that Spar own brand Imperial Vodka on sale in a non-Spar offy might be a bit odd (on Holloway Road of all places, infamous patch for legions of counterfeit ciggie sellers) then you might at least be alarmed when you remove the screw cap and get a heady waft of chemicals, rather than the more defining absence of smell associated with the spirit. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 1 response
We told you where to watch the results roll in, we live blogged through the night to keep you company – now the historic inauguration day looms. The We Are One concert is rolling on as we type, building the anticipation, and you can follow everything, step by step, on the ground with our cousins over at DCist, online. But can we join in here in London, on Tuesday 20th January? Wait for it… yes we can. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
In a quiet domestic garden, three terrapins sit under a hedge. One terrapin is particularly large and cross…
Big Angry Terrapin: You know I deserve more than this. I used to lord it over a whole pond – in Holland Park! I could eat all the ducklings, dragon fly larvae and newts I could want… no one could touch me. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
Temporary School of Thought are the ad hoc group of artists better known to the media at the moment as the £22 million squatters. Like many legendary squatters, they have become popularly defined by the market value of the empty property they occupy, a Georgian mansion in the heart of Mayfair. The occupants however couldn’t care less about the hypothetical price of their Grade II*-listed home. After more than a month in residence, and with the company that owns the building buying them further time with a bungled court case, the collective have been putting the vast space to work. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 5 responses
In our occasional FFS series, we bring ‘news’ that New Kids On The Block are playing two nights in London, riding the wave of comeback specials that brought back Spice Girls, Take That and Boyzone in the last two years like so many unethical, unnatural scientific experiments. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
Westminster Council doesn’t half like its gizmos. Last year we reported on the advent of SatLav, an SMS service wherein your text of ‘toilet’ to 80097 got you a list of your nearest Westminster based conveniences. Using G-Pee-S technology, of course. Now the resourceful burghers are branching out and offering similar services for the nearest car parks, libraries and youth clubs (although we don’t actually think that there are many teens who would knowingly seek out such institutions). So far so waste-of-taxpayers’-money. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
The atheist bus is here… and the atheist tube and the atheist TV screens. The campaign responding to a series of religious bus ads has now received a staggering £140,000 in donations from the public and the results are on show now. Nicely timed for Epiphany.
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
Despite Celtic protests, the pressure for Great Britain to field a football team at the London 2012 Olympics grows inexorably. World governing body FIFA are warming up on the touchline to wave the idea through to the delight of the English Football Association and FIFA’s own president, Sepp Blatter:
A source close to FIFA told PA Sport: “The executive committee are certain to rule in favour of a Great Britain team – but only for London 2012, not beyond.” Read More.
Posted about 1 year ago 3 responses
We’re quite sure that anyone who has ever used London transport has some unanswered questions about the system. Your chance to have them answered by no less than Richard Parry, Director of Strategy & Service Development and Howard Collins, Chief Operating Officer has come! They will be online to answer all questions put to them for one night only. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 2 responses
The season to be merry is upon us but before you start guzzling back the sherry, bear in mind these sobering thoughts.
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
Whatever you think of them, chuggers are part of the urban landscape and presumably, face to face street fundraising works to some extent, given the ubiquity of the colourful branded bib and the overenthusiastic holler that tries to stop you in your tracks when you really want to buy a sandwich. But now, charity watchdog Intelligent Giving is calling for the public to formally boycott chuggers, firstly because it’s an inefficient way to give to good causes but also because their undercover research has found pretty unprofessional practices at work. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 2 responses
Yes, that’s right folks. Free beer. The two finest words ever to grace the English language. We’ve done a deal with Britain’s most interesting beer seller, Beer Merchants, to bring you people a lovely deal so you can stay at home, keep warm, and feel the glow of a whole CASE of lovely Belgian and French beer in your extended belly – and get a Duvel gift pack for FREE!
Posted about 1 year ago 2 responses
There’s a humanitarian disaster in the Congo, polar bears are starving, pirates on the high seas, and one in eight of us will soon be out of a job. But who cares? It’ll soon be Christmas!!! And what better way to celebrate the festival of excess than trundling around an ice rink in Hyde Park, while stuffing German food and listening to carols? Eh? Eh?
Posted about 1 year ago 1 response
With warnings yesterday that London and the South East are going to be the UK regions worst hit by the recession ringing in our ears it seemed like a good time to get some straight talking from the man dubbed ‘the face of the credit crunch’, the Beeb’s Robert Peston, at one of London School of Economics’ excellent lectures.
Posted about 1 year ago 8 responses
KCL has its fair share of nerds, and we love them
But news today that more than 2,000 people – yes, 2,000, queued for hours on Oxford Street to get their hands on the ‘second expansion pack’ for online fantasy role-playing game, World of Warcraft, is deeply disturbing to the gentle mind of the Radar.
Posted about 1 year ago 2 responses
Medical London, published by Wellcome in October, is a Londony treasure trove in a smart burgundy box; a beautiful and enlightening compendium from our favourite Euston Road residents. Here’s what you need to know to get this on your shopping list. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 2 responses
Another rainy day in London…and there’s been lots of moaning around these parts. And it’s so wonderfully British to talk about the weather, after all But wait! Rain is good. Maybe not if you’re Haitian, or Devonian, but in good old concretey London, doesn’t a nice bit of rainfall serve to wash away the detritus of another heavy weekend – both in terms of litter on the streets and the drug-induced Monday mind-cobwebs? And the word ‘pluviophile’ is surely a great addition to any CV.
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
It seems the streets of London are not paved with gold but instead, art. There was the Grand Tour last year which basically turned the National Gallery inside out, there was Find Me just recently which got artworks into the unlikeliest of places, and this week a big giveaway by street artist Adam Neate. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 2 responses
The search for a new Met commissioner has kicked into a new gear: an ad placed in Police Review magazine by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith seeks someone with an “outstanding record” in tackling terrorism. There’s some dissension in the ranks, however, over the next Commissioner’s character. Kit Malthouse, the deputy mayor of policing, suggested at a Policy Exchange debate last night that the next person in charge should be “pretty boring”. Not from Boring, Oregon, but, y’know, boring. Dull. Sensible shoes, neat sock drawer, well-thumbed cricketers almanac tucked safely into pocket of tweed trousers, a conversational black hole. That sort of boring. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 5 responses
Bozza’s press team weren’t daft, dreaming up that document title, were they? Look at that headline; pats on the back all round and this isn’t even the strategy proper. No, Way To Go! (exclamation mark and all) is the precursor to Johnson’s transport strategy – the Blond Vision, if you will. Your comments are welcome and the “consultation will last for 10 weeks” to help shape the Mayor’s formal strategy. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
Actually, that’s an exaggeration. No actual terror has been reported. But a group of pensioners who congregate on the benches in the middle of the Horning Close Estate in Mottingham have been issued a warning by the local housing association – keep the racket down, or lose your benches! Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 4 responses
It’s nearly time for the disgusting, reprehensible turds on the other side of the water to vote for a new president, so we thought we should bring you up to speed with who you should be cheering and who you should be booing. Or something.
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
A proposed development near Hampton Court Palace has exercised the ire of one of our foremost historians. David Starkey, considered something of an expert on Tudor times by dint of his copious books and television series on the subject, has thrown his chalice in with heritage groups who oppose the construction of a four-story hotel and flats complex opposite the Palace. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
The main athletics stadium for the 2012 Games is years away from completion, yet the project’s post-2012 fate has suffered more slings and arrows of outrageous rumour than your average Fawlty Towers cast member’s granddaughter. Stories that it could become West Ham’s new home, see its seats shipped to the 2016 host city, or even be demolished, have all been given a thorough airing and then sent back to the dry cleaners. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
Next Tuesday, you’ll be able to watch America decide who’s next for the White House in the comfort of your own home, under a snug duvet, on any number of channels, over the net or on the radio. But for those of you who need a party atmosphere, there are some big ole shebangs going on around town…Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
Clapham Sainsbury’s is a nice enough place to do your weekend grocery shop.
On Sunday, Clapham resident Neil took his girlfriend there to get a few bits. In their trolley they picked up a nice jar of cooking sauce, some bread, a small chicken and some Ariel Colour Liquitabs (good to see they’re looking after their garments). Then, without warning, Neil suddenly burst into song, slightly distunefully, with an ‘original’ take of the Madness classic ‘It Must Be Love’. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 3 responses
News that a number of West End shows are closing before the end of their runs reminded us that we hadn’t announced the results of the last Kudocities poll, the survey that keeps London, Brighton and Edinburgh awake for days.
