There’s a lorra lorries in London. The UK imports 750,000 tonnes of goods each day, worth over £750 million. 80% comes in through Britain’s 15 big ports, and the vast majority of that is distributed by road freight. We got bored with reading the House of Commons Transport Committee report after that, but we’re prepared to bet that 40-50% of this international traffic touches London in some way, albeit via the M25. Whilst you are......

Lowly Charlton Athletic have raised the hackles of officials in Tehran. How so? Through military brinkmanship and the threat of sanctions if the country doesn't start toeing the official nuclear line? Nope. They've cancelled a football match against the Iranian national team. The friendly was scheduled to be played this Saturday in Spain, but Charlton pulled out at the last minute. We can't help think their decision may have been influenced by Iran's spectacular......

Londonist brings it on home… NAME: IRAN e MA STREET POSTCODE: SE1 0AJ Delivery Area: Southwark + the City (3 mile radius) PHONE NUMBER: 020 7620 0100 HOURS: 7 DAYS a WEEK, Mon-Fri 5-11pm, Sat-Sun 12 noon – 11pm Expect to Pay: £6-£8 a head for a huge main course; £8 minimum delivery charge Rating: 8 out of 10 Although Londonist isn’t particularly carnivorous, we recognise the fact that there are times when only......

On Londonist we try to include as many different aspects of London as we can: it’s not all news, entertainment and parody….sometimes we aim for edification, things that we genuinely find absorbing or surprising. Things that make us go ‘ooh-er’, or even ‘gosh’ (‘cept to our chagrin we can’t say it quite the way that Joanna Lumley can). On Saturday afternoon, then, something both dramatic and interesting is happening. A march, from Speakers Corner to......

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......

The London International Comics Festival is halfway over, so if you haven’t seen any of it yet you owe it to yourself to investigate some sweet action with paper, ink and speech bubbles. The festival continues to tackle a nicely wide range of topics, so this week the highlights we’ve chosen offer Halloween horror, an indie invasion and germane geopolitics. If the festival were a comic book itself, it would be coming to the......

This year is Jalal al-Din Rumi’s 800th birthday (it was on 30th September, to be as precise as we can be about these things) – and there’s an impressive range of exciting stuff going on in London to celebrate. Rumi – the original dude poet, truly one of Iran’s greatest exports, and one of the creators of ecstatic dance. From which you will surmise that Londonist is quite fond of him. I mean, what’s......

Scooch are heading to Helsinki buoyed on by controversy. Every year Eurovision throws up new controversy. Last year, the Finns were nervous about Lordi, with their alleged proto-Satanic lyrics. This year is no exception with 3 entries kicking up storms already. More alleged satanism this year from Switzerland's DJ Bobo and his song Vampires Are Alive, with lyrics like you're here to surrender with your life. The Swiss Protestant Alliance aren't happy with this,......

Are the Greenpeace campaigners still aloft their erection near the Commons? Anyone got any pics? Once in position the activists unfurled a 50ft banner suggesting PM Tony Blair "loved" weapons of mass destruction. We're not sure it is love as far as Tony is concerned. We reckon Blair just wants to have his way with the naive WMD's and then scarper rather than face up to the consequences. Bastard. Two government members have so......

Londonist loves a good protest; they're excellent for the constitution. Nothing like a nice amble all the way from Speaker's Corner to Trafalgar Square with 60,000 (or 2,000, or 100,000, depending on who you listen to) of your fellow Londoners, while carrying an "amusingly" modified placard expressing your outrage about something or other. Yes, Saturday was Stop Trident/Troops Out Of Iraq/Don't Attack Iran marching day, and so march we did, from that symbolic home......

Punky has come home. Six years ago, Punky the Cat walked out the flap of his New Malden home, saying "Just going up the top for a pack of fags," and then vanished without a trace. Humans Maffelda and Bill Hay, under whose roof Punky had dwelt, had given up all hope for his return. But Punky has returned - older, rough around the edges, and virtually deaf - but he has returned. Maffelda,......

The Londonist Literary List appears every Tuesday. If you'd like to bring an event to our attention, please email londonistlit@gmail.com. Wednesday Based on his columns for McSweeny's, Nick Hornby's The Complete Polysyllabic Spree seems rather a lazy excuse for a "meta" book. Hornby (pictured) explores books - what he buys, what he reads and what he doesn't. Oh well, the man's gotta eat - join the polysyllabic discussion tonight as he continues to wax......

