Boris Johnson this morning unveiled a mock-up of the new "S" stock trains being constructed for the Metropolitan, Circle, District and Hammersmith & City lines. Boasting more spacious interiors and easier movement between carriages, the main bragging point is that the trains will feature air conditioning, a first for the Underground. Sweltering Victoria line commuters, don't get your hopes up - these shallow, cut-and-cover lines make a/c much easier, though TfL claims to be working......

Fears for Heathrow radar systems cause planners to scale back the design of a proposed wind farm. Boris has abandoned plans to make Parliament Square a piazza. There is apparently more to Tooting Bec than the lido: residents call for the reinstatement of a recently disbanded vice squad. Metropolitan Line tube workers are staging a 24 hour strike. A wealthy Jewish philanthropist who died in a high speed crash had traces of cocaine in......

A tribute to the capital’s alleys, ginnels and snickleways 20. Faulkner's Alley Where? Runs parallel to Turnmill Street, between Cowcross Street and Benjamin Street. What? Wooooo! Spooky, eh? And so it should be. This little shortcut is 350 years old, predating the Great Fire. This part of Cowcross Street would have then overlooked the River Fleet, which today lies buried beneath the Metropolitan Line tracks. Back then, herds of cattle would have been herded daily......

Anyone who commutes into London via Liverpool Street knows the situation. You take the Circle via Tower Hill, to get off at Liverpool Street. But when the train gets to Aldgate, it often stops for up to 10 minutes, due to the sheer number of trains passing through from Aldgate to Liverpool Street. So you get off the Circle Line train, and hover on the platform to see whether the next train to leave......

The Bakerloo celebrates its centenary today. After 40 years of ummming and ahhhring, the turd-brown line was finally opened on 10 March 1906. No word on whether the queen has sent a telegram. To celebrate the anniversary, a special plaque will be unveiled at Baker Street today. Top Tube man Tim O’Toole will preside, while customers are assured an unforgettable spectacle. Actors and staff in Edwardian dress will go on to entertain commuters as......

This day in London’s History Jan 30 1969: The Beatles get back to their live roots for an impromptu rooftop performance at Apple Records, Savile Row. The long and winding arm of the law quickly intervenes. London fact of the week Chelsea’s football ground, Stamford Bridge, is built on rubble excavated when the Metropolitan Line was constructed in the 1860s. London person of the week It’s got to be ‘gorgeous’ George Galloway after finally......

Earlier this week the BBC printed this piece of writing by Geoff Ryman. Ryman is the author of 253, a fantastic piece of fiction about the relationship between all the passengers on a single tube train. The article on the BBC encapsulated Ryman's views on the bombings of 7 July and offered some thoughtful and intelligent insights into the aftermath of the events. After reading the article, Londonist contributors decided to draw up a......