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
The Banksy daubing just north of Oxford Street is not long for this world. No mindless act of vandalism for this graffito, though – instead, Westminster City Council have decided that the mural will be removed in order to “send a message” to the city’s urban scribblers (yeah, that’ll work).
Displaying a remarkable want of aesthetic curiosity, deputy council leader Robert Davis sneered at the mural’s appeal, positing the question: “what is the difference between this and all the other graffiti you see scrawled across the city?” Answers in the Comments, please. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
Eastenders may only have paid lip service to London’s big Polish community (Erik, anyone?), but the Polish ex-pat population will soon have a TV series of their very own, thanks to a new show being created for Polish channel TVP1. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
Having hinted earlier in the year that he’d favour a Barack Obama presidency, Boris Johnson has fleshed his out his “endorsement”. Writing in his Telegraph column, Boris opined that the Bush presidency had “damaged the reputation” of America’s twin columns of capitalism and democracy, and argued convincingly that, while John McCain is a worthy candidate, only Mr. Obama has the vision and the ability to “rejuvenate” the country’s global standing. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
Back in August, a project to raise money for a bus advert promoting atheism seemed to fail after a lack of sufficient pledges. However, there’s one thing you can say about atheists – they’ve got the patience of Job. This morning, the British Humanist Society, which organised the posters, confirmed that they’ve gone well over the £5,500 fund mark. They’ve managed to whip up a whopping £16,000 thus far, following a promise by gadfly to God-botherers, Richard Dawkins, to effectively double the donation, and the ads will be displayed on bendy buses in Westminster from January. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
The perfect marriage between altruism and alt-rock, Oxjam is one of those community-led festivals that Brits excel at. Oxjam brings thousands of volunteers across the country, united only by a love of music and a desire to raise money for Oxfam. Last year’s events raised over £200,000, and they’re aiming to top this in 2008. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
Economic catastrophe. Global despair. Times are hard. Well, at least there’s candy floss. Gourmet candy floss at that. Starting tomorrow, Pearl Restaurant & Bar (252 High Holborn, WC1V 7EN) will offer free gourmet candy floss along side orders of its Petit Fours (Saturday nights only). Created by Pearl’s head pastry chef, Ben Knell, the candy floss will come in “four fabulous flavours … each with its own unique twist.” Read More.
Posted about 1 year ago 9 responses
Terror Alerts By Text Great news for the chronically worried in Merton: a new scheme will allow borough residents to get the latest news on terror attacks, break-ins and traffic problems sent by SMS. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 3 responses
At the weekend, we gave you a heads up about furore over a controversial frieze commissioned by London and Continental Railways to adorn the base of the gargantuan “Meeting Place” statue, upstairs at St Pancras International. Designs unveiled at the station on Friday and much to the surprise of the Head of LCR, featured – among other things – the grim reaper, a commuter plummeting into the path of a train, a couple shagging up against a wall and punters giving the finger to the world at large. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
Bow: home of the grime star, and self-styled E3 Ninja, Wiley, and not known as the demilitarised zone for nothing, yagetme, um, bruv. The Nunnery had changed dramatically on the outside since last time we’d visited, six or so years ago. There were pretty lights with a hint of the illuminated flourishes of New Spitalfields market. Talking to one of the gallery staff they were surprised that the lights had lasted potential feckless youth based destruction for so long. But anyhoo, this wasn’t meant to be some sociological meditation about the outside appearance of art galleries in the ghettos of London. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
London’s “freesheet” newspapers seem to cause apoplexy in 90% of the capital’s population. Not only are they puerile, full of celebrity non-news and make your fingers dirty (well, two of them) but they are causing more litter than a ticker-tape parade to celebrate the 100th anniversary of a party popper manufacturer.
Posted about 1 year ago 1 response
All change at King’s Cross. We reported a few months back on the upheavals ahead, now the station of choice for Harry Potter, Boudicca and the Pet Shop Boys is entering a phase of major regeneration.
The almost characterful Handyside bridge that spans Platforms 1–8 is now closed and cocooned in scaffolding. It’s being dismantled and put into storage in favour of a modern crossing.
Several shops on the main concourse have closed down—first Boots, and now Burger King and that lackluster bagel outlet. They’re making room for toilets and other facilities, which in turn are being displaced by upcoming renovations along the west side. Platform 9 and 3/4 is still in situ, but it can’t be long before wizards are stopping people for directions. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
Hoxton Square was taken over last week by an alien species. Not by crowds of patent-heeled, artfully styled students and designers – though they were there too, in record numbers – but by the weird and fantastic creations of the Kinetica Museum’s artists. Held in the Rove Gallery and part of the East London Concrete and Glass festival, Creatures Great and Small features what must surely be some of the quirkiest offerings of the contemporary art scene. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 2 responses
The last Metropolitan police commissioner to resign, James Munro, did so in 1890 after failing to apprehend Jack the Ripper. Sir Ian Blair’s departure may not be the result of so egregious an oversight, yet the reasons behind it have inspired much debate on Fleet Street.
The Times is in no doubt that Mr Blair’s resignation is the result of a “Tory coup” engineered by the Mayor. The Guardian agrees, and even has Boris Johnson vowing that no permanent successor need be appointed “until the Conservatives take over in Downing Street” – a presumptive if not implausible scenario, but one that could leave London without a chief of police for eighteen months. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
Any menu that includes a course called “pre dessert” is the sort of menu Londonist can appreciate. And if that menu happens to be a seven course seasonal chocolate menu dreamed up over six months of tasting and experimenting by Almeida head chef, Alan Jones, and chocolatier, Paul A Young … ? Well, Londonist can confirm that we’d love every last morsel of it! Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
Oh Sherry, there’s no reason to be all alone anymore! “Culinary alchemist” Heston Blumenthal (of Fat Duck fame), with scientist Professor Don Mottram of Reading University, has discovered a group of compounds known as diketopiperazines (try saying that drunk without offending someone) in Sherry. Apparently, these diketopiperazines are thought to accentuate the taste and flavour of “umami-rich” foods. In case you haven’t caught the blurps, umami is a newly discovered fifth tasting sense beyond sweet, sour, bitter and salty. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
Oh dear. Back in the day, a roguish campaign to rib your headteacher might have consisted of a home-made comic strip passed around during maths or some naughty graffiti in the bike sheds. These days, offensive slurs can be carefully placed on MySpace, beaming out your libellious, text-speak rant to the world wide community. Such is life for Muswell Hill headteacher Aydin Onac, who is the victim of a somewhat tasteless online crack, depicting him as Adolf Hitler. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
The British Film Institute turns 75 this month, and they’re throwing a big Birthday Weekender bash at their swank Southbank and IMAX locations to celebrate.
Things kick off tonight with an audiovisual performance that aims to “glance into the future of cinema” and mix it with “club culture”, an ominous pairing if ever we imagined one one. On Saturday and Sunday things settle into a more predictable groove, with free screenings of Mitchell and Kenyon in Ireland at 2pm. Saturday evening, the IMAX will show a nocturnal collection of films from the BFI’s current Time Machine season, including Terminator 2 and Twelve Monkeys. A family funday and an evening film quiz round things off nicely on Sunday.Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 8 responses
Boris Johnson this morning unveiled a mock-up of the new “S” stock trains being constructed for the Metropolitan, Circle, District and Hammersmith & City lines. Boasting more spacious interiors and easier movement between carriages, the main bragging point is that the trains will feature air conditioning, a first for the Underground. Sweltering Victoria line commuters, don’t get your hopes up – these shallow, cut-and-cover lines make a/c much easier, though TfL claims to be working on a scheme for deep-level tunnels. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 2 responses
We don’t wish to tar every pedal-pusher with the same garish shade of Lycra, but it can’t escape the more observant pedestrian that a small minority of cyclists take an approach to road safety and basic manners that can be best described as “indifferent”. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 2 responses
Following the furore over widespread lackadaisical record-keeping for on duty expenses within the Met police force, a detective has been jailed for 10 months for impressively audacious abuses of the company credit card. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 1 response
The death of a man at University College London Hospital, where he was taking part in a cancer drug trial, has been blamed on a computer error. The 27-year old, who suffered from “very widespread” testicular cancer, was given double the correct dosage of chemotherapy over a period of months after a mistake in the set-up of the trial. Another man similarly treated has survived. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 4 responses
If you missed yesterday’s thrill-packed Radar post about BEER EXPOSED (capitalised to raise excitement levels), then you’re a damn crazy fool. Read it now And now, in an unforeseen act of unbelievable generosity, the organiser, who is rapidly becoming our best friend, has offered YOU – dear (premium) Kudocities member – the chance to get a FREE ticket!!!
