Drift 08 is awfully appealing as an idea, linking the concepts of drifting down a river with the currently fashionable notion of the drift in a psycho geographical sense meaning to wander the streets. Installation art is meant to either inform the viewer about its location or shock viewers into seeing it in a different way. In theory this should have been a treat, a conversation with the location not just an entertainment. It’s......

This semi-apocalyptic artwork from Bermondsey school children covers the hoardings around PriceWaTerHouseRaNdomCapsCooPer's new building, under construction at More London. The kids from St Michael's Catholic School don't need Photoshop to unleash seven shades of Hell on the capital. They've got paint brushes, and bags of imagination. Meteor strikes, a giant robot, TIE fighter attack and, um, a tightrope-walking Boris are just a few of their twisted visions for the Thames. See the archive of previous......

Sunday saw the opening stage of the Tour of Britain come Thameside. Riders raced 10 laps of a circuit around Victoria Embankment, Whitehall and Northumberland Avenue. Our Flickrpool photographers were there to capture the action. Many thanks to Daniel_c_c, Simon K, Massimo Usai, McTumshie and markstravelphotos.......

Nice weather for ducks, today, and also on Sunday which was handy as it was the day of the Great British Duck Race on the Thames. 175,000 blue plastic ducks were set loose at Hampton Court in the name of pointless world record breaking and charity and 'raced' downstream with one lucky winner receiving a big cash prize. We sent along Flickrpool star Misty whose signature style is taking pictures featuring her own rubber duck,......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 1st September 1856: Richard Westmacott, the sculptor responsible for numerous London landmarks, dies at his Mayfair home. Tuesday – 2nd September 1666: The Great Fire of London breaks out. It would burn for three days, destroying over 13,000 buildings. Wednesday – 3rd September 1878: Passenger steamer Princess Alice collides with cargo ship Bywell Castle on the Thames near Woolwich Pier. All of the 700 passengers of the......

43. Steelyard Passage Where? Creepy underpass beneath Cannon Street station, linking All Hallows Lane and Cousin Lane. What? Of all the byways we've commended in this column, none has presented such a singular collection of historic factlets and neoteric curiosities as Steelyard Passage. The Victorian brick arches are immediately atmospheric, plunging the passage-goer into an otherworldly darkness that banishes the open skies of the Thames. The first thing you notice is the azure lighting that......

It’s really all about the Olympics this week, and we’ve told you all about what to watch. But if you’re not in a sporting mood, here are a few other things you may want to take a look at. On TV, Londonist likes: Tuesday, 12 August Margaret the Tabloid Princess: Revealed (Five, 20:00-21:00)) Princess Margaret spawned the paparazzi appetite for photos of royals stumbling out of London nightclubs, and this documentary looks at her......

We like ducks in strange places. We also like ducks where they should be; in our ponds and on our rivers. On 31 August, though, Old Man Thames is going to be inundated with a quarter of a million ducks. No, not a Hitchcock avian nightmare (although they will be blue, which is totally wrong) but, yes, one of those world record attempt stunts that just happens to be raising cash for a whole......

We gave you a heads up last week but here's a big reminder - the Museum in Docklands is having a 5th birthday party this weekend, flinging open its waterside doors and welcoming all, waiving its entrance fee. The Museum is lesser known than its big sister, the Museum of London with pride of place on London Wall since 1975, but the converted warehouse at West India Quay brings the importance of the river......

As promised, here's a video of our ride on the airship that's been (intermittently) flying across the capital since last Monday. Check out our picture post, and visit Star Over London for more details on how to book tickets. The first week has been beset by problems owing to the weather - the ship doesn't ride so well in rain or wind, two key ingredients for any British summer. We'll catch up with the......

Our very own Londonist Eye finally has a friend: Essex man Michael Williams has constructed a model of Tower Bridge out of matchsticks. While our own effort was knocked out in the space of a half hour, using a motley collection of pipe cleaners, straws and bits of twine, the Tower Bridge scale model took Mr Williams a decade and is comprised of 1.6 million matches. In an uncannily authentic touch, the bridge is......

The O2, Greenwich peninsula and the Isle of Dogs If there were something, dear readers, that we could give to everyone of you to show you how much we care, it would be this: a ride in the Star Over London airship. Unfortunately, at £360 a pop for the best ride, this is pie in the sky talk from your favourite London blog so, next best thing, we wangled a freebie and went for you.......

It's far too nice to be inside tonight so we can't help but suggest you mosey on down to the river and enjoy the rays. Head down to the Tate Modern and enjoy the Street Art exhibition that's been daubing the external walls of the Tate Modern since for the last month of so. Then talk a short stroll to the nearby The Anchor pub and enjoy their riverside beer garden till sunset.......

Photography courtesy of a faz via the Londonist pool on Flickr Interested in your foodie photos appearing on Londonist? Click here.......

Here's an idea. Build temporary cofferdams in historic stretches of the Thames so that archaeologists can really get to work. It's amazing what you can find beneath a river that's served a city for 2000 years. Image by M@. Got an idea for a Touch Up London? Check out our archives, and send your own figments to londonist - at gmaildotcom.......

Tower Bridge will be treated to a £4 million facelift over the next four years. Beginning in the summer, the Victorian landmark will be stripped of paint and redaubed with blue and white. At the same time, ugly sister Southwark Bridge will receive a fresh coat of green and yellow. Goddamn awful London Bridge remains stubbornly concrete coloured. The two repaintings are funded by the The City Bridge Trust, a repairer of London's bridges......

