Shock! Horror! The BBC has been accused of bias. Again. The current accusation has actually been admitted if not volunteered by the (fairly) new Beeb chairman, Sir Michael Lyons. This time it’s not been racist, or politically prejudiced, or ageist, or even sexist. It has actually been labeled londonist, if we can use our name adjectivally for once. Londonist as in London-centric, over-indulgent of Londoners, overly willing to concede that London is in fact the......

Children, children, Londonist wants to play a little game with you: it’s called “How to make you cry in one single snapshot.” The rules are pretty simple: you come equipped with your best smiles for the next school piccie and we’ll wipe them off your face instantly: black kids over there please ... yes, you ... Oh and you look a little dark of skin – over there as well please. Still smiling? Alright, Jewish......

Gothamist learned about the craziest urban nightmare come true: A huge python found in the bathroom pipes. It was also a nightmare for some Yankees fans, as manger Joe Torre declined to come back and manage the Bronx Bombers. At least the city's attempt to give some direction to subway riders was interesting, pranksters went shirtless at the Fifth Avenue Abercrombie & Fitch and the I Heart Brooklyn Girls calendars came out. And just......

It's a bad news day for the Met as the unfortunate Det Sgt Gurpal Virdi publicly advises potential ethnic minority recruits to London's police force to think twice about it. Det Sgt Virdi has undeniably had a torrid time. Accused of instigating a foul racist internal hate mail campaign he was exonerated by a tribunal in 2002 and won compensation for being a victim of racial discrimination as well as a personal apology from......

A day after possibly the strongest entry for the most risible right-wing attempt at 'humour' since Jim Davidson was allowed near prime time television, Boris Johnson emerged from his summer holidays (it's silly season all year round for him really) and set out his stall for taking on Ken Livingstone next May. And what a stall it is. Thrill to his delight at being able to buy mango juice in newsagents! Listen to his boast......

Crikey! Boris Johnson has been accused of being a racist – again – this time by the New Nation newspaper, who have provided a handy cut out and keep guide (pictured) to the Tory mayoral hopeful's 'offensive remarks' over the years. The historic problem with Boris, as many in his own party would agree, is that he's always wanted to be all things to all people. Colourful MP on board with the Cameron Project......

Ken has accused immigration staff at airports of treating foreign arrivals in a racist manner. A couple went sunbathing on a horse training track and were almost trampled. Dartford FC's new eco-friendly stadium has been described as "better than Wembley". A man has published a chronicle of all his visits to the toilet in one year. Don't buy it. Please. Not even if it's someone's birthday and you can't think of what else to......

The phrase "it's PC gone mad!" usually comes from the mouths of those such as Bernard Manning, taxi drivers and the hairdresser who just cut this Londonista's hair who used the phrase with regard to immigrant children being allowed to go to 'our' schools. Yikes. However, perhaps it applies with regard to an incident last week which left a Barnet councillor facing calls to resign after he 'blacked up' as part of his Nelson......

With the sun out, the temperatures high, one can only think of one thing-- what's going on in the World of the -ist's? Bostonist dug deep to uncover Barack Obama's unpaid parking tickets, their Governor's latest ethical lapse, and a plagarizing sports writer. Chicagoist had everything in twos: two views on having the Olympics, losing two members of their Super Bowl team, and two music festivals. DCist put their noses in legal books as......

We love BBC America's anglophenia because it's always interesting to see what the other side of the pond thinks about the happenings in our own little goldfish bowl. This post, however, tackled a more serious subject than the usual pop culture geography when anglophenia popped over here for a visit: The next 20 minutes or so I spent were both familiar and frustrating. I stood alongside Shaftesbury Avenue with my arm extended nearly vertically,......

Gun crime suspect was found cowering in a shed An Aboriginal leader is on his way to London to stop scientists from drilling holes into his ancestors. House of Fraser have removed a major advertising campaign after complaints that the slogans were racist. A "crippling" tube strike is perhaps on the way . And 55 years of outdoor summer concerts at Kenwood House have come to an end.......

fuck jade by cakehole shows just how far Jade's star has fallen. How bad does it have to be for even the National Front to be sick and tired of you? Or is this Fuck Jade and the National Front? Or simply a piece of canny viral marketing by Channel Four ahead of their new show, You Don't Have To Be Racist To Get Ratings But It Helps.......

This Day In London’s History 1788: Lord Byron born at 16 Holles Street, just north of Oxford Street. Born George Gordon Byron, but inheriting the family title at the age of 10, Byron was an extravagant, eccentric and hugely prolific writer. However he was just as famous for his tumultuous lifestyle as for his writings, both of which attracted much attention. Shortly after his birth in London, his mother moved him to Aberdeen. He......

Mark McGowan is the 'artist' who does his best to get into the press by creating 'art' that gets him into the papers. You'll remember him from such installations as 'Hey media! Look at me push a peanut with my nose, as well as 'Look at me, I left a tap running (until I was told to turn it off)' and 'Don't beat me up for keying your car, I'm an ARTIST'. His last......

We've been doing our best to ignore Celebrity Big Brother we really have. We close our eyes when walking past the tabloids and blank out any mention of the nonsense in the broadsheets, but now that questions are being asked about it in the House of Commons (and oh, was a house ever so aptly named?) we thought we'd see what all the fuss is about this time. It turns out that the knuckle......