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
Two days until Open House Weekend, the premier event in London’s architectural calendar. With bit noticeably chomped and anticipation status set to ‘moist’, we round up our highlights from previous years. Please, please, we want your suggestions in the comments. Diligent and dogged though we are in our exploration of the capital, there are over 600 places in the listings, and we know there must be plenty of what the guidebooks always call ‘hidden gems’ that we don’t know about. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 1 response
When we’re not worrying about the happiness of you, dear Kudocities member, or how to alleviate world poverty, we think about beer. A lot. Lovely, lovely beer.
Now two blokes who must also think about beer a lot have launched a stylish new event – called BEER EXPOSED. It already sounds sexy to us. And the kindly organisers have given you lucky people a fat discount. You can get a fiver off a ticket if you go to their website here and type OFFER in the special code box of the ticket page!
Posted about 1 year ago 7 responses
Shepherd’s Bush station on the Hammersmith & City line will shortly be renamed Shepherd’s Bush Market, thus finally ending the long-running fallacy that it is connected to its Central Line namesake. TfL are ready to fire the starter’s gun on the name change: they’ve prepared new roundels at the station, yet curiously, they remain partly covered up with blue tape, allowing mischievous Londoners to choose what the station’s new suffix should be. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 1 response
The Queen Mother may be dead, but suspicions that her boozehound ways remain were given succour on Wednesday when twelve barrels of lager were delivered to Windsor Castle mere hours before the Croatia-England match kicked off. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 1 response
The art world is currently buzzing about one of the biggest and least publicised shows of the year. Bucking the tradition of going through galleries, Damien Hirst, he of the diamond encrusted skull, has decided to put his new works up for sale through Sotheby’s. Over 200 works will be going under the hammer Monday and Tuesday, but until then Sotheby’s is hosting the biggest ever Hirst show. Read More
Posted about 1 year ago 2 responses
Some people just seem destined to be ridiculed. People that, however hard they try, will always attract laughter, even in their most earnest moments.
Posted about 1 year ago 3 responses
We’ve all got tonnes of stuff we don’t really need. Here at Kudocities Towers, for instance, we’re knee deep in empty champagne bottles and pizza boxes.
But if you’ve got stuff you keep meaning to throw away, but never quite get round to it, a new website might just have the answer.
Posted about 1 year ago 0 responses
London Vegan Festival promises a great day out on Sunday. You don’t have to be Vegan to attend, although it might help. As far as we can see, it seems to be all about good food, booze, comedy and music, so what more do you want? Don your finest kaftan, hemp sandals and a dab of patchouli (not that we’re into stereotyping, good lord, no) and head for High Street Ken.
Posted about 1 year ago 5 responses
Hampstead’s naked men want more room to ‘hang out’. Cough cough. The north London heath is famous and well loved for many things: its outstanding natural beauty, the swimming ponds, shagging and tramps being gifted million pound plots. It’s also the only place in London that men can legally sunbathe naked, in a special enclosure by the Men’s Pond.
Posted about 1 year ago 1 response
St Pancras train station is celebrating the ‘Best of Britain’ this month, with a photographic exhibition in association with the Press Association, that marks 140 years of shared history.
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
So there’s this company, Press TV, which is advertising for shouty, opinionated people like your good selves to join the audience for a new TV current affairs debate show called Forum. The programme is apparently part of a weekly series of televised debates on various contemporary political issues.
Posted over 2 years ago 1 response
The Regent Street Festival: A Great British Experience claims to be one of the biggest, free, outdoor events in London’s calendar. Regent Street will be closed to traffic from 12 noon to 8pm, September 7 2008, to make room for marching bands, fanfare trumpeters, (let’s hope they don’t mean this) pipe bands, live music, dance performances, a veteran car display and gourmet food stalls…marvellous!
Posted over 2 years ago 1 response
Normally, when you describe a web site as really shit, you mean it’s bad. But Diaroogle is superb. It lists nice public toilets around London, so is genuinely really useful for those moments when you’re caught short and don’t want a Trainspotting style experience.
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
Recent TFL figures show a 91% increase in the number of people cycling on London’s major roads since 2000. Sounds impressive, until you realise that cycling’s overall ‘share of journeys’ compared to walking, car, motorbike, tax, bus and rail across Greater London is less than 2%. Our affable and shambolic mayor recently expressed a desire to go beyond TFL’s 2025 target of 5%. Why so? Well, it’s estimated that another 800,000 more souls and 400,000 more cars will be added to this fair city by 2025, placing further strain on our infrastructure.
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
This weekend sees a celebration of our special sideways-moving friend, the humble crab. Well, it’s not much of a celebration for the crabs themselves, really, as they’ll be dead. And soaked in chilli. But that makes us happy, at least.
Posted over 2 years ago 6 responses
The Museum of London’s latest’s wheeze is to bring magic and mystery to their ‘Late’ event thingy in the form of one Pete Hathway who will be performing street magic and cunning trickery to astound you a week today, whilst mystical tours of the galleries will be pointing out the more sinister objects, like witch balls and curses in Roman gall. Ew.
Posted over 2 years ago 4 responses
Fed up of inner city weekends, packed tube trains and tourist filled streets? The London Transport Museum is offering you a flavour of gentler, more graceful travelling times with a “Heritage Day Out in Metro-Land”.
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
The Olympics are over, and now London’s getting all excited about us doing our bit for sport in a few years. Here, thanks to our friends at Londonist, we present a whole bunch of photos for you to gawp at mindlessly, representing all the stuff that happened in London over the long weekend to mark the hangover. We mean handover. In Beijing, there definitely was a bus. There was also a Beckham. There was a Boris. There was an apparently ununfurlable and tricky-to-wave flag. There was a football. There were two little girls. There was a funky film. There was some dancing. There was a Leona Lewis and some guy from Led Zeppelin. And suddenly, there it was. After just eight minutes, Beijing was over and everyone suddenly turned to London.
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
Unbelievably, the Olympics end this Sunday. But never fear, if your appetite for obscure sport has yet to be sated you can look forward to the World Freerun Championships coming up on September 3 . The interior of the Roundhouse in Camden will be transformed into a challenging urban landscape for the competition and 20 of the world’s best freerunners will be showcasing their awesome skill, fearlessness and artistry with Britain represented by Pip Anderson and Tim Schieff . Each “life-stylist” will perform to their own soundtrack and be judged by their fellow athletes on their skill and “flow”, presumably to the rapturous support of the audience.
Posted over 2 years ago 5 responses
In the grand setting of Camden Roundhouse, decorated with curtains and a backdrop of glittering stars, you get a great sense of anticipation of what lies ahead at Miss Behave’s Variety Nighty.
With booze flowing, the show kicked off with Miss Behave – in a creakingly tight rubber dress, pushing a rose through her tongue. Hurrah. Later, she would show us her renowned sword swallowing antics, but commented with a touch of pathos that her ability to steal and down audience members’ drinks generally gets a bigger cheer.
Posted over 2 years ago 5 responses
We may not have a freaky medal machine like Michael Phelps up our sleeves, but there is one activity the English will never be bettered at: moaning. While China explodes in a really quite over-the-top performance of national pride, a new survey shows that Brits aren’t that bothered about the 2012 Olympics taking place right here in the capital. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 8 responses
While debate begins over what will be done with recently saved Smithfield market, a gaggle of protesters have taken the bull by the horns and temporarily requisitioned it into a makeshift protest podium. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 4 responses
Short films are excellent in our book. Even shit short films are good, by virtue of the fact that they’re short. So when we heard (albeit a bit late, as usual) that Withnail legends Richard E.Grant and Paul McGann had worked together on a short film for the first time since Bruce Robinson’s masterpiece, we thought it might be worth having a look at the result – a piece called “Always Crashing in the Same Car.”
Posted over 2 years ago 1 response
As a patient admitted to hospital, the last thing you want to hear is the rat-a-tat-tat of the pest controllers at the door. According to the Conservative Party, 70% of health trusts were visited by the insect-busters at least 50 times over a twenty six month period. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 5 responses
When you’re alone in your room how often have you felt like a good strum? I know I often get the urge to relax and twang away to my heart’s content. Yes folks, the urge to air guitar along to some cheesy rock comes over us all at some point – and those crazy Jap toy manufacturers at Tomy have now provided us wannabe Joe Satriani’s with the perfect toy to explore the depths of our musical talent – the Guitar RockStar. And we’ve got one to give away!
