23% of Scots don’t like London. Astonishing. This and other really useful stats have been revealed by a new YouGov poll. Cocaine in the capital is cheaper than ever before – but it’s full of dangerous rubbish. Mysterious things afoot at Crystal Palace this week – they’re engaged in counter terrorism exercises. Around 300 unmarked graves have been discovered during the renovation of a Swanscombe churchyard. Reckon it’s a Hallowe’en gimmick. Another strange skyscraper......

Crystal Palace, home to cheeky dinosaurs, a floundering football team, and a pair of priapic transmitter towers, could soon boast a rebuilt version of the structure that lent its name to the area. Plans are afoot to resurrect the Victorian cast-iron & glass building (pictured), originally erected for the 1851 Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, before being shipped to Sydenham where it met a fiery end in 1936. We originally brought you this news......

Astonishingly, London's only 10m diving facility in Crystal Palace whose club is busy fast-tracking talent for 2012, and was responsible for the discovery of 3 of the diving team currently getting the jitters in Beijing, is facing closure due to rent arrears. It was already in trouble when it shut last September when asbestos was found and an alternative dry training facility had to be found. The club lost thousands on membership fees, as......

The Face of Croydon: it's not, despite what you may hope, the perma-tanned scowl of Palace chairman Simon Jordan, nor the sneering snarl of ex-Big Bruv contestant Alex de-Gale. No, it in fact belongs to one Kym Whittle, who became the Face of the borough after winning a modelling competition last weekend. Yet the result, announced at a festival on Saturday by organisers Fashion Enter, has been thrown into doubt after questions were raised......

Another advert, another controversy, it seems. Just a couple of weeks ago a Grand Theft Auto IV ad was removed from Streatham because its gun-toting avatar was deemed insensitive in an area that had recently seen two gun-related murders. Now an ad in Crystal Palace train station for Chris Ryan's new book, Strike Back, will also be taken down because of its pro-violence message. With a recent spate of stabbings making headlines, it's no surprise......

This is what we’ve learned whilst you’ve been out boozing all weekend: A replica of Crystal Palace is to be built. at, uh, Crystal Palace. The march of the EMOs – teeny protestors march on the Daily Mail. It’s Recycle Now Week, so go check out the 6m Coke can replica of Big Ben on the South Bank. A new mosque has opened in Acton. London’s diabetes sufferers are at a greater risk of......

It's considered the most lucrative game in world football. The team that wins the Championship playoff final earns entry into the Premier League and all the trappings of fame and money that come with it. Some estimate that promotion can earn a club upward of £60 million, so for the managers, chairmen, players and fans, the next two weeks are likely to see nails bitten down to the quick. Things kick off tomorrow, and......

So you've had your fun day out in Croydon. You've visited the Whitgift Centre, rode the tram, watched the Palace game, and before you know it, 4.20's rolled round. Got a buzz for the sticky icky? Well, the Croydon Guardian has published an article telling you just what to do. Masquerading under the rubric of "investigative journalism", the newspaper sent a reporter to see how easy drugs are to come by on the mean......

Brian Haw arrests 24,000 police for protesting at Westminster. Prisons in London are less popular than ever. We learn the costs of free travel for kids. A touch of glass is coming to South London: Crystal Palace is soon to rise again. Pilot finds God on the way to Heathrow. Fortunately God also seems to have found the pilot, as no harm was done. Is this the real life? We Will Rock You, the......

Here’s what we’ve learned this weekend whilst you’ve all been out pruning and planting. River boat gets holed: fortunately it was a) empty, and b) patched up pretty swiftly. It’s not the best time to buy in Crystal Palace: they seem to have a wee sewage problem. Weak pun intended. Shops at Victoria are fighting back. Against crime that is. With an all new walkie-talkie system. Holocaust Day has been observed in London. Another......

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... How do you get people to cycle more? Ken would like to know I'm sure. Well, let's hope someone buys him some Green Knickers......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 26th November 1983: An armed robbery at the Brinks Mat warehouse near Heathrow Airport becomes the largest heist in British history, as £25 million worth of gold bullion is pinched. Tuesday – 27th November 2000: 10-year-old schoolboy Damilola Taylor is stabbed in the leg and dies in Peckham, south London. The following six years would see several trials and re-trials over the killing, finally culminating in the......

In part two of our follow up to last year's article on which player's our Premiership clubs should buy we cover Tottenham, West Ham and Fulham. Click here to see yesterday's piece on Chelsea and Arsenal. TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR What was the problem position? Left wing. What did the club do about it? Like rivals Arsenal over their goalkeeping situation, not much. Indeed, Spurs eventually sacrificed England world cup winger Aaron Lennon to the ol'......

• Mayor denies 'stop Boris' campaign • CCTV of a train flasher. Don't get excited. • Olympic Stadium legacy 'no better than Crystal Palace' • Capital Music in the doldrums • World's biggest Gospel stars (reputation, not girth) converge on East London Image taken from Homemade's Flickrstream.......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 13th August 1977: Hundreds of protesters clash with police at a National Front march in Lewisham, south-east London. About 400 Socialist Worker Party members had gathered to try to prevent the National Front march, but had been prevented by police, leading to attacks on the police themselves and over 200 arrests. Tuesday – 14th August 1821: The funeral procession of Queen Caroline, wife of George IV, makes......

