If you're born with the proverbial silver soup-eating utensil in your gob, yet your aspirations include running a country with a long-standing disdain towards the average toff, how can you relate to the lumpenproletariat? Maybe by showing that you suffer from the same troubles they do - such as, for example, being the victim of petty crime. Just days after his City Hall chum Boris announced the Summer Cycling campaign, David Cameron has joined......

Shlepp along past the Wapping Project in E1 and you can't fail to notice that something is afoot. Yellow umbrellas hang from a tree, as if a gaggle of Mary Poppins had become ensnared in the branches. Nearby a column of Dan Flavin-like yellow fluorescents hang in the disused accumulator tower, a pool at the bottom reflecting them into infinity. On the building's roof, a shipping forecast intones as a yellow dinghy and a......

Londonist is a massive fan of two-wheeled transportation, especially when it comes with a gift voucher attached. Yes, the lucky residents of Islington can now give up the motor, get on the manual and be £100 richer. Or even £300 richer, for those who would otherwise fork out £200 annually on a parking permit. We were practically packing the bags and moving to the Borough upon reading this, but alas, the following recent government statistics......

Local trader Mike Weedon has proposed new toilets to be built in the trendy bar and club-filled area of Islington. The proposal has been taken seriously by Islington Council as imore public conveniences should be available ... but not if they're named after Joe Orton. This infamous homosexual playwright of the 1960s rocked London with controversial plays such as 'Loot', What the Butler Saw' and 'Entertaining Mr Sloane' (a corpse in a cupboard and......

Londonist was privileged enough to be able to sneak a quick interview with Gavin Pretor-Pinney in between his cloud-gazing activities and his idling. Actually, that was a very weak attempt at a clever introduction. Let’s try again with a drum roll this time. Meet Gavin Pretor-Pinhey, the iconic founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society, and the co-founder of The Idler. Oh, and proud London resident. Gavin, Londonist can easily understand idling (what is blogging except......

Depending on how much Internet reading you do, you may or may not be aware that today is Blog Action Day – a day on which bloggers around the web unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind. This year it’s the environment. And in honour of this, Londonist could think of nothing more appropriate than to suggest ideas for a greener day in this fair city of ours. 1. Get on......

The breathlessly international Bicycle Film Festival is seven years old this year and it is rolling into London with a string of cool films and even cooler parties and exhibitions, from Wednesday 17 October to Sunday 21 October. Films about two-wheel transport range from modern-day radicalism in Canada to gruelling fundraising cycle hikes over the Alps, from the factory floor in America to changing lives in Ghana, a helmet-camera tour of several international cities......

We’re gob-smacked we are that Brits have a bad bed rep. As far as the eye can see, quite literally, we’re about as randy as a canine on heat. Sexual sighting number one: freshers strip during freshers week – now that sure is an original way to make friends (although the residents of Kingston might argue to the contrary). Sexual sighting number two: Swedish porn at the ICA. This really qualifies as six sightings,......

Anyone remember the Sex and the City moment when Carrie has her Manolo’s snatched? They wanted her shoes – say what? Well, such crime is no longer confined to the silver screen, nor the streets of Manhattan. Early yesterday morning, two fashion houses, Brora on Marylebone High Street and Luella Bartley in Mayfair, were broken into and handfuls of handbags and cashmere seized. The villains – reported to have travelled by moped – skilfully......

If you've been wanting to join the cycle revolution but are put off by all that aggressive, unpredictable and dirty traffic out there then maybe this weekend's Hovis London Freewheel, which will trundle through nine miles of traffic-free town on Sunday, will help you get on your bike. The number of cyclists on London's streets has apparently increased a stunningly impressive 83% in the last 12 months. Unfortunately, it's too late to register to......

Boris wants London to tackle bike thieves. Especially this one who's on the run. Not cycling. Which is a little bit silly of him. Yesterday was 30 years since Mark Bolan died in Barnes. We export wax figures just as Chinese terrecotta figures arrive. Terracotta is obviously the new wax. Three people have died in a bus crash. But if that hasn't put you off you can now go from London to Sydney on......

By definition there must be at least two sides to every dispute. But we're really struggling to find empathy with the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) union after it broke ranks with other unions to insist on shutting down most of the tube network until Thursday. Next week they will cripple the tube again, if there's no agreement. The strength of the RMT argument doesn't seem to be making much headway in the......

Hot on the heels of the pay as you go pups comes brilliant news that Ken Livingstone has ordered a feasibility study into a pay as you go bike scheme for London. We were in Paris the other week and saw the excellent Vélib' (freedom bike) set up. Specially designed, heavy grey cycles are stationed at bike stands all over the city, available for hire for as little as 1 Euro for half an......

As the buzz surrounding the weekend's Tour de France action in London builds steadily, more and more people are asking where will be the best places to watch, especially during the Prologue individual time trial on Saturday afternoon. Unlike the annual Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race, where the best vantage points are well established, there's no obvious form to go on for this one-off cycling spectacular in terms of where to set out your viewing stall......