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
Transport for London has published a report revealing that congestion in the city is as bad as it was before the introduction of the C-charge. Though 21% less traffic (amounting to 70,000 cars) enters the zone compared to 2002, a “decreasing level of road space” owing to roadworks and traffic calming measures means that jams are just as lengthy. The western extension, already under review, has seen 30,000 fewer vehicles daily. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 2 responses
Six months ago we were on the scene as a major fire swept through Canal Market in Camden destroying market stalls and severely damaging the infamous Hawley Arms. It took 100 firefighters 6 hours to bring the blaze under control but it turns out, the ignition point was just a small LPG heater left on after a stall closed at 7pm that night. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
It might be worth your while to paying more attention to the buskers you pass on your way to work: the guy with a guitar you ignore might be a more famous face than you think. From 6-13 September, celebrity buskers will be performing around the UK, including in London, to support Cancer Research UK. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 1 response
A tedious survey from a government department we’d barely heard of has concluded that kids in the UK know little to nothing about the 2012 Olympic Games coming their way.
The Olympic bad news yawnarama continues. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 1 response
An aid agency is trying to achieve what the Luftwaffe and V-2 rockets failed to do: the destruction of St. Paul’s cathedral.
ActionAid has submitted an application to the City, requesting the “total demolition” of Wren’s 17th century masterpiece, in order that they can search for precious metals underneath. Surely they can’t be serious. The very idea! What’s yanked the chain of these cheeky chariteers? Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
Despite being branded a “a white elephant” by former chief scientific adviser Sir David King, plans for the third Heathrow runway steam ahead. With efforts to raise their case proving less than effective, protesters are now getting tough. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
In the quest for local kudos, organisational dynamism and staff motivation making humdrum local business improvement initiatives sound sexy is all important. The London Bridge Business Improvement District Company decided they had a crap name so, inspired by the spirit and energy of amusing films by the makers of South Park and general corporate Americanisms they’ve rebranded as Team London Bridge. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 3 responses
Love your local? Of course you do. Then why not nominate it as London’s Best Loved Local? A new Love Your Local campaign launched by Stella Artois and spearheaded by publican/actor Jason Flemyng (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrel, Snatch … and soon to be appearing in ITV’s Primeval), gives pub goers the opportunity to recognize and reward pubs that are the “lynchpins of their local communities, offer a welcoming atmosphere for their customers to relax in and socialise and of course support responsible drinking.” The initiative is on for the next three months, during which time folks can go online to nominate their favourite London pubs for the title of London’s Best Loved Local. Following the nominations, one pub will be crowned top London pub and receive a total prize fund of £8500 and a community trust of £5000 “to invest for the good of their local community.” Three runners up will be awarded with £1000 community trusts. All four winning pubs will receive Love Your Local plaques to show off for all to see. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
The Camden Fringe: It’s as good as the Edinburgh Festival, though arguably even better than that lauded Scotch month of mayhem: you only share accommodation if you want to and no one will sneer if you didn’t make it to the 2am performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in an ‘ironic’ car impound lot. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
Next time you turn down a proffered tête-à-tête with a chirpie cabbie, you could be missing out on a satisfying cultural exchange. Who knows whether your driver is a painter, origami champion or candle-stick maker? Black cab driver Dominic Shannon has spent nine years of his career taking pictures of city life, warts and all. While other cab drivers pass the time by attempting to splash foolhardy tourists standing in close proximity to puddles or collating Magic FM trivia in their enlarged brains, Shannon has made the most of his lofty perch on London’s population by making a visual library of its highs and lows. Now an exhibition of the cabbie’s varied work is being shown in Camden, mixing sun-splashed landscapes, famous landmarks and celebrity spots with a darker side of London, portraying homelessness, physical violence and alcohol and drug addiction. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
In today’s tale of Olympic overspend: it seems a clutch of consultants, hired to wrestle the budgetary reigns and keep costs under control, have trousered some £87 million in the process. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
Love London as we do, we know that some of this city’s tourist “attractions” don’t exactly represent value for money. According to a survey by the Sunday Telegraph, London’s fee-paying attractions are among the most expensive in the world. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 4 responses
Harry Potter may have completed his seven years at school, but younger wizardlings are in for several years of service disruption on the Hogwart’s Express. Platform 9 and 3/4 will be shifted later this year to allow construction work on the West side of King’s Cross, according to Jon Burden the former Duty Station Manager at King’s Cross, who led a tour of the area yesterday. The enchanted platform will be relocated to the front of the station, close to the ticket office, in September. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 6 responses
Highly regarded cycle store Velorution has posted something bizarrely horrible and horribly bizarre on their widely-read Velorution cycling blog. It’s a hard to follow rant that seems to be slamming immigrant communities for driving badly and not understanding cyclists, also slamming the traffic police for being from the Essex suburbs and not doing enough for those on two wheels. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 1 response
Shock horror! Banksy is, allegedly, a public schoolboy! According to the Mail on Sunday, the shadowy graffiti artist has been outed by its journalists as Bristol Cathedral School-educated 34-year-old, Robin Gunningham.
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
What, no free gin and tonic? Wah! After last year’s G&T-fuelled shennanigans we were looking forward to more free booze and silly games in the sunshine at the fifth annual Chap Olympiad, but, alas, were limited this year to what we could carry, all the way to Hampstead Heath.
Posted over 2 years ago 1 response
Speaking to the summit of London Councils yesterday, our Boris did his bit for older people, perpetuating the idea that everyone over 60 needs to go to the toilet a lot or has problems with their ‘waterworks’ by suggesting that Freedom Passes should grant access to toilets in London’s shops, bars and restaurants even if the holder is not patronising the establishment. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 2 responses
Sam Loaker looks set to be the most exciting thing to come out of Norwich since Colman’s mustard.
He’s young – 19 – tall, a bit gangly, and plays the guitar like someone with 12 talented fingers and has a decent voice to boot. The bastard.
He describes his style as somewhere ‘between straight up acoustic folk and the urban troubadour’ and while that sounds like a pile of poop, he’s good, dammit.
His songs are quirky, sweet, short and catchy. Ruddy marvellous.
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
Confounded to discover that your Oyster card was knackered when you tried to hop on the Tube this morning? You’re not the only one. A major card fault hit the system on Saturday morning, meaning that cards were inoperable for a five hour period.
Posted over 2 years ago 2 responses
We expect you’ve all been on tenterhooks awaiting the results of our recent site poll (on the right there – look) about which of the Time Out ‘Wonders of London’ is your favourite.
And the winner is…….the Old Royal Naval College, in Greenwich. Ah, Sir Christopher Wren would be rightly proud that a bunch of internet weirdos still have time for fresh air and baroque architecture.
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
Google is out and about capturing London for the latest addition to its Street View service. These 360 degree panoramic views are already available in most major US cities, but now Google is capturing everyone and everything on the streets of London.
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
Bollywood! What’s not to love? The dancing, the music, the er…Swiss mountain backdrops….
Well, if the ‘changing lightbulbs’ manouvre is part of your dance floor repertoire, you might like to ‘ead over to ‘ackney tonight – July 8th – when Diva Entertainments and Honey Kalaria present the UK Bollywood Dance Championships 2008 at the Hackney Empire.
Posted over 2 years ago 2 responses
When we heard about the Battersea Power Station was to be open to the public (thanks Annie Mole!) over the past weekend, we rushed down with camera ready. And, yes indeed, the iconic landmark was there to be roamed around in all its massive glory….......
Posted over 2 years ago 9 responses
Ah, summertime. Sunshine, booze and the beach. To celebrate the few hours of warm weather we have here in Britain, we’ve got THREE copies of a Jilly Cooper-style ‘bonkbuster’ book to give away. It’s called Vintage, by Olivia Darling, and is the perfect holiday read.
Posted over 2 years ago 1 response
Good films are arty, beautiful, moving, life-affirming, harrowing, immersive, thought-provoking, influential, idiom-altering. Bad films are just plain good fun. While there are countless film clubs screening the good stuff, and discussing such weighty things as symbolism, cinematography and ludic interfilmic references afterwards over a G&T, there is only one Bad Film Club, dedicated to celebrating the very worst that the moving picture has to offer.
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
Boris may not have been able to save our Post Offices, but he has succeeded in reversing a decision to close dozens of Underground ticket offices.
