If Londonist were to steal oodles of cash from our employers, we'd probably make like Joyti de Laurey, the Goldman Sachs secretary who helped herself to millions of pounds that she squandered on jewelry, speedboats and a Cyprus villa before landing in jail. What we probably wouldn't do is get our hands on the cash then blow the lot on strippers. Yet that's exactly what a lawyer for Radcliffes Le Brasseur did between 2003......

Another day, another thunderclap of hand-wringing and dire Nostradamus warnings about the 2012 Games. Organisers have been accused of "spending money like water" as costs for the event rise like floodwaters threatening the ageing Thames Barrier. This is the charge made by the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, who have pricked their penny-pinching ears up at the well-publicised report by the Public Accounts Committee that the original budget was unrealistic. Costs for key buildings......

Credit crunch, you say? Bah, we're having none of it. Shops in the West End have punched above their weight so far this year: according to a new report from the British Retail Consortium, retail sales in London grew 10.5% in February, up from 3.8% in January, while footfall on the city's major shopping streets recorded a 4.3% year on year rise for March. All this in a climate where the national market is......

Sore at missing out on the £50 million pad up in London's own Billionaire Row that was sold last month? Well, here's the good news - another one's just come on the market. Steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal has decided to up sticks from Bishops Avenue in Hampstead, after Barrat Homes were given permission to build a block of luxury flats right next door. Britain's richest man apparently didn't fancy contending with one of the......

Even on its quietest weeks, London is something of a happy haven for bibliophiles such as ourselves, though we may be doing nothing more than perusing one of the city’s many lovely bookshops. This week, however, we’re in a veritable book geek heaven, as the London literary scene goes all glittery, playing host to some major names and fantastic events, leaving us tongue-tied and weak at the knees. Do we gush? Very well then,......

Pollution pulverised—well, not exactly, but Ken announces hefty £25 C-Charge for heaviest polluting vehicles. Fresh criticism of the “angular mass”—no, not the razor-sharp hip bones on London Fashion Week models. Rather, English Heritage have some sharp words for Doon Street Tower plan. We’re absurdly wealthy. Well, we’re not. But some people in this city apparently are. “Someone else” blamed for the £90,000 worth of Fortnum and Mason merchandise gone missing during a saleswoman’s work......

The Financial Times has reported that Wagamama founder Alan Yau has sold Hakkasan and Yauatcha, his two Michelin-starred Chinese restaurants, to the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority for £30 million! According to the FT, Yau will retain a minority stake in the two restaurants, which seem to take turns representing London among the world’s most highly ranked restaurants. Londonist wishes to congratulate Yau on his mega-success (you lucky duck!) and hopes that (although Hakkasan and......

BA are to withdraw sponsorship of the London Eye from next month. The airline says its 'sponsorship priorities have changed', and it no longer wishes to support the attraction, which it has sponsored since the wheel's inception. So who's going to take over? Well, it was revealed today that Boris has a £1 million campaign fund to play with. Might we see straw barnets atop every pod? How about Wagon Wheels, those wholesome chocolatey......

Seems some naughty police officers have been so busy catching criminals and patrolling the beat lately that they've forgotten to keep track of their credit card receipts. Apparently, more than £1m in "unreconciled expenses"needs to be matched to receipts sending the Metropolitan Police Authority into a tailspin with the auditors. Of course, a couple of officers have been extremely naughty with the public funds at their disposal via the magic of plastic and an......

When this small bit of Londonist launched its IPO this summer, we had no inkling that the economy would soon be in very choppy waters. Since then we’ve seen a bank run, huge corporate losses, and grim warnings across the board. And yet somehow, bankers are still getting huge bonuses, people are still spending money they don’t have, and the rich-poor gap is getting wider and wider. All of this has left us quite......

Fed up of the froth, mirth and sentimentality of the Yuletide muzak yet? To bring you an antidote and alternative soundtrack for your Christmas holidays we caught up with the utterly charming Roi Robertson of Mechanical Cabaret over a sorbet and peppermint tea and ruminated on the band's latest single, pastoral London views and the fact that we've never seen him and Noel Fielding in the same room together... Who's in the band? I......

First it's our music venues, now it seems even our police stations are up for grabs. With a potential value of £1.5 billion, the Metropolitan Police property protfolio is quite a cash-cow. No wonder then, that they're going to be reviewing the number of nicks. This asset Management strategy predicts that some stations may close to be replaced with smaller facilities across the (32) boroughs. Unsurprisingly, there are a few concerns. Mike Green, councillor......

It's been a bad few weeks for the Spice Girls: they released the worst selling Children In Need single ever (to put this into perspective, let's remember that Martine McCutcheon once had a Children In Need single. Martine McCutcheon), appeared in terrible Tesco adverts, played to half full shows in America and Baby Spice sprained her little baby ankle on stage. However, little Emma Bunton ingested her weight in painkillers, soldiered on and appeared......

The Holiday season is in full swing in NYC, with holiday lights in Brooklyn, a giant snow globe in Bryan Park and Chanukah specials for ham. One citizen decided to go vigilante on annoying car alarms, a murder suspect used a fake Asian accent on the stand and a video of a man being beaten up by teenage girls on a subway shocked the city. And we interviewed soon-to-be-leaving-Gawker editor Choire Sicha, who said,......

This weekend column is brought to you by the founders of Niceties Tokens, Liz and Pete of Team Nice. 28. Corporate People I watched the documentary ‘The Corporation’ the other day. It’s something that a friend told me to watch, after I had drunkenly ranted “Argh! It’s all about the loss of engagement, Lorraine!” What I was trying to explain at the time by ‘the loss of engagement’ was my idea that we detach......