On Saturday, the Royal Academy of Arts will be opening early (from 9am) to celebrate the Tour de France. It's the first day of a new Sea Impressionists exhibition, so if you fancy a quick escape from the cycling mayhem then pop in for breakfast and a mooch at some oceans. They'll even give you a free bottle of Firefly Tonic (which we think is the nice drink you can get at Yo! Sushi)......

When the long arm of the law finally caught up to bike thief Daniel Westrop, it....slapped him gently on the wrist and said “You naughty boy! You’ve been very bad. Now go sit on that comfortable armchair and think about what you’ve done!” Westrop, 27, had been stealing scores of expensive mountain bikes from stations in the heart of commutersville, mainly targeting Walton on Thames, West Byfleet, Brookwood and Surbiton. Though only charged with......

A gang of Albanian assassins murdered a rival in a disagreement over the who was to steal from London's parking meters. Register your bike with the Met and then if it gets stolen and subsequently recovered, it will be returned to you and you can ponder what to do with it now that you've bought a new one. Paddy Ashdown was offered a job in Gordon Brown's cabinet but refused it. A London wide......

Hooray! Bus fares are to drop if you're an Oyster user Forget the logo for a sec, the International Olympics Committee has given London the best report they've ever given a city! Jarvis' meltdown is a go-go. Got £1? Buy a chainstore! And finally congrats to everyone who took part in the London - Brighton bike ride yesterday. Photo taken from Lu;s photostream.......

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......

It all began with the London Burlesque Festival. Then there was a naked bike ride of all things (we don't even want to think about 'saddle rash'). And just when you thought it was safe to go out again, along comes the event you've all been waiting for: London Fetish Fair. And oh Lord, it's not going to be quiet as this one is celebrating their 10th Anniversary. We imagine it's going to be......

London's blatantly getting on its bike. Next month, the world's largest annual sporting event, the Tour de France, freewheels into the capital for the first time in the race's 104-year history. You won't be able to avoid this juggernaut of an event, which will "see London turned into a huge cycling stadium" - so you may as well let out a deep sigh and throw yourself into it. The festival planned around the Grand......

Protestors and police never seem to be bosom buddies, especially when there is an anarchic flavour to their activity. London is no exception, where the Met police really aren't fond of the capital's monthly 'Critical Mass' bike protest rides.Each one starts off at Waterloo, and each time the destination is deliberately not agreed in advance. As big fans of order and discipline, it's no surprise that this kind of free-wheeling attitude unsettles your average......

LAist is experimenting with blogging dates from J-Date, but finds the best men are found offline. Some date vicariously online and that is one reason why porn is big -- really freaking big -- so they ask if they should cover XXX since the heart of it lays in the city's San Fernando Valley. A writer grapples with her food porn photography obsession, another gets censored on Flickr, one gets scooped by the LA......

Boycott overpriced food and merchandise at the FA Cup final!!! And take an umbrella. Charity bike ride. They'll cross that bridge when they come to it, 14 times. Holy smoke! Dean of Southwark not happy with smoking ban. Image courtesy of dartar via the Londonist flickr group.......

Forget locking up your daughters – lock up your bikes! New statistics indicate that bike theft is up 10% in England, bringing the average to one bike stolen every 71 seconds. Though the thieves are not quite up to snuff, stealing something every 60 seconds like Nicolas Cage with his muscle cars, it’s still a pretty impressive number. The areas of the capital in which you are most likely to be parted from your......

Playing a gig as a solo musician can be quite a strange experience. Rocking up to a dingy pub on your own with just a guitar for company can be at once isolating and liberating - you may miss out on the friendly banter of bandmates and friends but it certainly seems to make dealing with calamity easier, as I experienced last Tuesday night. The pub in question - Leonard's on Northampton Road, EC2.......

Hard on the heels of the Photo of the Day, we thought we should mention the fact that there's currently some serious talk going on about establishing a real-life, honest-to-goodness, proper, physical, three dimensional, 'when I was your age all this was fields', Flickr gallery in London. Here's the general idea: Convince Flickr / Yahoo! to rent out a gallery space somewhere in London (nowhere flashy - maybe a community centre or a college).......

Austinist gets arty with an interactive guide to SXSW, loved some local art galleries and a new art exhibit and lamented the possible loss of "Friday Night Lights" production to New Mexico. Bostonist was happy they finally found an Anna Nicole Smith connection to their fair city and that an Apple Store was opening up. They were less happy that new rules have been established limiting underage shows and that their Governor spending a......

British Olympic chiefs will not be swayed by anyone (their own sports experts) or anything (the facts) in their conviction that we will come fourth in the medal table in 2012. What's one lower down than bronze? oh yeah. Fuck all. "We're totally committed to fourth place - and I believe we can deliver it. We have a unique opportunity as the host nation in 2012, and the funding is there to match our......

The Pool of London gets turned on today as Switched ON London kicks off: A seven night celebration of the relationship between light, architecture and the city consisting of temporary lighting installations and a series of light related events with an overall concept theme of 'theatre'. So, the 'Gods of Light' willing, London's first festival of light will run from the 8th to the 16th February 2007 The Tower of London, HMS Belfast, London......