Before we begin, we'd like to extend our deepest sympathies to the family of James Kim. We are not, by any means, trying to discount that tragedy by juxtaposing posts about the Kims with more light-hearted posts. It's the nature of doing a compilation such as this one: we're trying to give a full slice of the goings-on in the Ist-a-Verse: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Londonist wants you to know where to......

On Monday Charlie Brooker wrote a heart-felt piece for Comment is Free entitled When it comes to psychics, my stance is hardcore: they must die alone in windowless cells: The audiences that psychics prey on are equally infuriating, albeit less deserving of contempt. They're just disappointing, like a friend who's let you down. Often, they're simply grieving and desperate. I mean, if you want to believe in psychics, fine. You're a dangerous idiot and......

If you're hiking, consider charging up your iPod, as Seattlest finds out that a man lost during a hike was found by the glow of his iPod. That cleverness seems to be devoid in cops who were using police cruiser instant messaging clients - although we imagine IMs "so are you nakie" to be included in cop shows, just for realism. If only the cops were busting the Hummer-driving jerk who made a poor......

Is there such a thing as bad publicity? The ban on posters for comedian Reginald D Hunter's show has got to give him more mileage than the actual poster. Dressing in a wig and frilly collars to advertise comedy seems about as cutting edge as those tedious insurance adverts with the talking parrot. If it weren't for the ban we wouldn't have bothered to check out the website and found out that the guy......

Sincerest apologies, dear readers. The author of this column (Column? Post?) has had a particularly trying week, what with almost getting fired from his high-pressure media sales job and also being asked to vacate the sofa near Highbury Corner he had been staying on since July. Now, we know, this is no excuse. Two posts in a fortnight is almost unforgivable. How much more trouble can he get in, do you wonder? Well, two......

As memorial events continue across London this morning and ahead of the silence at noon we've taken a break from the regular posting to reflect on what happened on July 7 and to remember in our own way those who were killed or injured a year ago today. Our rolling coverage of the day makes for sombre reading, but continuing down to re read the comments that streamed in it's hard not to be......

They went to Feltham Young Offenders' Institution, went on TV, they broke a few rules, cost the taxpayer a hell of a lot of money... and they're the ITV News film crew. The crew were among the broadcast and print journalists invited to the West London institution for last Thursday's publication of the release of Mr Justice Keith's report into the racist murder of Zahid Mubarek, who died in a horrible attack when made......

Is this the coolest thing Ken has ever said? Daily Mail is ‘broadly racist’ and the Standard is only less so because racism would hurt their sales. Nigeria has warned its citizens to be wary of fraudsters when travelling in Britain. Apparently one of the favourite ticks on the Tube is "to “pick up an object which had fallen under their victim’s seat” in order to distract attention" The Government wants to turn London's......

Olympic bosses are going to go on a series of roadshows around the country to preach the virtues of the Games. A new report shows that the UK's North-South divide is still alive and well thanks to the economic and social dominance of London. George Galloway calls Blair and Brown 'two cheeks of the same arse' over at the Guardian's Comment is Free while the Respect party demand a re-run of the poll in......

UKIP Demands Apology Over "Closet Racist" Remarks The UK Independence Party have demanded an apology from Tory leader David Cameron over remarks he made on London radio station LBC. Mr. Cameron denounced UKIP as "fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists, mostly" as he took part in a phone-in show on the station. The comments are further evidence of Cameron's propsed shift of his party from being a right-wing party to being a more centrist party,......

Estate agents, Tess Daly, and racists - sounds grim, doesn't it? Yes, perhaps to reflect the unrelenting yuckiness of the weather (look, it's almost April - please can we have a little, just a little sunshine?) the TV schedules are about s appetising as day-old tramp sick. Apart from the old stalwarts (Footballers Wive$ Thur 9pm ITV1 - Tanya is back! With Joan Collins!, and Desperate Housewives Wed 10pm C4 - getting better again......

Three men have been arrested for the murder of the Linklater's lawyer Tom ap Rhys Pryce. The RMT and ASLEF are now both threatening strike action after a "serious breakdown in industrial relations" between the unions and LU. The BNP are psychic now as well as racist. The IPCC report into the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes has been completed and will be delivered to the Crown Prosectuion Service soon. A first look at......

24-year-old Damien Hanson, 24 was convicted yesterday of stabbing John Monckton to death in his home. Industrial action at Heathrow's Terminal Five is due to start today. Ken wants an investigation into the Elephant and Castle regeneration plans because he thinks they are 'racist'. Wandsworth, which has the lowest council tax in the country, has been recognised as the best local authority in England and Wales. You can now get odds of 20 to 1......

- A US Senate investigation claims it has tracked £85,000's worth of "Iraqi oil money" to Galloway's wife’s bank account in Jordan. - No seat? Then half your money back. That's what Grand Central Railway (who are bidding to run trains between King’s Cross and Yorkshire and the North East) want to offer us. Railway price wars - about bloody time! - "This is a problem in your stupid head." Joan Rivers and Darcus Howe......

A lot of the US papers are carrying reviews of Roman Polanski's Oliver today so we thought we'd bring you a bit of a roundup of what they're saying. We'll kick off though with the only UK paper to get in on the act so early: the Standard. Nick Curtis was at the British premier of the film last night and his review is headlined The Best of Twists, so there's no grey areas......