Fivefold rise in stop-and-searches since foiled terrorist attacks. Polish university sets up a London-based campus. Crystal Palace dinosaurs get listed status. Grandmother of all granny flats is rejected for planning permission. Cutesy muppet-like birds at London Zoo. Awwwww. Image courtesy of atharabidi via the Londonist flickr group.......

It looks like summer might actually have arrived in London this week, but if you're determined to stay inside, here are a few things to help you bide the time. On TV, Londonist likes: Monday, 30 July The Tower (BBC1, 22:35-11:25) After the disputes last week about whether or not the Pepys Estate was being represented fairly in this 8 part documentary, this is your chance to form your own opinion. In episode 6,......

A statue of English footballing legend Bobby Moore has been unveiled at Wembley. The chairman of Crystal Palace is "bored" of giving evidence in court. Chelsea footballers had a bad night out. Poor lads. And finally in non football related news... The Natural History Museum is giving the remains of seventeen indigenous Tasmanians back to aboriginal Australians. Image courtesy of SlipStreamJC via the Londonist flickr group.......

Chelsea and Arsenal have both won it in the past, but this year's London Senior Cup, premier competition of the London Football Association, will be fought over by Bromley FC and Tooting & Mitcham United who, as it happens, are also staging the final at their Imperial Fields ground (pictured above). The cup, which these days is "open to all non-F.A. Premier League and non-Football League Senior Clubs affiliated to the Association or approved......

The House of the Orange Monkey chronicles the adventures of a very special tourist. Mr Monkey is one of the few simian visitors to our city. He certainly makes the most of it, exploring the parts other tourists cannot reach, and writing up surprisingly useful field notes. We caught up with him to ask a few questions. 1. Tell us a bit about yourself I'm a pocket sized beanie monkey living in the north-west.......

All Londonist Sport's Christmases have come at once. It is being reported that today the NFL, the world's premier professional league of football American-style, is about to announce that a game will be played between the Miami Dolphins and the New York Giants at the soon-to-be-completed Wembley Stadium some time in the autumn. "Oh yes," we hear you murmur. "We remember that sort of thing from the late eighties and early nineties." Well, yes......

It might not be a vintage season in the league, where many of the capital's football clubs are looking nervously over their shoulders at relegation, but London seems determined to have at least one finalist in the first FA Cup showpiece at the new Wembley as yesterday's draw offered the possibility that as many as 44% of the fourth round matches (seven out of sixteen) could be played on our collective doorstep on the......

Londonist has to say that, despite Charlton's poor start to the season, we were still pretty gobsmacked when we learned on Monday night that a club who had employed its previous manager for almost 15 years had just shown the door to his successor after only 167 days. Apparently, we weren't the only ones: Iain Dowie going has to rank as one of the biggest shocks I have ever witnessed following Charlton. So says......

Josie Long was the winner of the BBC New Comedy Award in 1999 at the tender age of 17. In that year she was also a runner up in the So You Think You're Funny? competition. She won best newcomer in the Chortle Awards 2001-2003 after which she took time off performing to complete her English degree at Oxford university. Since her return to stand up she has toured in support of Stewart Lee......

As we predicted last week, amidst the South African media’s prophecies of doom, the Mandela Challenge Match against Egypt will indeed go ahead next Wednesday, 15th November at Brentford’s Griffin Park with a 7:45pm kick off. Brentford now formally acknowledge the fixture and organisers Star Meridian say one thousand tickets have already been sold in the twelve thousand capacity stadium. However, the showpiece occasion ran into unexpected competition on Tuesday when it was announced......

Word has escaped from the huddle over West Ham’s books that a deal to finalise the new ownership of the club could be close. Those old friends of the media, Sources Close, have hinted to The Guardian that the “due diligence” process, where the buyer is allowed to have a look at the seller’s current operating state, is almost complete, leading the newspaper to speculate that a formal offer might be forthcoming as early......

Simon Jordan buys a Park to go with his Palace and while Wembley lurches towards welcoming some football the main Olympic venue shies away... Champagne corks were popping all round SE25 yesterday at the news that Simon Jordan, the outspoken chairman of Crystal Palace, had prised the freehold of the club’s ground, Selhurst Park, away from the control of controversial former chairman Ron Noades. The deal is said to have been done for £12m,......

We were delighted to see Jimmy Bullard fire his new club, Fulham, to their first league win of the season at the weekend with a cracking free-kick. We’re putting his great start at Craven Cottage down to his people skills, demonstrated on a pre-season trip and revealed by the club’s website in the summer: Norm [goalkeeper Mark Crossley] was complaining that his room was too hot because it's over the kitchen. We were at......

“Black Stars of Ghana! A striker wanted!” cried the commentator for Accra’s Hot FM as half time approached with his team unable to turn the superiority of their possession and play into a goal against a determined and well-organised Togo side in last night’s friendly at Brentford’s Griffin Park. Chelsea’s Michael Essien played a forceful role in what must be one of international football’s classiest midfield quartets, regularly combining with captain Stephen Appiah for......

Barnet players will be staring menacingly at any physio who dares set foot on the Accrington Stanley pitch on Saturday as a second point in four days was snatched away from them deep into injury time, this time at Swindon on Tuesday night. Aussie striker Royce Brownlie, making his first appearance in this country, popped up to return a cleared corner with interest from outside the area to leave Barnet once again with nothing.......