Posted over 2 years ago 3 responses
With their acrobatic leaps and iconic masks, Mexican wrestlers are known all over the world. As you might expect, witnessing one of their wildly energetic matches generally involves buying a plane ticket to Mexico. For three days this weekend, however, you can experience all the thrills of a true Lucha Libre just by taking the Northern Line to Chalk Farm….......
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
While you ponder how much you would miss the Robin Hood Gardens estate in Poplar, consider also the well-beloved BBC Television Centre, currently in the middle of its own listing row. While the BBC itself wants to be rid of the iconic but crumbling building, English Heritage has waded in to ask the Government to slap on a Grade II listing to save it from the pervasive and insistent hands of developers.
Posted over 2 years ago 1 response
We’re not going to lie: It was the panda and its gratuitous cuteness that drew us in. The curators of Endangered Wildlife Exposed were no doubt banking on that reaction when choosing an image to promote the Roger Hooper exhibit at Oxo Gallery.
Posted over 2 years ago 2 responses
After the fun of last year’s Chap Olympiad, there was no way Londonist was going to miss this year’s event, scheduled for Saturday July 12. Having watched the Chap’s website with an eagle eye, awaiting announcements as to arrangements for the 2008 event, we were eventually rewarded with an official statement giving details of how to guarantee entry this year.
Posted over 2 years ago 3 responses
It’s a London summer in full swing this week, with parades and festivals galore. Take advantage of all the great events on offer without spending any of your hard-earned holiday savings since most of the events in this week’s roundup are completely free.
Posted over 2 years ago 2 responses
For those of you not in the know, it’s Canada Day on Tuesday 1st July. And unlike last year, Canadians, and those who enjoy them, will get a chance to celebrate Canada Day in Trafalgar Square. We support celebrating holidays on the actual day of the holiday, so are very pleased with this.
Posted over 2 years ago 12 responses
We were reading this earlier and it made us chuckle, a knowing little chuckle.
Many, many lifetimes ago the original KCL team sat around a pub table and waxed lyrical about what we wanted our website to achieve (beyond the obligatory fame and Google buyout).
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
When Boris scrapped The Londoner he was fulfilling a pledge to divert the money to tree planting and ‘protect and preserve’ our open spaces. Today it was announced that we’ll be able to vote for our local park to get a slice of the £6m pie set aside for the Priority Parks project.
Taking a leaf out of reality TV’s preferred way of doing things, he told the BBC:
Londoners know best which areas are most deserving of this cash boost, so I am going to ask them to vote for the places they want to see become greener and cleaner. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
Harrow’s booze-hounds aren’t having a good time of it. WIth Boris decreeing that it’s no longer lawful to sup a Pale Ale while rattling up northwest-wards on the Metropolitan Line, the borough is now mulling a total ban on drinking in public. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 1 response
Since it finally shut up shop in 1983, Battersea Power Station has been reimagined by excitable developers as a theme park, circus, and luxury housing complex, whilst moonlighting as a cover star on iconic albums, surviving a hostile takeover by Cybermen, and finding time to host assorted gigs and contemporary art shows. The latest plan has just been unveiled, and it feels a little like history repeating itself: the site may be pressed back into service as part of an eco-friendly power station. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
Jury service can be a drag, we imagine (Londonist’s youthfulness precluding it from being summoned to rule over our fellow citizens). How to make the time go quickly? You could do like Homer Simpson did and wear a pair of oversized comedy glasses to surreptitiously snooze behind. Or you could smuggle in some class Cs and attempt to drive down Doobie Lane while deciding the verdict. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 2 responses
Samina Malik, the Southall resident convicted last November after being found guilty of owning terror manuals, today had her sentence quashed. The Court of Appeal ruled that her conviction was unsafe, and that there was “a very real danger that the jury had became confused” in passing a guilty verdict. The Crown Prosecution Service will not seek a retrial. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 7 responses
Stitch and Bitch London is London’s feisty but friendly knitting group (and the biggest Knitting Group in the UK at the moment). The group’s been crossing needles since 2005 (when there were only three members), and these days around 40 knitters a week are drawn in by the chance to make something pretty while making ugly chat….......
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
Tamil people in London have hit the news twice this week for very different reasons. Firstly, seems Croydon is in the grip of gang fear following a spate of violent clashes in recent years. Local police claim these Tamil gangs are “tooled up” and looking for trouble. On Monday 4 young Tamil men were found guilty at the Old Bailey for committing the so-called “Chicken Cottage murder” last year. The men denied all charges. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
At a time when the mainstream media is awash with knife crime statistics and government-sponsored images of dismembered hands, it is refreshing to find that members of the public have taken it upon themselves to offer assistance in the ongoing War on Knives (yes, this term exists). Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 4 responses
North London rubbish collectors, Haringey Enterprise, have been ordered to remove any soft toys they may have strapped to the front of their trucks as they pose a risk to small children who might be drawn to said, abducted squishies and thereby get squishied themselves, we presume. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
The Edinburgh Festival lasts for three weeks, but we Londoners get two months worth of previews with vastly cheaper ticket prices. Therefore, London wins. Take advantage of this epic victory by going to one, some, none or more of the following…Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
Sport is sometimes accused of taking itself too seriously, but Saturday evening will see a historic London landmark welcoming elite athletes, dogged semi-professionals and high-spirited amateurs alike to the second running of the Smithsfield Nocturne cycling event.
Last year’s occasion attracted 5000 spectators to the bars and barriers around the 1km course despite heavy rain and was such a success that further similar events around the UK, including perhaps one in Canary Wharf, are being arranged in order to form a championship circuit in 2009. As with the inaugural event there will be five road racing categories with the folding bicycle challenge having caught the imagination of so many rush hour warriors last year that there now need to be semi-finals, the first of which gets things underway at 5:20….Pedal over here to READ MORE
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
Last year we had Peeping Dave with his customised trainers. This time it’s Peeping Warren, an upskirt tourist of epic and brazen proportions. Mr RIichardson is accused of covertly filming female buttocks in Trafalgar Square at the height of tourist season. He was also caught filming “intimate areas of a female person” outside the gates of Buckingham Palace.. READ MORE
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
As part of his ongoing first solo UK exhibition at the ICA, this Saturday sees French artist Loris Gréaud present an interpretation of his Cellar Door libretto with CocoRosie’s Sierra Casady and pianist/violinist/cellist Gael Rakotondrabe. Whilst for the ICA this is another instalment in Stage of the Art, their cross-Channel cultural exchange series with Palais de Tokyo, for Gréaud this performance will be another step in his larger Cellar Door experiment. Having recently exhibited at Palais de Tokyo in Paris, he is currently constructing a studio space on the city’s outskirts that, upon completion, will be part of Cellar Door as well. Gréaud will finish 2008 with a Cellar Door opera to be staged at the Paris Opera. Read More.
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
After two years of training, the London Rollergirls are ready to take on their first international competition this Saturday when the pick of their players line up for London Brawling as they take on Team Canada at the Tottenham Green Leisure Centre in a matchup entitled “Mutiny on the Mountie.” As the team’s press release says:
“Roller derby involves two teams of four blockers skating round an elliptical track, while a point scorer from each team (“the jammer”) tries to fight their way through, gaining a point for each opposing player they pass. Trips, grabs, elbows, headbutts and fist-fighting are all illegal – but spine-crunching shoulder barges, hip checks and booty blocks are totally legit.” Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
An unexploded WWII bomb disrupted tube services on the District and Hammersmith and City Lines last night when it was discovered near Bromley-by-Bow Station in a river by Sugar House Lane yesterday. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 3 responses
Last month we alerted Kudocities to the Food 2.0 Nom Nom Nom project in support of Action Against Hunger – organised by our friends at Trusted Places.
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
Tooting has just been bestowed with a rather dubious title—the UK’s worst place for ID fraud. It’s not just a little more likely that your identity, credit and good name will be stolen from SW17, it’s a whole five times more likely than the UK average. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
So, those of you who are eagle-eyed enough may have noticed our sexy new feature on the right of the home page: the Kudocities Weekly Poll. A chance for you to voice your outrageous opinions on a subject of our choice. Or you may have noticed it simply because you have some sort of wandering eye problem. Whatever.
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
It’s enough to make Hanwell residents fume. While folk in the lowly Ealing burg are still battling to hang on to their antique lampposts, over in Savile Row a makeover this autumn will see Victorian gas lamps make a reappearance. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 3 responses
We said this day would come. And now it’s here and we’re just pleased as Punch (and Judy!)