Something surprising is happening in our fair river: Conservationists have found seahorses among the muck in the Thames. More exciting, the seahorses are a rare short-snouted breed -- Hippocampus hippocampus, for you bio fiends out there -- that usually live around the Canary Islands and Italy. Seems like a long way to travel for a horse with no legs. The little creatures, which normally live in shallow muddy waters, estuaries or seagrass beds, have been......

Perfect formation courtesy of Phill Price via the Londonist Flickr Pool To celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Royal Air Force the legendary Red Arrows did a barnstorming fly past across London and down the Thames at lunchtime today. You may have heard them go by or spotted the red white and blue streaks across the sky at some point but some Londonist Flickr pool members got snaps of bird's eye views which we're awestruck......

Another entry from Roll the Dice, showing a cunning method of crossing Tower Bridge without being stopped by tourists. Check out more Touch Ups in our archive and, if you feel inspired, send in your own photoshopped imagery of the capital to londonist - at - gmail.com.......

Oxford pulls ahead. Image courtesy of Simon-K's photostream via the Londonist Flickr pool Oxford prevailed. But you probably know that by now. And the view from the shore? Wet. But Londonist was there. In the name of journalism, we packed ourselves into the Doom Bar tent in Furnival Gardens yesterday with 300 of our closest newly acquired friends and did our best not to spill/be spilled on/grind/be grinded on whilst waiting optimistically for the rain......

Janet Devers, who runs a fruit and veg stall in Dalston's Ridley Road market, is one tough courgette. She is carrying the fight to sell her wares in imperial units all the way to crown court. The pensioner appeared at Thames Magistrates Court last week, charged with some fifteen counts under the (deep breath) Price Marking and Weights and Measurements Act, 1963. Her fearsome rap sheet includes vending imperial measures of fresh fruit to......

The 2008 running of the Womens' Head of the River race on Saturday was certainly as unpredictable as many expected given the absence of Britain's elite oarswomen at a pre-Olympic training camp. In the picture above, one of many in a marvellous Flickr set from London Annie, you can see last year's winners, Thames A, on the far right being overhauled by Osiris, the Oxford University Blues Boat, who went on to take the......

While many of us will be looking forward to a very pleasant lie-in this morning 251 crews will be down by the Thames at the crack of dawn preparing themselves for the 10am start of the 2008 Womens' Head of the River Race (WEHORR). In contrast to most years, though, the very cream of Britain's female rowing talent will not be taking part as they're on their way back from a pre-Olympic training camp......

Ken Livingstone's on a tap water crusade. Him and Thames Water have launched a campaign to encourage Londoners to be proud to ask for tap water, however many grannies it's been through. Not only are they extolling the quality of the water and the clear financial benefits, they're trying to make it sexy by running a competition to design a carafe worthy of holding our precious Eau de Londres. Asking for tap water in......

There's something of a Valentine's theme to the Arts of choice taking place in the capital this week. But Londonist knows for every young Juliet embracing the idea of timeless romantic love, there's a Bridget hugging her near-empty vodka bottle, crooning to Chaka Khan. So, in the name of balance, here's a varied, half 'rom', half 'com' round-up for you all. Shows for Swingin' Lovers: Photographer Gregg Stone, has been taking snaps of kissing......

We're considering giving our notice at Londonist Towers and upping sticks for a new home. Specifically, we want to move into Jean Prouvé's Maison Tropicale. The prefabricated bungalow, standing on the front lawn outside Tate Modern, is in London as part of the excellent Prouvé retrospective at the Design Museum. Dating from the 1950s, the Maison was an attempt at creating lightweight, flat-pack housing for colonial authorities that could easily be loaded into a......

It was a delightfully dry and bright, crisp and chilly weekend in London... except for a sudden bit of flooding along Edgware Road on Sunday morning. Not from the heavens opening in a repeat of the 2007 deluges but from what has been reported as a mechanical digger failure at the crucial junction of Sussex Gardens and Edgware Road not far from Marble Arch. This is the junction where traffic from Paddington Station comes......

Beware the pornographic perils of Bluetooth Chelsea Barracks sold for incredible £959 million - expect imminent Sloane explosion as 2000 luxury apartments move in Afghanistan soldiers' exhibition up for award at National Army Museum Home time warning - trains between London and Milton Keynes are suspended Happy birthday Thames Barrier, 25 today! Image courtesy of Simon Crubellier via the Londonist flickr group.......

Our weekly roundup of film reviews returns, courtesy of James Bryan… As we wallow in the truly miserable news that Aliens Vs Predator made more money at the box office last week than No Country for Old Men, we sigh and turn our attentions to this week’s offerings. The three biggest releases this week are all stamped with Oscar. We’ve got Johnny Depp singing in Cockney and slicing throats in Sweeney Todd, Tommy Lee......

Pegasus in Inner Temple Hall We were right to get excited about this event. Not only did we finally learn the difference between a solicitor and a barrister and which Inn of Court bears which emblem (Pegasus for Inner Temple, lamb and flag for Middle Temple. Grays Inn has a gryffin and Lincolns Inn a heraldic symbol; somewhat spoiling the animal theme) but we also wandered through the 20 beautiful acres, marvelled at historic and......