He’s climbed the world’s most iconic structures from the Eiffel Tower to the Petronas Towers. But French ‘Spiderman’ Alain Robert chose a curious challenge during his trip to London yesterday: Portland House on Victoria Street. Here’s the brute. As in, here’s Portland House, not Monsieur Robert. He’s much more gorgeous, see ---> The Gallic climber scaled the 320 ft building as a protest against climate change. On reaching the top, he was arrested for wasting......

View Larger Map So what happened to all those lovely new towers we were promised? The Shard, the helter-skelter, the cheesegrater and their friends have been around as designs for years. But where have they got to? If you've checked the City skyline lately, you'll notice it's all cranes. Things are finally happening and everything's in place for a new-look London for 2011. Here's a tour of five of the more prominent sites, all of......

Huge hangover? Spent all of your money? Yep, us too. So we can't go and watch Barbara Streisand (though we don't think we'll ever be that rich) and we can't go and see Elling. But, here's a few things you can do this week to make things a little easier on your pocket. Monday: Been a while since you've seen a good film? Then the Canary Wharf Summer Series at Canada Square park should......

We don't talk about opera enough on Londonist so here's a double-whammy of high notes and hollering... For the full Royal Opera House effect without going to the Royal Opera House, the BP Summer Screen brings Tosca to the masses tonight. Puccini's tale of love, murder, deception, jealousy and all the other standard opera elements is being broadcast live from the Royal Opera House on big screens in Canada Square (Canary Wharf), Victoria Park......

London's running schedule is hotting up next month. Alongside the capital's tussle with Liverpool and Glasgow on the morning of Sunday 3 June, workers in The City and Docklands have their own chances to nip out, buy some emergency trainers and get some kilometres under their belts (which might be straining if they've been investing their inflated xmas bonuses in too much rich food and Krug). First up we have the Canary Wharf Jog......

Britain's largest ever property deal has seen HSBC complete the sale of their headquarters at 8 Canada Square, Canary Wharf for a whopping £1.09 billion to Spanish property firm Metrovacesa. HSBC will pay £870 million over the period to Metrovacesa in return for 20 years lease of the tower and have options for a further five years. 8 Canada Square is the joint second tallest building in the UK at 199.5 metres and has......

With One Canada Square already taking the award for the tallest phallic symbol in the country, it’s not as if Canary Wharf was short of innuendo in its mighty structures. So what’s the deal with this new erection in Jubilee Park? Seriously. Do all those suited boys and girls really need to get any more sexed-up than they already are?......

... is pretty fugly. Judging by how it chooses to be presented on the small screen, at any rate. Take Gordon Ramsay's F Word (Wed 9pm C4): We're not denying that it's entertaining. It is hugely entertaining, especially when Gordon picks on twattish City trader boys from Essex and reduces them to tears, much as he reduces all sorts of delicious juices to make a lovely concentrated sauce. Mmm, we're hungry just thinking about......

"Stuffy" is a word often attributed to opera, due to the common misconception that opera houses are expensive, hot and airless halls for rich, hot and humourless people. Open air opera is far more appealing on a warm summer's night, especially if attending costs nothing - think of the gardens at Glyndebourne, the gentle slopes of grass beside Kenwood ... and the space between office blocks in Canary Wharf, the turf in Victoria Park,......

The BBC, police and local authorities are considering blanking out big screens across the country after violent scenes at the Canary Wharf screening of England's laboured 1-0 victory (we did say they struggled in the heat) over Paraguay on Saturday. Police were called at 3:30 pm as around 200 of the 6,000 fans gathered in Canada Square threw missiles and fought, an affray some witnesses said began with youths throwing beer over each other.......

London is, of course, home to people from every country on earth and even people from nations that are not widely recognised. One moment when this comes into sharper focus than usual is every four years during the world cup when corners of the capital resound to the rejoicing and dismay of those who love London, but still retain deep ties with their homeland that come to the fore when national pride is on......

On one of our frequent joyful jaunts around the city, we stumbled across this intriguing series of stone carvings. The works decorate the otherwise prosaic offices of Diageo, at 8 Henrietta Place (just north of Bond St station). They’re the folk who look after some of our favourite brands - Baileys, Guinness, Smirnoff and the like. And we do like. The 15 sculptures depict various stages in the history of architecture. Beginning on the......

One hundred years is a deucedly long time in the life of a great city. And much has changed, as this selection box of statistics shows. Figures are for greater London, unless otherwise stated. The first number indicates the 1905 value, the second shows the 2005 figure. Population (Greater London): ~6.8 m; ~7.5 m Population (Inner London): ~4.5 m; ~2.8 m World ranking (by population): 1st; 19th Murder rate: 8 per million; 27 per......

Shard London Bridge (née The Shard of Glass) and architect Renzo Piano wish to announce the birth of their first child. ‘Baby Shard’ is expected to put on rapid growth and approach the height of 14-year-old cousin 1 Canada Square. Baby Shard will sit close to its mother, separated by a new tree-lined piazza. No baby photos are currently available, but we’re told the tot will have a sloping forehead with solar panels. Mother......

We’re hearing a couple of stories about very tall buildings in Docklands. First up, the proposed 63 storey Columbus Tower is mired in yet more uncertainty. It’s previously faced problems from City Airport, whose planes would fly close to its top, and Crossrail, whose trains would pass close to its base. But full planning permission has been granted. Before construction can begin, however, an existing building on the site has to be dismantled. Mysteriously,......

Another week, another big tower. This time, Coin Street Builders (the guys behind the Oxo Tower rejuvenation) have announced plans for a monster of a residential block on the South Bank. Looking something like a cross between Tower42 (NatWest Tower) and the Tate Modern’s brooding chimney further downstream, the 168 m stack would nestle behind the National Theatre, on Doon Street. Along with the proposed Beetham Tower at Blackfriars, these plans signal a potential......

Where are all those tall buildings they promised us? Good question. We’re glad you asked it, because we’ve been wondering too. So we thought that it’s time for a round-up of who’s building what, when, and with whom. For comparison, London’s tallest building, 1 Canada Square, is 235 m high. Name: Bishopsgate Tower Nickname: To be decided, but we reckon ‘The corkscrew’ would be a good bet. Height: 307 m, and London’s tallest. Architect:......

It is finally summer, although Londonist knows this only because of the calendar date and not the weather. Summer means gleaming white bodies attempting to tan in Hyde Park, drinking large glasses of Pimm's, and above all it means seeing opera and ballet for free in some of London's most beloved squares. Yes, that is right, it is time once again for the Royal Opera House's BP Summer Big Screens season. For three nights......