Ken's been coming under the cosh for his fact-finding trip to Delhi last month. The mayor and his long-time nemesis, Tory councillor Brian Coleman, have been flapping barbs at eachother in the London Assembly, with the Barnet bruiser landing a number of heavy blows on Livingstone, accusing him of taking a "larger entourage than the Queen". He went on to question whether Ken's fellow visitors Myleene Klass and a group of dancers from the......

Barry George launches second appeal against his conviction as Dando killer. Remember that plane at Heathrow, which lost its wing tip in a collision? Well, it flew 24 hours later with the wing tip still missing. Perfectly safe, though, apparently. 'Brick Lane' premiers in London amid controversy. Rubbish charging is...rubbish, thinks Mayor. Wandsworth prison starts a homework club for children of inmates. "OK son, remember to bring your chisel and metal file next week,......

Whenever Londonist is feeling a tad glum, we have but to turn to Matt Harding and his amazingly silly website to get all cheered up again. Matt Harding is one big internet sensation, albeit a very unlikely one. The former games programmer has made a new career out of dancing badly in front of some of the world’s most recognisable and iconic buildings, and in some of the planet’s remotest terrains. But Londonist has been......

Very big treat for plane spotters scheduled for Heathrow. Very dodgy condoms seized in London. Very naughty policeman nabbed for quickie whilst on duty Very good time had by all at last night's Londonist party. If you didn't come, well, you missed out... Piccie courtesy of niznoz's flickr stream. For all the hungover Londonists today.......

Hot on the heels of basketball and ice hockey, the third of America's big four sports has begun its landing on our shores. The advance guard for Sunday's NFL encounter between the Miami Dolphins and the New York Giants consists of just one man. Albeit a very big one. Pictured above is the specially commissioned twenty-six foot high animatronic statue of Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor which is touring London and the South East......

7. The Brentford Griffin Picture the scene: it’s a summer’s day in 1984, and Kevin Chippendale is strolling along Braemer Road, Brentford, when something suddenly catches his eye flying near to the Green Dragon apartment building. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a Griffin! But aren’t such flying wonders merely creatures of mythology? Well you may scoff at such a sighting, but for a short while the soaring oddity that......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 18th June 1972: A British European Airways plane bound for Brussels crashes moments after taking off from Heathrow airport, killing all 118 passengers. An inquiry later concludes that the pilot had made a ‘speed error’ and stalled the plane, causing it to crash into a field in Staines. Tuesday – 19th June 1997: McDonald’s wins a libel case against two members of the ‘London Greenpeace’ campaigning group.......

Well, the big man’s in town – over thirty times – so we thought it apt to track down his other work in the capital. On the map at the bottom, green points indicate temporary installations that form the Event Horizon project, and purple markers are permanent pieces that predate this show. 1. Quantum Cloud, Greenwich Peninsula Did you know that London contains a Gormley sculpture taller than the Angel of the North? Quantum Cloud......

If raucous, loud music festivals don't rock your boat, then this weekends Homefires Festival could be just the ticket for you. Now in its 4th year, it's billed as the a festival which "showcases the best of left-field *quiet* music" and will be held on Saturday and Sunday at Holborn's Conway Hall. Run by UK folkster Adem, Saturday's bill is topped by Nina Nastasia, and also features Fionn Regan, St Vincent, Barbarossa, Emmy The......

And so over to Soho Square, home of New Media, the Football Association and a strange garden shed. 1927 and 2007. From this angle, looking eastward, alterations to the square appear minimal. Only the buildings to the extreme left and right have changed. The two plane trees in the foreground have grown, but retain their mutually repulsed angles. The clearest mark of 'progress', aside from the vehicles, is the presence of Centrepoint, almost obscured......

Why, those crazy scamps over at This is Local London, messing with our Monday morning minds: The first planes have landed at Heathrow's Terminal 5… Really? So soon? - plane trees that is. Masterful wordplay. We laughed until we stopped. Forty London plane trees were planted at T5’s Interchange Plaza, which has been designed to provide passengers with an outdoor haven. Plane trees are renowned for their ability to tolerate pollution, a vital attribute......

Trees don’t often hit the news. We pay scant attention to these oxygen giving, living, blooming, wooden angels that line our streets, populate our excellent woodlands and seasonally give us conkers to play with. What heart-warming joy, then, to hear about Londoners who care. First up, Richmond arborphile, Phil Davison, who kicked up fuss when he thought that builders had poured concrete over the base and roots of one of London’s official "Great Trees".......

Let's get straight into this one: Moving from Inverness to the more polluted streets of Central London could have worse consequences for your health than choosing to live in the contaminated exclusion zone around Chernobyl, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster. What the fuck? We notice that this only applies to people moving from Inverness - either they breed 'em weak up there or we've already mutated into some pollution resistant breed......

A phantom menace plaguing the London cloudosphere has been discovered: The airline BMI is to scrap a phantom service after it emerged that the company is flying an empty passenger jet between Cardiff and Heathrow in order to retain valuable slots at the London airport. The 124-seat plane shuttles between the airports six times a week but carries no passengers and no tickets are sold. BMI operates the empty services because if it did......

A doctor has been struck off for over reacting at Heathrow: A doctor who boarded a plane in protective goggles, overalls, gloves and overshoes, alarming passengers over the Sars virus, has been struck off. The General Medical Council had found Dr Egidius Panis guilty of inappropriate conduct, and suspended his registration with immediate effect. The 49-year-old, of Barming, Kent, boarded the plane from Hong Kong to diagnose a man with a sneeze and cough.......