Boho Brighton – It’s England’s loveliest, liveliest and maybe lewdest city by the sea. Brighton shows the rest of Britain how it’s possible to live on the coast and not draw a pension, play bingo and worry about the price of cat food.
And as one of the UK’s unquestionably coolest cities, Brighton seemed a logical next step in our quest for Kudocities.com world domination!
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
Just a week after we were all taken aback that work on the Olympic stadium had begun ahead of schedule, its fate is being discussed with potential hosts of the next Games and the idea mooted to recycle its seats for reuse in 2016. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
Boris Johnson has appointed Tim Parker as First Deputy Mayor and Chief Executive of the GLA. Mr Parker is also nominated as Chairman of Transport for London to succeed Boris – who has happily realised he perhaps shouldn’t be keeping too many plates in the air – from September. Mr Parker has agreed not to receive a salary but will get a nominal one pound a year for his trouble. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
So the local football team failed to clamber up the rope ladder to the departing helicopter of the Premier League, and in truth it’s nothing more than an ancient dump where the council will spy on you without reason. Yet Croydon’s future looks rosy: Mayor Boris has lavished praise on plans for an exhaustive regeneration of the borough. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 15 responses
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, chances are it’s a … This was our thought upon reading the news that a teenage member of Scientology-protesting group Anonymous, who goes by the name EpicNoseGuy on the Enturbulation forums, had his sign confiscated at the May 10th anti-”Church” of Scientology protest in Queen Victoria Street by the City of London police, and has been issued with a court summons – all for using the word “cult” to describe the controversial “religion”. If Scientology is listed on the Cult Information Centre, that’s a pretty good indication it’s a cult; if a High Court judge calls it a “cult” (Mr Justice Latey, 1984: Scientology is both immoral and socially obnoxious… [It] is out to capture people, […] and indoctrinate and brainwash them so that they become the unquestioning captives and tools of the cult”) then maybe he has a point; if UK newspapers are unafraid to call it a “cult” (The Sun: “dangerous cult”, Guardian), then, perhaps, a case could be made for putting the word on a placard to be waved at a peaceful protest. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
While we’re waiting for details of the new Bond film to start leaking, The Barbican are celebrating what would be author Ian Fleming’s 100th birthday with a weekend dedicated to the suave legend. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
If Londonist were to steal oodles of cash from our employers, we’d probably make like Joyti de Laurey, the Goldman Sachs secretary who helped herself to millions of pounds that she squandered on jewelry, speedboats and a Cyprus villa before landing in jail. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
The Gordon Brown statue saga has intrigued psephologists and, er, wax-ologists for months now: would our embattled PM be given his own waxwork at Madame Tussauds, or have the curators bargained that, with the odds of his removal ever-shortening, the task of crafting those craggy features into a lifelike visage isn’t worth the effort? Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 1 response
In the interest of being seen to do something, the Met today announced a ramp up of “stop and search” powers in “areas blighted by stabbings”. That’s pretty much everywhere in London, then. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
The Sex remains the same, but the City was a less familiar one last night as four glamorous ladies and a retinue of A-list stars stepped out on the red carpet, not in New York, but in London’s Leicester Square. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
For most, the Cannes Film Festival conjures images of red carpet receptions, lavish parties and the best and brightest in new cinema swanking around the Med shores. Yet one London filmmaker has managed to infiltrate the crust of moneyed exclusivity by bringing to the festival a short film that he shot for less than £100. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
The cause of the explosion that ripped apart a Victorian terrace in Stanley Road, south Harrow, on Wednesday continues to baffle the authorities. The body of a man who died has been removed, and with no trace of a gas leak thus far discovered, police are now investigating whether the blast was detonated deliberately in a quite brazen, albeit successful, act of murder. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 1 response
Picnics in the park are great… even better if the ultimate butler is there to hand out the cucumber sandwiches. It is with great excitement that we tell you about a simply ripping picnic planned for Saturday: The Wodehouse Picnic in Russell Square. We’re so excited our straw boater hats are twitching at the thought of it, and we’re having our finest linen pressed as we speak. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 2 responses
What a busy week! What with the Bank holiday, Cans Festival, Pangea Day, May ’68 celebrations and more, free cultural activities abound across London. So get out of bed, you lazy hungover git, and go sample what’s on in our summery city. “Read More:http://londonist.com/2008/05/london_on_the_c_31.php
Posted over 2 years ago 1 response
That’s the partisan message from Londonist today as Londoners go to the polling stations to choose their next mayor and members of the London Assembly. As we write we are reliably informed that a new YouGov poll for today’s Evening Standard will show Boris Johnson heading for victory over Ken Livingstone by six percent of the vote after electors’ second preferences are taken into account. But any news-stand message on our streets later today implying that The Tory is coasting to victory should be ignored. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 2 responses
Whilst “free at the point of use” is a fundamental value of the NHS one West London hospital is bucking up its ideas about treating foreign patients who are not entitled to free healthcare on the NHS by employing a “stablize and discharge” policy. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 1 response
Come spring, come 1st May, come rough music and the Jack-in-the-Green: a leaf wearing London folk custom, with entourage, on a pub crawl.
The Jack-in-the-Green evolved in the seventeenth century from milk maids in huge hats and garlands parading the street for money to a man dressed as a giant hedge, the Jack, roaming the street on May Day on the scrounge for beer money. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 1 response
Not content with their squat parties and countryside raves, it seems Britain’s army of hormonal teens have now moved in on our national library. According to a number of novelists and academics, feral undergraduates are apparently abusing those most hallowed seats of learning, the reading rooms of the British Library, by texting, flirting and … high-fiving. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 1 response
A conflict of interest has forced a Walthamstow police officer to resign. Manjit Johal, formerly a sergeant, was found guilty of sampling the wares of a brothel he was investigating in December 2005. Johal had originally gone to the establishment to determine whether or not it was being used for prostitution, and managed to verify in the least sensible way possible that it was indeed. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 7 responses
Being the honest media whores that we are, stomping around the internet like Britney looking for her kids, we are now running videos from unrulymedia.com on kudocities. You may have seen last weeks uber-intellectual offering from z-lister Chanelle Hayes moaning on about wanting to be a pop star. Marvellous.
But if you gawp at one, we get some filthy lucre. There’s clever.
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
After five hours of sleep (thank you Mr. Postman for waking us up) and an Eggs Benedict at the Camden Kitchen, we had mostly recovered from the first day of Camden Crawl 2008 and were once again hungry for more gigs. With several artists playing both days of the festival, there were a few acts we missed on Friday that we wanted to catch on Saturday, as well as many Saturday-only artists that we hoped to see. We weren’t sure of much when we started the day, but we were determined to see it end in dubstep. Cameras in tow, intrepid Day Two explorers Amanda and Dave clasped on their wristbands and hit the streets. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 1 response
British Elvis fans have been suffering for decades with the rueful knowledge that their beloved hip-swingin’, side-burned, fried peanut-butter-banana-sandwich-lovin’, Graceland crooner had never set foot in England.
The only time he had ever been to the UK, in fact, had been a quick stopover at Glaswegian Prestwick Airport.
Now, however, there is more fuel to add to the Scot vs. English fire. In a Radio 2 interview, showbiz top dog Bill Kenwright revealed that Tommy Steele, English teen hearthrob and once seen as Elvis’s cross-the-pond equivalent, had taken him on a top-secret tour around not-yet-swingin’ London, showing off the sights to the King. Read more
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
That certain night, the night we met, There was magic abroad in the air. There were angels dining at the Ritz And a nightingale sang in Berk’ley Square
Ah, the romance! Vera Lynn immortalised this posh garden square back in the 1920s, but today it’s hit the news for one specific, value-for-lots-of-money, tree.
The Victorian plane tree, stretching a impressive 6ft circumference, has been valued at a staggering £750,000 in calculations to decide whether or not to chop the old fella down. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 1 response
It is “Walk to Work Day” on Thursday April 24, organised by the charity Living Streets, that campaigns for better streets and public spaces for pedestrians … but similar ‘alternative means of transport’ days for Monday 28 and Tuesday 29 April as organised by Bob Crow and the Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union have been cancelled. It is indeed a Good Idea to walk more – it is healthier, cheaper, more… READ MORE
Posted over 2 years ago 2 responses
Credit crunch, you say? Bah, we’re having none of it. Shops in the West End have punched above their weight so far this year: according to a new report from the British Retail Consortium, retail sales in London grew 10.5% in February, up from 3.8% in January, while footfall on the city’s major shopping streets recorded a 4.3% year on year rise for March. All this in a climate where the national market is looking particularly glum – a 1.6% drop in sales was announced last week. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 2 responses
Has the final wheel come off Boris Johnson’s ‘New Routemaster’ policy? The good thing about it was that it came with a promise to restore conductors to the routes currently served by the bendy buses Johnson wants to replace: a bus with a conductor is a friendlier bus, a friendlier bus is a safer bus and so on. Problem is, Johnson has no grip on the economics of the plan, even weeks after he first came unstuck on the subject. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
O, that this too, too solid flesh would melt, Thaw and resolve itself into a dew!