The Londonist Literary List appears every Tuesday. If you’d like to bring an event to our attention, please email londonistlit@gmail.com. If you're about to leave this great, heaving sweaty beast of a city, you might want to cast your eyes over a few summer holiday reading lists and see what the good people at the Guardian, Amazon and Time Out (NY) recommend. Either that or you could just buy the new Jackie Collins at......

The last time Londonist complained about noise from the neighbours it led to a three year stand off, increasing musical ampage and ultimately a bloody nose. On the other end of the scale some people have all the luck. Orlando Fonseca leaned out of his window to complain about the noise from above and caught a falling girl: He leant out of his second floor window to complain, but as he did so Miss......

Ken Livingstone was cleared of anti-semitism yesterday after talling the Reuben brothers to "go back to Iran and try their luck with the ayatollahs". The 'elderly eccentric' author found dead in Hampstead last week may have been there for weeks. Sotheby's took in 88.8 million quid last night from a sale of Impressionist and modern art. Monopoly has updated its property prices again. They go up more than the real ones. A new plan......

Only Group H to play and we now know a lot more about the teams of world cup 2006. The lack of both dreary goalless draws and serious drubbings has been very heartening, and no team would have to improve immeasurably to qualify for the next round or deteriorate dramatically to fail. Even Brazil looked human against Croatia. For those of you in fantasy world cup leagues thinking about making some transfers before the......

This week's films share the common theme of having pissed off the leaders of the countries in which they were made. Offside has been banned in Iran (well, what hasn't been?) and Secuestro Express has but a bee in the bonnet of everyone's favourite smiling authoritarian leader, Hugo Chavez. We can't confirm whether RV has annoyed GW but judging by the reviews, it's not very good. Mind you, we don't suppose GW's favourite films......

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......

Nobody will win this group. Like the Conservative party of old, a leader will emerge from it. Three middling candidates will strive to rally support for long enough to avoid accompanying Angola on the plane home. If Portugal lose out it could be an interesting flight. Last time the teams met in 2001 the game was abandoned after Angola had five players sent off. They will hope to display more constructive enthusiasm in the......

An article in yesterday's Observer has created quite a stir, with Cameron's mob now calling for an independent London bombings inquiry. The leaked report into July 7 seems to make clear that the bombers acted alone and had no direct connection with al-Qaeda: A Whitehall source said: 'The London attacks were a modest, simple affair by four seemingly normal men using the internet.' Today's Independent underlines the fact that the report paints a picture......

A hosepipe ban starts in London today. The inevitable panic-buying of water butts has started. Mayor Ken is facing another investigation. This time he told two Iraqi businessmen to "go back to Iran." Oops! But it's not all bad news for Ken - the United Arab Emirates have agreed to cough up the GBP 99,950 they owe in congestion charge fees. We wonder whether Ken's "persuausive powers" will work as well on the Americans.......

Paul Dadge, the ex-fireman who helped survivors of the July 7 bombings has criticised the ambulance service for its response to the attacks.. The Review Committee heard from 13 survivors and is expected to reveal its findings at the end of May. Police investigating the murder of Sally Anne Bowman are now trying to trace one of her regular customers.. The man who visited the hairdressing salon where she worked is not considered to......

Harry's Place is reporting that, during a press conference this morning in which the Stratford City Consortium was being discussed, Ken Livingstone said the following regarding the Reuben brothers , the jewish developers involved in the project: If they're not happy here perhaps they could go back to Iran and try it under the Ayatollahs. As Harry's Place points out the brothers were actually born in Bombay to Iraqi parents of Jewish descent, and......

- There's to be an 'informal' meeting (jeans and trainers allowed then) on Iran's nuclear program in London today.This was announced by the US yesterday after Tehran resumed nuclear fuel work. - EU regulations on noise pollution mean our clubs might get quieter. - Google has opened it's London 'Googleplex' at Belgrave House in Victoria. - Will the xmas light crapness never end? G4 turned on the Covent Garden lights last night. With a bit......

Be a beachcomber, a Parisian wino, an Italian pimp, or a Danish pervert, but stay away from the Armed Forces Good advice from Hunter S Thompson back in 1957 still stands today. Even though their names change over the years it’s a sad truth that the people responsible for sending their fellow human beings into harm's way still do so often with self serving agendas influencing their decisions rather than more noble thoughts of......

Londonist was sat around watching a documentary about the state of British television the other day when we were treated to a clip from the oft repeated Dad's Army. We watched Private Pike putting his hand up to ask Captain Mainwaring a question during a lecture on THE ENEMY: "Aren't there any nice Germans, Captain Mainwaring?" "No!" Stupid boy. Then last night on yet another documentary we saw a Taiwanese woman asked what exactly......