This week, we take the Londonist Tardis back to 1905, and land in Percy Circus, Islington. Percy Circus sits on high ground above the meandering Kings Cross Road. Its residents dwell above the salt, in Victorian terraces of greater luxury than the shabby counterparts down hill in the Fleet Valley. Here we see the southern section, with Prideaux Place in the distance. The Circus was built in the 1840s, on land owned by the New......

Lots of international papers are picking up the story of a body found in the landing gear of a BA flight from Heathrow to Los Angeles: A pilot discovered the body of the young man in the front right wheel well of the 747-400 during a routine inspection shortly before it was to return to London, airport spokeswoman Nancy Castles said. The FBI determined the stowaway likely died in the wheel well, Castles said.......

Back in November, we went down to Trafalgar Square to see comedian Tim Fitzhigham blow up the world's largest ever man-inflated balloon to raise awareness about carbon emissions from aviation. It might be so 2006 now ("the environment? that was so last year") but we asked him a few questions about the stunt, Hello! How are you? I'm very well thank you for asking How long were you blowing for? It turned out that......

Well, this one completely passed us by. Man dresses up as James Bond, swims across Thames, scales the London Eye, then throws himself off. Superb. It's been done before, of course, but still, superb. Plummeting tomfool Gary Connery from Maidenhead shares many characteristics with 007. The surname, obviously, but also that silver-tongued way with a bon mot. Reporter: How was it Gary? Gary: Yeah, great, fantastic. Marvellous. Just like a real, grown up spy,......

Lucky Soul are back in action and kicking off the New Year in style with their new EP 'Ain't Never Been Cool'. The title track's yet another stonker, showing a bit more of a groove than the previous singles yet still managing to be poppier than a hedgehog in a balloon factory. That's a good thing. A very good thing, in fact. You can judge for yourself at the band's MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/luckysoulluckysoul. Since......

British Airways continues its ongoing campaign to prove to the world that airtravel for the 21st century is green, safe, convenient, and much cheaper than those using those stinky old trains. The Daily Mail reveals that British Airways has been attempting to sort out lost luggage by chucking it all on a plane and sending it to Italy where the Italian baggage handling establishment will sort it all out. No, seriously. We're not making......

When Louise Amanda Harman was born 21 years ago in Wembley, little could her parents have any idea that they were giving birth to what would become the self confessed biggest midget on the block. In fact even when the whole UK first met Lady Sovereign we were a bit confused. She looked a bit like Sporty Spice and wanted us to Save The Hoodie - most of us turned away from her with......

Morden’s Good Shoes have spent the past 2 years since their formation in 2005 traipsing around the UK and Europe with their brand of two-and-half-minute guitar pop with a hint of a punk edge. Comprised of lead singer/guitarist Rhys Jones, guitarist Steve Leach, bassist Joel Cox, and drummer Tom Jones, they have already released 3 singles, played at the Reading and Leeds Festivals, and been mentioned in the NME (but then again, who hasn’t).......

EasyJet have felt the eco-wrath of protest this morning: Twelve people from Plane Stupid climbed onto the roof of Easygroup's office in Camden, north London, on Monday morning while another six blocked the entrance. Protesters, who stayed at the building for about four hours, said they felt they had made their point. Easygroup said there was little disruption to business. Protesters scaled the building at about 0650 GMT and unfurled a banner which read......

fleabilly's london makes Photo of the Day because a) we love a good death's head just before we are about to jump on a plane, and b) it looks a million times better than the upcoming Ghost Rider movie.......

Ken Livingstone has won his suspension appeal. Two soldiers who serve in the same Army regiment as Prince Harry, have been charged with raping a 17-year-old girl in Green Park on Saturday. A female passenger who grabbed a male flight attendant's buttocks over the Atlantic has been arrested and charged with sexual assault on her arrival in London. Police are certain the attack was not related to terrorism. The 'saviour of Topshop', Jane Shepherdson,......

As space buffs, we’ve been waiting months for some kind of out-of-this-world story with a London link…and then two come along at once. (Though the second one’s as tenuous as the Martian atmosphere.) First, our picture. Some clever space cadet called Pedro Sondas has superimposed a topical Martian feature over Trafalgar Square (little green pigeons not pictured). Victoria Crater is a half-mile diameter impact site on the Red Planet. It’s in the news today......

A flight from L.A. to London in February of last year is back in the headlines after it was revealed that the flight went ahead despite one of the engines catching fire only seconds after take off: Air traffic controllers monitoring a British Airways jumbo jet were stunned at the pilot's decision to try to "get as far as we can" after an engine caught fire on takeoff, a transcript of discussions between the......

Lovely quote this one: "There was no announcement because there was nobody there." This is from the story of a train that became decoupled out of King's Cross yesterday: Hundreds of passengers found themselves stuck on the tracks on Thursday night after their train split in two. About 700 people are thought to have been on the 1707 from King's Cross to Peterborough when it came to a sudden halt eight minutes into the......

We were going to have a right rant about this when we saw the headline Dubai family turned away from Eye. After two men were escorted off that plane in Malaga we felt ashamed to be British - those two chaps should have had the flight to themselves while the fuckwits screaming WITCH waited around for the next plane. And now we've got that kind of stupidity in London? Well, as it turns out......