Yesterday comes the news that a shiny new medical centre is to be built on wasteland somewhere behind the British Library….and today sees the start of the more-or-less obligatory protests therein. The idea is to build the £500 million ‘UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation’ as a partnership project – the key players are the Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, Cancer Research UK and University College Hospital. All very exciting. London could do......

OK, so maybe not kills, although it might, but it is bad for you. Details to follow. A new report shows that shopping in an area with a high volume of traffic has a worse affect on your lungs than walking around a park. For a moment this looks like one of those no shit Sherlock stories; however, the study is specifically related to people with asthma and the effect that diesel engines have......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 3rd December ????: Nothing of any interest has ever happened in London on this date. Sorry. Tuesday – 4th December 1882: The Royal Courts of Justice on The Strand are opened by Queen Victoria. Wednesday – 5th December 1905: Part of the roof of Charing Cross station collapses, killing six people. Thursday – 6th December 1983: Britian’s first heart and lung transplant operation takes place at Harefield......

Alternative Christmas tipple: hospital patients booze on alcoholic hand rub Seasonal crackdown on unlicensed minicabs Unseasonal cuts on funding for tackling homelessness Desperately seeking new jobs: Blondie musical cast unemployed for Christmas Tate tree decked out with festive fighter planes Image courtesy of Simone ver.β via the Londonist flickr group.......

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......

One year since Alexander Litvinenko's murder, yet our Russian friends haven't been dissuaded from moving here. Good for them! Superbug victims to get their own ward in hospital. A green London is affordable - especially if we follow Greenwich's lead. Bus careers off road. Perhaps the driver was in training for the London Grand Prix? Tube cleaners score pay rise Image courtesy of dartar via the Londonist flickr group.......

Due to earlier technical vexations of a non-Stratford-related variety, Monday Miscellanea is a bit later than usual today... This Week In London’s History Monday – 12th November 1974: A 9lb salmon is caught in the Thames – the first time that such a fish has been caught in the dirty old river since 1834 – and sent to the British Museum for identification. Improvements in the water quality are hailed. Tuesday – 13th November......

St George’s Hospital has reported over 100 deaths from hospital superbugs. 116 people have died from MRSA and Clostridium difficile at the Tooting hospital in the last four years. The report comes on the coattails of St George’s clinical rating being lowered from 'good' to 'fair'; an adjustment influenced largely by the hospital’s failure to combat the superbugs. These figures were released the same day that the NHS reported a 10% decrease in MRSA......

Revolting peasants and Scottish heroes, a buried river, and a 1000 years of death, slaughter and destruction. Smithfield surely deserves some kind of cultural centre. And there just happens to be the perfect place to put it, if we act fast… As many readers will know, several buildings of the famous meat-market complex are under threat. The General market, Fish market and Red House are in a dilapidated state and the targets for demolition......

After last week’s news that our ambulances are the best in the country, Londoners should be pleased to hear that there’s now another reason why, if you’re going to have medical trouble, you may as well do it in the capital. Londoners’ chances of surviving a cardiac arrest outside the hospital have more than trebled in the last five years, according to a new report by the London Ambulance Service. About one in six......

Or something like that anyway. The London Ambulance Service has certainly scored the highest in the country, which is just dandy as it has had more than its fair share of criticism over the years, especially following 7/7. Driving is about one of the most stressful things you can do in London, and one of the most heart-rending sights in the capital has surely to be that of a grim-faced ambulance driver, lights flashing, sirens......

This weekend Bloomsbury erupts with the Bloomsbury Festival celebrating this famous area. Well known for its literary and historical significance it is also a thriving haven for arts and artists and packed full of beautiful, quirky, intriguing buildings and organisations and the chockerblock programme reflects every aspect of life in Bloomsbury Quarter. Check this out: The Egypt Exploration Society, Foundling Museum, Charles Dickens Museum and the October Gallery are among the "Open Houses" over......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 24th September 1917: A zeppelin drops a 50 kilogram bomb that lands just outside the Bedford Hotel on Southampton Row in Bloomsbury, central London. 13 people are killed and a further 26 injured. Tuesday – 25th September 1818: The first human-to-human blood transfusion is performed at Guy’s Hospital. Previous blood transfusions had used animals’ blood. Wednesday – 26th September 1850: The first stretch of the North London......

Stereophonics' frontman, Kelly Jones, was in hospital yesterday with an injured arm following a "fracas" with a security guard at an aftershow party for the Vodafone Live Music Awards in town Wednesday night. We heard it went a bit like this: Security: Hurry up and...... wait! Stereophonic: I'm just looking... Security: Oooh, all handbags and gladrags are we eh? Stereophonic: Look boyoh, there's the bartender and the thief over there. Security: Don't step on my......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 3rd September 1878: Passenger steamer Princess Alice collides with cargo ship Bywell Castle on the Thames near Woolwich Pier. All of the 700 passengers of the Princess Alice are either thrown into the heavily polluted river or trapped below the decks of the sinking vessel. Fewer than 100 passengers survive. Tuesday – 4th September 1899: Moorfields Eye Hospital (known at the time as the Royal London Ophthalmic......