That would be the ‘20 per cent off’ leg of lamb in the freezer section Hamlet is trying to defrost in time for Sunday lunch… And that’s pretty much the kind of thing you can expect to bump into if you go to Supermarket Shakespeare in Lee Green this weekend and the beginning of next week. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 3 responses
This Radar writer feels old. As sales of skinny jeans, chequered neckwear, trilbies and dayglo socks skyrocket, it must surely be time once again for the annual yoof festival known as the Camden Crawl, sorry, the Red Stripe Camden Crawl 2008 – yeah, sponsorship, that’ll stick it to the man. This weekend the northern suburb hosts a mile long festival of ‘hedonism’ in the form of people with ‘hair’ ‘attitude’ and ‘drugs’ going wild – and that’s just the bands.
The streets will be covered in vomit and cans; there will be crying teenage girlies in every doorway, while tramps and drug dealers rush to Camden like chavs to a Burberry sale.
So achingly trendy is this year’s event, it even has a PR company-led Facebook page, replete with text speak, bad grammar and desperate cries for spare tickets from little Tarquin and Mercedes who’s mummy wouldn’t give them more pocket money.
And I quote: “I cannot wait, the only thing that will spoil it is ques, red stripe running out and the frattelis. Hopefully see some of you down for some of the shiz, am myspacing all bands right now.”
Argh. Before I get too Daily Mail, I’m sure standing in a queue at 11am on Friday morning with a load of completely over excited teenagers on Red Bull is fun for some people, but for those of you who have to work on Friday morning, joining the back of the queue outside the Electric Ballroom in the rain at 7pm on Friday night will be even more fun, I’m sure.
There will be some good bits, however. Turning up with no expectations to see a band you’ve never heard of, who then cause the hairs on your neck to stand on end and make you want to hug someone with joy is a feeling even I can remember.
And the quirky, lovely Hungamunga people will be there, hopefully using the piles of rubbish in the streets to make something beautiful; while the ‘Bloody Awful Poetry Competition’ could turn out to be as satisfyingly harrowing as watching KCL’s own Pottytime try to remember the oh-so-amusing alternative lyrics to George Michael’s ‘Careless Whisper’ in a karaoke nightmare at the last meet-up.
The live comedy bits might be nice too. Oh, and the music? Shameless plugs for Joana and the Wolf and The Brute Chorus.
And the worst, most annoying thing about the whole weekend? I haven’t got bloody tickets.
Posted over 2 years ago 3 responses
In the relentless battle against anti-social behaviour and juvenile crime on our public transport we’ve reported on 999 text hotlines and genuine gansters brought in to educate the kids. We’ve had local heroes, PCSOs, poster campaigns and overzealous bus drivers. Now, apparently, we need God. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 2 responses
Still a newcomer to the city festival circuit, Field Day returns for a second year to Hackney’s Victoria Park on 9 August 2008. The recently announced line-up looks like it should provide a diverse sampling of some of our favourite acts. How could we miss a party that Richie Hawtin, Dan Deacon, The Field and Jeffrey Lewis are rockin’? Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 3 responses
We all know how much Kudocities members love cake, oh yes, and fine food . I, for one, am as fat as a house, and it’s not booze. It’s lovely, lovely food.
Well now there’s a chance for you to prove you’re the best cook/blogger/ kitchen and internet genius with a great contest – Food 2.0 – taking place on Sunday May 18th from 11am to 5pm, at Marylebone Farmer’s Market and The Cookery School, near Regents Street.
Food 2.0 is a new project, organized by leading review site TrustedPlaces and London blogger Annie Mole, that brings food bloggers, food photographers, journalists, authors, TrustedPlaces members, cooks and ordinary bloggers together for a meet up.
See it as a Cook-a-thon for bloggers or an interactive version of MasterChef (without those annoying presenter blokes ) – but in pairs, with people sharing the tasks of cooking, and photographing and videoing their culinary efforts.
We’ve tied up with the organisers, who have invited a Kudocities team to take part – so if you know how to create the perfect soufflé, and have a mate who knows the difference between a sieve and a colander, read on….
Up to 24 participants will be grouped in teams of two to compete in creating the best meal, judged by a panel of expert judges and the general public online. Participants will cook a three course meal for four – made up of their “signature” or favourite dishes which they have announced in advance.
Teams will source ingredients from a nearby farmer’s market and independent shops – which must be captured on film as a video blog and by ordinary camera – and then cook the meal, in two and a half hours.
There’s a guest after-lunch speaker, too: Jo Hemmings, a professional dating coach. Jo is researching a new book and will be speaking about Food and Sex. Not sex with food, dammit.
The whole day will be filmed by TrustedPlaces.
Experts will later vote for the best food photography and the best video blogging. The latter categories will be judged “virtually” – the week after the event, when participants have had time to Photoshop their work.
Participants will be invited to document their experience of Food 2.0 by blogging, taking pictures, and videos of the event, and then putting their masterpieces up on a group website.
There will then be a public “People’s Vote” to determine the best online experience.
Phew. Sounds like a fantastic way to spend a day – and the kindly people running the thing have allotted TWO places to a Kudocities team, if you are interested. Prizes haven’t been announced, but we’re sure they will be food-related and better than a kebab from a converted ambulance.
Fame, food and fun – what’s not to like?
Posted over 2 years ago 5 responses
With the impending financial crunch staring us down and cautioning a wiser approach to spending, it’s good to know that the moneyed Londoner still has ample opportunity to disgorge his or her cash on the finer things. Case in point: a Sloane Square department store is selling cat-excreted coffee for £50 a cup. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 3 responses
We wouldn’t normally advocate Facebook groups,but this is one you HAVE to sign up to. You just have to. How amazing would this be? So now Life in Cold Blood is over, and the great man has hung up his broadcasting boots for good, what better tribute than to replace the starchy, boring voice on the London Underground with the silky, enthusiastic utterances of Sir David Attenborough. We’d finally learn what lives beneath Warren…READ MORE
Posted over 2 years ago 3 responses
Back of the net! Londonist’s favourite gargantuan timepiece, Big Ben, is basking in glory this morning, after being voted Britain’s most-loved landmark. Beating off the prehistoric monument and UNESCO World Heritage site Stonehenge into second, The Clock Tower was one of six London attractions to make the top 10. Read more
Posted over 2 years ago 0 responses
Just as concern about our disaffected youth seems to be getting absurdly out of control and becoming a despairingly permanent fixture on our news radar, along comes a media friendly academic to reassure us that it has ever been thus. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 18 responses
We’ve all had spooky moments around London, famed as it is for its ghosts and ghouls. And there are certainly some scary sights around Camden and Hoxton of an evening these days. KCL spent some time sharing fairy tales with serious spookmeister general, Richard Jones.
Mr Jones, prolific writer and expert in all things creepy, formerly of Living TV’s Most Haunted Live, has now collaborated with AA Publishing on a new book revealing the darker side of London. He’s helping us all believe in ghosts….
Posted over 2 years ago 1 response
The Olympic Torch Relay is all over the news this morning for the wrong reasons as far as the organisers and host country are concerned. Was the police presence over egged or was security not tight enough? Were the pro-Tibetan demonstrators treated unfairly and corralled into tight corners when pro-Chinese people were allowed to freely line the streets and wave their flags? Can you separate Olympic values from that of its host country? Did anyone actually see the Olympic flame anyway? And did the Sugababes get all girlie and bottle it at the last minute? Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 3 responses
Having previously interviewed Sian Berry, the standard-bearer for the Greens now currently in a pact (electoral, not economic or suicide we assume) with Labour’s Ken Livingstone, Londonist sent a set of common questions out to (most of) the other candidates in the May 1st mayoral election. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 3 responses
Hundreds of commuters were stuck underground for nearly 3 hours last night, their hometime ruined by a power failure on the Jubilee Line. As usual, such bad news doesn’t make it onto TfL’s website but the BBC report that Blitz spirit prevailed with resigned passengers sharing food and seats while the unfortunate driver kept them up to date with… well, not very much really. ‘Read More”:http://londonist.com/2008/04/detrainment_and_2.php
Posted over 2 years ago 2 responses
For London’s business and financial elite, the pink pages of the Financial Times are the only thing to be seen reading on the morning commute to work. However, the FT’s sturdy grip on matters monetary will be challenged when the Wall Street Journal goes on sale later this month.
