What's this city coming to when burglars threaten to kill an infant for a few credit cards and cell phones? Recently, two burglars armed with hammers broke the front door window of a young Penge couple's home in Oakfield Road and made their way inside. The baddies demanded the scared couple turn over credit cards and pin numbers, and threatened to kill their 2-month-old if they didn't comply. We don't want to think about what......

It's been a bad few weeks for the Spice Girls: they released the worst selling Children In Need single ever (to put this into perspective, let's remember that Martine McCutcheon once had a Children In Need single. Martine McCutcheon), appeared in terrible Tesco adverts, played to half full shows in America and Baby Spice sprained her little baby ankle on stage. However, little Emma Bunton ingested her weight in painkillers, soldiered on and appeared......

Dusting off the snow from last year, every day this month the Londonist team will be pointing you in the direction of a Christmas present that (with a bit of luck) you won't already have on your list. Climb up onto our collective lap and we'll see what we can move from our sack to your stockings... The Londonist team is full of interesting people doing exciting things but one in particular has been......

It's very easy to get caught up in this city for all of it's music, clubs and big shiny loud stuff. Well, as much as we remain a fan of all that is big and shiny, Londonist occasionally needs some down time. Preferably with trees and tweety birds. And there's nothing more relaxing than a walk through the countryside. This is why The Wildfowl and Wetlands Centre is perfect. It's a short skip and......

Londonist is all for environmentalism. We even clothe the Londonist baby in non-disposable washable cotton nappies and take all our groceries home from the organic food shop in a bag made of woven hemp. We wash our hair with a cuttlefish and row everywhere. However, when we heard that a low-carbon Olympic flame will light up the 2012 Games, we weren't impressed. We want a big old dirty flame. This is the Olympics! Let's......

Here’s what we learned this weekend, whilst you were drawing up your Christmas card lists (or crossing people off them): It’s been a bad weekend for London’s performers, with even the ROH being dissed, and one band getting the worst review this Londonista has ever seen. But it has been a great couple of days for pussy cats, with three of them being rescued from a derelict flat, and another being turned into a......

When they're not being re-imagined as metaphorical objects in overrated films, plastic bags are unsightly things. A familiar bane of London's landscape, the "urban tumbleweed" is an ecological nightmare. We all know that we're supposed to ditch them in favour of reusables; yet 13 billion bags are issued each year in the UK alone. That's 220 per person. Only one in 200 bags is recycled, while the rest are doomed to landfill sites where......

This weekend column is brought to you by the founders of Niceties Tokens, Liz and Pete of Team Nice. 22. Badge of honour Hurrah, Team Nice’s prototype for badges for pregnant women has been made. It’s too early to tell how effective they will be. If you have a bun in the oven, or indeed know of someone who does, please email team.nice@niceties-token.com and we can send you some, as we really want to......

This is the story of a very strange Sunday that started with eight audience members sitting in shop doorways and concluded at a dining table set up on the busy St John’s Road near Clapham Junction. We went through a lot together – a phonebox, a cashpoint, a wedding in a piss-sodden alleyway, a funeral in a car park and then this surreal Sunday lunch. We were family by the time Barry broke his......

What on earth possesses people to get an au pair? And why is there no shortage of applicants for such work? OK, Londonist isn’t stupid. There are lots of hardworking parents out there who either can’t afford proper childcare or can’t find anything suitable. And there are even more desperate young (for the most part) women who want to come to England to study but need that little financial boost. On paper it is the......

This weekend column is brought to you by the founders of Niceties Tokens, Liz and Pete of Team Nice. 21. Preggers As a pregnant London commuter, my mate Tash sometimes does get a seat on the train, but sometimes she doesn't. However if she does get a seat, it's usually offered by a man. I hypothesise that this is possibly to do with the fact that she is a very attractive lady, and a......

It turns out that being a genius doesn't mean you're a nice person. That's a lesson that the Science Museum reinforced today as they cancelled a talk by scientist Dr James Watson, winner of the 1962 Nobel Prize for his work in discovering the structure of DNA. Watson was scheudled to give a talk at the museum on Friday, but this was nixed after his controversial remarks in an interview with the Sunday Times.......

There was very little else for Londonist to be concerned with when the threat of a Tube strike became a very unpleasant reality. The inconvenience was extreme: there aren't many alternatives to the Tube in London despite the best efforts of the Londonist team to get everyone from A to B. Brighter news came in the form of the first ever female Yeoman Warder, or Beefeater as the position is more commonly known, and......

For only Ken Livingstone has the right blend of schmaltz and gravitas to deliver yesterday’s ground-breaking apology for London’s involvement in the slave trade. Generally speaking, Londonist is a little cynical when it comes to apologists. The national apology is the grandest theatrical gesture of politics, and the ultimate in political correctitude for those in thrall to politicians. And we reckon it has to top baby-kissing and hospital-bedside-visiting for ensuring a swift ratings boost......

Emma Hutchins' one woman show embodies its own ethos of "having it all". Written and performed by the woman herself, she rises to the occasion delivering 3 familiar yet absorbing Bridget Jones-esque monologues and throwing in some Japanese Butoh for good measure. Ambitious? Yes. Misguided? Certainly not. Butoh is a dance form where each move is initiated by emotional truth. Isobel's entrancing, effortful progress from prone to standing to intensely, baby pigeon steps forward......