Londonist was deeply shocked and saddened at the weekend when we learned of the death of promising Queens Park Rangers striker Ray Jones. Tomorrow would have been his nineteenth birthday, but just after midnight on Saturday morning a car he was travelling in collided with a double decker bus in East Ham and Jones, along with two of the four other occupants of the vehicle, Idris Olasupo and Jess Basilva, died from their injuries.......

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......

Pentonville Prison - not getting good reviews. Amy Winehouse in and out of UCL hospital. Publicans campaigning to Mayor to save London's pubs. Richmond Park could be closed if foot and mouth spreads. Oh deer. Elton John could be closed if foot in mouth spreads. Old dear. Image 'low tide on the Thames' courtesy of Ben30 via the Londonist flickr group.......

Jedi masters are best known for warding off evil forces of the Dark Side on the silver screen, but to 5-year-old Drew James of Hextable, Kent, they are warding off illness in his everyday life. Diagnosed with leukaemia in April this year, Drew’s father used the best analogy his little boy could understand and described the leukaemia as Darth Vader or Darth Maul and the necessary-but-horrendous chemotherapy treatments as the Jedi sent to destroy......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 6th August 1937: Barbara Windsor is born in Shoreditch in central London. She would achieve fame as an actress, notably as a ‘saucy strumpet’ in the Carry On films of the 60s and 70s and later as a major character in Eastenders. Tuesday – 7th August 2001: The Department of Health pays £27 million for a private Harley Street heart hospital, re-nationalising it and bringing it into......

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......

Every now and again, there's a story that crops up in the news that touches Londonist's heart. When we heard about Margaret Rollinson dashing to save a little girl's life, we really were moved. After swerving to miss a reckless driver in a car that had pulled out in front of him, an ambulance paramedic had burst two tyres. This would be unfortunate under any circumstances, but the ambulance in question was carrying a......

How many weeks after a smoking ban is implemented does it take before the wrath of the smokers results in violence? The answer is three. A trio of men at a south-west London club were seen fleeing the scene after James Oyebola, a former British heavyweight boxer, was shot in the head and leg. Oyebola, 47, had confronted the men about smoking at the club, Chateau 6 in Fulham Road. He was taken to......

The last woman ever to be hanged by the British government, Ruth Ellis, is back in the news 52 years after her execution. A petition to have the Ellis case reopened is being supported by Gordon Brown after new evidence possibly exonerating Ellis was brought to light. Author Monica Weller, who was doing research for a book with Ellis’s sister, claims that evidence never heard at the trial may have resulted in a much......

While we always encourage you to get out and about to enjoy all the great things in London that we hear about - talking in toilets, the stars, graffiti, cool clubs, groovy gigs and nice parks in one week alone - we also like to share the joys of staying in. The pleasures of curling up on the sofa with your very own Londonist selection of TV highlights could actually save your life and......

Seeking somewhere new to have a picnic lunch? Perhaps you're an MP in need of an oasis of calm? Or a Vauxhall clubber who's lost their way on the north bank? St John's Gardens provides the perfect place. A small but perfectly-formed garden in Millbank, its high trees, huge flowerbeds, formidable fountain and generous smattering of benches make it a lovely summer spot and only a hop and skip from Parliament or the river.......

Swami Ramdev Shibir has sold-out venues across Britain prior to even touching down in the UK. He is loved and revered by millions across the globe and some have paid up to £250 for the privilege of seeing him in person. The Eastern Robbie Williams? A Bollywood crooner? No, he is a yoga Guru and he is about to host what is going to be the world’s biggest yoga camp in Alexandra Palace in......

There are a million things to do in London this week, but if you fancy a night in, here are a few things to keep you occupied. On TV, Londonist likes: Monday, 9 July Britain’s Next Top Model (Living, 21:00-22:00) After the dramatic first episode that saw all the girls get in a screaming match on their first night in their posh London house, we can't wait to see what the wannabe models will......

London's got its share of surgical history, but our newest scientific exhibition space has strapped the operating theatre concept to a gurney and wheeled it into the 21st century. Last night at the Wellcome Collection a full house watched Dr Frank Wells perform open-heart surgery on a 68-year-old man. It was all done via a remote link to Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, so although the audience wasn't in the same room as the patient......

The big day has arrived! I couldn't be happier that never again in this country will I have to play a gig in a smoky room, but it is going to be interesting to see what side effects the new smoking ban has. Scaremongers are predicting that less people will go to gigs if they can't smoke and that the people who do go will keep going running during the performances to smoke. Now......