So this week, we spent all our money on cold remedies and extra balmy tissues for our beleaguered noses. The plan is to be back and fighting fit by Monday so here are some of the things we could all get up to this week for very little wonga. Monday: Call the BBC Ticket Line on 0870 901 1227 and get free tickets for the recording of Clare in the Community - the radio......

As Londoners we pootle around our fair city doing Londonish things: pretending to read anything off the Orange shortlist, pretending not to read the free newspapers, pretending not to notice how bad the man sitting next to us on the bus smells, rush-rush-rush with our minds usually elsewhere. And then once in a while we focus and spot something unusual, something that hasn’t happened before, or that wasn’t there yesterday. Thus it is with spaces......

It's tempting to bask in the success of the re-branded O2 and write off the building's seven year existence as useless white elephant de nos jours as a bad dream. Unfortunately, that was no nightmare, and it seems that financially the Millennium Dome never stood a chance. The assembled politicians and VIPs had barely clunked their awkward way through Auld Lang Syne on December 31st, 1999, before the whole project was skint. Newly released......

Hackney bringing up the rear in schools table Independent athletics anti doping body to be set up for 2012 Dubai considering selling up in London The story of the Sats results Image of the Regent Street Christmas lights courtesy of ADevlin-Photographer via the Londonist flickr group.......

Londonist is a massive fan of two-wheeled transportation, especially when it comes with a gift voucher attached. Yes, the lucky residents of Islington can now give up the motor, get on the manual and be £100 richer. Or even £300 richer, for those who would otherwise fork out £200 annually on a parking permit. We were practically packing the bags and moving to the Borough upon reading this, but alas, the following recent government statistics......

In years to come as historians look back on the events that triggered the untimely demise of this once great nation of ours, they'll probably be analysing the following timeline: October 2003: First grumblings about raising the Council Tax in London to pay for the Olympics if we get it. February 2006: Travelling Ken asks for a bit more money to fund the Olympics, 65p a week on London's Council Tax bills. December 2007:......

Ahoy hoy, book grocery shoppers! The metaphorical book grocer aisles are stocked high with choice meats and sweet confections this December, so whatever your tastes, fill up your shopping cart and gorge yourself on this week’s selection of literary events – they’ll give you much less of a stomach-ache than mince pies. Monday: Revisit Sylvia Plath by attending the aptly named Sylvia Plath Revisited, at the ICA (7pm in the Nash Room £10 nonmembers/£9......

Like us, you're probably just starting to think about Christmas shopping. If you'd been out shopping yesterday, and had a spare £9 million or so, you could have picked up a very lovely Faberge egg. That's right. Nine million pounds. Like us, that's probably more money that you've got to hand. Of course, there were only 68 of them made, and the last one was made in 1917. So it's not like someone just......

Ann Widdecombe MP was arrested outside the Houses of Parliament yesterday and taken to the Clink Prison where bail was set at £35,000. The fact that she was already wearing prison uniform when she got nicked hinted at the possibility that this was a charitable stunt rather than a tabloid-topping shocker, fall from grace thriller of a crime story. Widdecombe was participating in the Jailbreak campaign to raise cash for Guide Dogs for the......

The police want us to know that they’re doing what they can about guns. The Olympic Delivery Authority want us to know that they are being careful with the Iron Age and Roman relics that they are digging up on site. The Olympics people also want us to know that they are sustainable. We are glad to know that 'Russians in London' news stories aren't just about money laundering and assassins. People like us......

Recently we've been doing some research on Scotland, and while we haven’t come to any firm conclusions on the West Lothian question, it has prompted us to wonder – would London be better off as an independent country? We’d keep more of our tax money to begin with. It’s been estimated that London subsidises the rest of the UK to the tune of £13 billion a year – so that’s Crossrail paid for by......

Say it enough times and it comes to mean anything you want. Chi Chi Bunichi is one of the nicest theatre / dance / music experiences of the year that welcomes audiences with tiny glasses of peppermint tea and little paper cups of halva and makes everyone sit in a circle like an evening gathering around a campfire. The performance blends the genres in a beguiling mix of sound and movement, in an atmosphere......

Irusia Armattoe of Teddington was dealt a heavy blow when a fire not only claimed her house and badly injured her, but also took the lives of 16 of her 30 beloved bunny rabbits. Yesterday, however, she thanked her neighbours for proving that some of us took those 'Love Thy Neighbour' stitched samplers on our grandmother's wall to heart. Mrs Armattoe, 65, was badly burned in the fire that broke out nearly two weeks......

London woman embezzles 4.3 million from her (patently rather stupid) employers, eventually gets caught and sentenced to 7 years in jail, gets out after 3, gets to keep her swanky ill-gottenly gained apartment and lands a plum job in the arts (albeit for a prison charity). Lord Luck clearly rides alongside this lady. Londonist is impressed by the scope for outrage here – the outrageous sum of money she stole, the surprisingly short sentence she......

Like books? Eyes knackered after a long week spent in front of the computer screen? Looking for a way to spend your money, Ms. City-lawyer-with-an-absurdly-high-starting-salary? Or to save your money, Mr. Devotee-of-London-on-the-Cheap? Wish we’d stop quizzing you? Then delve into the world of book art this weekend and satisfy all of the above criteria. The London Artists Book Fair asks you to take the idea of ‘book art’ literally: the book itself as a......