It's summer! Shouldn't you be outside enjoying the sunshine? That is, assuming we actually get any. If you don't fancy making the most of the weather, here are a few choices for a night in. On TV, Londonist likes: Tuesday, 21 August Secret Life of the Motorway (BBC4, 21:00-22:00) What screams "summer holidays" more than being stuck on the motorway on your way to or from somewhere fabulous? You'll be sure to love this......

If you're feeling your age, then you'll have fun this weekend. Two events have been noted on the Londonist radar and both concern the silver end of the social spectrum. First up for your diary is Bells of Shoreditch on Saturday, a durational performance installation in St Leonard's Church, along Shoreditch High Street. As part of the Shoreditch Festival , performance and installation artist Anne Bean has gathered a diverse group of women to......

Regular readers will know that we're fond of using photos from the Londonist Flickr pool to illustrate our posts. One of our favourite photographers is Chutney Bannister (possibly a pseudonym). His images often capture the weirder side of London Life, such as the prancing Elvi, or the Baby Messiah. Well, he's only gone and got himself a photography exhibition. Get yourself down to the frevd cafe-bar at 198 Shaftesbury Avenue tonight if you'd like......

We don't subscribe to cricket being elitist, generally, especially since the advent of the ace Twenty20 Cup but the MCC is definitely the ultimate in elite club exclusivity. Accompanying a member into the Long Room at Lords is an oppressive experience even when you’ve made an effort to meet the dress code, are really quite sober and excessively polite to everyone in a bacon and egg tie. But the "Home of Cricket" and revered......

A 20-year old woman identified only as Michelle has made public the sad cases of separation from her children enforced by social services in Bexley, south-east London. Michelle had her first child aged 13, her second at 16 and a third before she turned 20. All three children were taken from her by Bexley social services and put up for adoption and she herself was put into foster care. She was allowed very little......

London has undergone a mass exodus. Unnoticeable to some, devastating to others, the actors, directors, stage managers, comedians and dedicated followers of fringe theatre are negotiating their way north to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, leaving a distinct lack of entertainment down here. Seeing this as an opportunity rather than a threat, the plucky Etcetera Theatre and Liberties Bar in Camden are hosting London's miniature version of the Scottish theatre revels and are proudly presenting......

Meat Raffle has been putting on exciting live acts and banging out the hits upstairs at Shoreditch BarCatch for nearly 18 months now. So we thought it was quite time enough to get in touch with promoter and DJ 16oz Stewart, who used to run TVOD in Manchester, to get the lowdown. When and why did you set Meat Raffle up? February of 2006. To show off our exciting records and get a few......

Londonist asks that most pressing of daily concerns: where to go on your lunch break. Café on the Hill 91 Brixton Hill SW2 1AA Map Expect to Pay: Under £5 Rating: 8 out of 10 Finally Londonist made it south of the river for lunch, and considering how delish and culturally unique our meal was, we’re sure glad we did! Café on the Hill looks like your bog standard London caff, which of course......

If you’re a woman in London, you have most likely experienced being groped, touched, leered at, harassed, followed or hit on by random strangers in public. It happens to women of all ages, from preteens to grannies. It has even happened to this Londonista, getting pushed into traffic by a man whose wrath was incurred when his request to 'smile, baby' was turned down five years ago. If you haven’t experienced something like this,......

Mobile phone thieves beware: Londoners are fed up with your antics and they’re not going to stand by anymore. One man in particular is roaring mad. Russell Clarke, a City worker, was having coffee with his wife and baby daughter at Daisy’s in Walthamstow when a skilled thief approached their table and, using distraction techniques, diverted their attention long enough to steal his wife’s mobile phone. When he realised what had happened, he gave......

This weekend column is brought to you by the founders of Niceties Tokens, Liz and Pete of Team Nice. 6. Dizzy Lizzy Previously: It's easy for us all to look away, but if you were sitting on a bus and someone directly asked you, very politely, if they could sit down because they were about to pass out, would anyone (who was able) refuse? For research purposes only, I'll test this out… This was......

Never ones for being the most talkative on stage, Muse played the first night of their two night stand at the new Wembley Stadium with few words to the audience. This was more than made up for however, by the enthusiastic set full of surprises. If you’re going to the Sunday Muse gig I’d strongly suggest not reading the rest of this review if you want to keep it all a surprise. Going back to......

Holy smokes! Giant fish on the MTA, Paris Hilton in jail, then out, then in again, Al Gore, goatses, blumpkins, Matt Damon, and baby art critics! It's been a busy week across the Ist-A-Verse, and here's a smattering of what's been going on. In Gothamist's neck of the woods, they found out that many things are possible: A man caught a 40+ pound fish off the Rockaways and took it home on the subway. Graffiti......

This photo from Chutney Bannister is a few months old. That baby is probably forming his first words by now. What would he be saying if he had to write his own caption? If you've got an unusual image of the capital that you'd like us to consider for this slot, either upload to Flickr and tag it Londonist, or email to londonist - at - gmail - dot - com.......

All across the Ist-A-Verse (or at least the American parts thereof), writers and editors are in the midst of enjoying their three-day weekend. But after the week we've all had, we feel like the break is not only needed, but deserved. Just look at everything we've been doing! Gothamist headed into the Memorial Day weekend with a number of tasks accomplished. They worried about Long Islanders giving New Yorkers a bad name. They tried......