From April 16th, the US edition of the paper, printed right here in London, will be sold by 250 newsagents in the City, Canary Wharf and the West End, along with Heathrow and London City airports. New proprietor Rupert Murdoch is keen to raise the worldwide profile of his latest acquisition, and landing it squarely on the doorstep of the FT will extend to newsprint the battle the two venerable titles are currently waging online. Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 3 responses
In the week that Doris’ crack gets filled in, Tate Modern has announced plans for a rethink of the building’s river-facing facade. Between May and August, a group of the world’s most acclaimed street artists will be allowed to daub their designs across designated 15×12 metre areas on the north side of the former power station, the first time the exterior has been used in such a way.Read More
Posted over 2 years ago 4 responses
Cast your beautiful peepers below for the first of many daily feeds we are taking from the kindly bloggers at londonist.com. We hope our new partnership with Londonist enhances your life, like a good session with a packet of floss and some tooth whitener.
There was so much crazy action in the mayoral campaign last week that Londonist was left gasping to keep up. The most entertaining bit was when Boris Johnson launched his environment manifesto with a photo opportunity on Hampstead Heath. BBC London viewers and others were treated to the splendid sight of The Blond hacking his way through a patch of north London undergrowth – perhaps specially provided for the occasion, who knows? – wearing that mildly self-satirising expression we all know and some love, but which he probably needs to keep off his face between now and 1st May.
Posted over 2 years ago 1 response
When Kudocities met Londonist, it was like the first time Posh Spice and David Beckham’s eyes met: mutual media advantage at first sight.
Londonist presents a fine blog about this fine city, so we thought it would be great if we could join together and provide Kudocities members with a regular peek into Londonist’s take on London life; while those lovely Londonistas are looking for fresh content from you – the evil borg that is the Kudocities membership.
We asked Hazel Tsoi and Lindsey Clarke, (Kudocities’ very own stella) Editors at Londonist, to explain what the site’s all about.
Posted over 2 years ago 1 response
Mills Gee is a KCL’er with a mission. She’s tall, she’s pretty, and she’s a bit of a posh bird. You’d expect to see her swanning around the arcades of Pall Mall or something. But she got in touch to tell us about her latest adventure, a ridiculous tri-wheeled trial across India, organised to raise money for charity by the lovely people at theadventurists.com. And while it seems she has done a fair bit of backpacking, somehow we just couldn’t picture her up to her elbows in axle grease on a hectic Hindi highway. With diahorrea. So, we asked her to explain herself.
Posted over 2 years ago 6 responses
A bloke called ‘PieandMash’ seems to be all over Kudocities at the moment. Organising themed party nights in Vauxhall, coffees, ranting about tattoos, waffling on about pies. He’s clearly a man with a fair bit to say. We therefore felt we should let this motorbike-riding, pie-chomping tattoo fetishist have a chat to us.
Posted over 2 years ago 1 response
It’s very trendy every year to knock the annual love-fest that is Valentine’s Day. Even here on the deeply loving community that is Kudocities, the 14th has its knockers.
Posted over 2 years ago 9 responses
To celebrate the launch of the new site, and because we hate to see a good leap year go to waste, we will be holding the first OFFICIAL kudocities.com party on February 29th at The Queen Boadicea.
Posted over 2 years ago 1 response
When the chuggers go home, another breed of slightly annoying people come out to pray on us poor drunks – the rickshaw riders. Blocking our paths with their three wheeled sofas, ringing their bells like madmen in a campanology class, they will take sweaty tourists or overly rich drunks 500 metres for 20 quid. But we are sure some of them are nice.
Posted over 2 years ago 8 responses
It’s been just over a week since we released Kudocities and the feedback has been flooding in. There are still a few glitches we need to sort out and some changes we need to make. Thanks for all of your suggestions.
Posted over 2 years ago 47 responses
Whilst you were off eating mince pies, opening pretty packages and being drunken buffoons – all in the name of Baby Jesus of course – we were busy taking the training wheels off Fridaycities. We’re all grown up now and ready to take on the world. Or at least a little bit more of it.
willster says: Some conversations deserve to be immortalised. At least, until the internet breaks.
willster says: Christmas is coming, The Goose is getting fat, If you don’t attend this, You’re a ruddy..disappointment
willster says: I dream of a world where breakfast products are free, where the people of Uzhupis welcome KCLers with open arms, and where most of my dreams are made into box-office smash hits. But not that dream, obviously. Christ, no.
willster says: Show off your brains in public. Lightly dusted in butter and fried with capers.
willster says: We like Londonist, but also like that Kudocities’ very own Babb has won something or other that we can all go and gawp at on May 1st, during this Londonist-organised competition. So come along and admire Londony photos, drink booze, be a bit arty farty. Hurrah!
willster says: A bus that goes nowhere and is full of fine food? What more could you ask for?
willster says: A short course in how to make your text look pretty and stuff. Pay attention, Pottytime. Yes, you, Alan.
willster says: An end of the month boozing festival with Londonist people, too! Let’s show them how to crawl good and proper.
willster says: Another year, more parties….but this one involves carpentry. And birthdays. Huzzah!
willster says: We’ll drink again, don’t know where, don’t know when, but I know some chilly day we’ll drink again.
willster says: ‘Cos there ain’t no thread like a party thread. Useful for burglars, too.
willster says: The questions of what to do with drunken sailors and all that junk in your trunk have long plagued mankind. But here at Kudocities, we like to concern ourselves with more altruistic questions. God love us.
willster says: Advice. Give it. Take it. Whatever. We prefer Advil.
savannah says: There’s only one thing for it – KCL tube party. Before it’s too late…pah
willster says: Because we all secretly love a bit of ‘Carry On’ style humour…..er…don’t we?
savannah says: Hypothetical. Totally hypothetical. Nothing to see here folks. Move along….
savannah says: A genuinely useful questions that could help a lot of us out, particularly post meet-ups!
savannah says: It’s Monday folks. Let’s have some estate agent bashing to kick the week off right!
willster says: Come and commemorate the delivery of the Declaration of Breda with us!
savannah says: Political correctness gone mad I think – but it’s a fine line. And in a place as multicultural as London, it doesn’t hurt to stop and think sometimes.
savannah says: Double kudos if you can find a picture…
willster says: Because sometimes our community of evil, unforgiving fools really excels itself…....and goes all nice…...
savannah says: This seems like a bit of a long shot. A half decent pub in central London is unlikely to have a quiz on a Friday night. But I could be wrong. I often am. Which is why I’m crap at quizzes…
willster says: Who says pride is a sin? We’ve been noticed for our coolness. Revel in it, people.
savannah says: It’s an interesting question and for 50 kudos, I’m guessing someone with ‘dancing feet’ can help!
savannah says: Go on! Help a new kid out. I’m sure KC can think of better ways to spend a weekend in London…. mumbles about Canary Wharf being shit…...
willster says: The love, of course, is in my pants. But there’s lots of love here too! xxx
savannah says: This is a great idea. And some of the KC booze hounds could do with something a little more sobering!
savannah says: We’ve had so many questions about bars and pubs and clubs…but how do you entertain the ‘underage’ in this great city?
savannah says: I wonder how many KCLers need 40k a month on expenses?
savannah says: _This is not an ordinary KCL post this is a low fat organic sesame seed laden KCL post lovingly smothered in ethically grown shropshire text_ mmmmmm…..KCL…..
savannah says: 8,760 Members of KCL – each of you taking an hour out of your day. _Could you really tear yourselves away though…?_
savannah says: When terrible things happen to us, or loved ones, it can really shake our faith – be it in mankind, the city we live in, or even ourselves. It’s really important to be reminded about the tremendous good in people and places.
savannah says: I live on Upper Street and I can’t think of anything. Pathetic, I know. Perhaps a more knowledgeable KCLer can be of help?
savannah says: We’ve all had bad haircuts but is arson really the answer?
savannah says: This a really good question. And I know how important etiquette is to everyone here.
whenthiswasfields says: Everyone else always seems to be having, or planning to have, so much more fun than me on New Years Eve. But it turns out they aren’t. Read this. Then for God’s sake – someone organise a KC party!
