SS Robin, with the Canary Wharf skyline in the background (photo by Dean Nicholas) While the Cutty Sark and HMS Belfast are well-known icons of Britain's marine history, London's only other National Historic Ships Register Grade I-listed vessel was, until recently, in serious danger of being scrapped. The SS Robin, built at Bow Creek in 1890, is the world's oldest working steamer, and hauled raw materials all over Europe during the Industrial Revolution. Bought......

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.......

...that the government’s gone a bit loopy, actually. They are still banging on about developing the optimistically titled Thames Gateway region into some eco-wonderland filled with gainfully employed and happy eco-bunnies. Yvette Cooper was due to, er, ‘clarify’ exactly how this can be achieved and for how many spondulicks at a brainstorming forum today. Now Londonist knows that London needs a bit more housing, and is all for the creation of well budgeted, environmentally-friendly utopias......

Here’s what we learned this weekend, whilst you were drawing up your Christmas card lists (or crossing people off them): It’s been a bad weekend for London’s performers, with even the ROH being dissed, and one band getting the worst review this Londonista has ever seen. But it has been a great couple of days for pussy cats, with three of them being rescued from a derelict flat, and another being turned into a......

So, London might be getting an additional Thames Barrier? We've got a much simpler solution to the rise in global sea levels. Keep sending your images of distorted, twisted London to londonist - at - gmail - dot com. We will dispatch a choc ice to anyone who enters. Background image take from elbisreverri's Flickr photostream.......

Here's what else has been going on while you've been at The Notting Hill Festival: This weekend's news: It's possible there could be a new Thames Barrier built. More people have been shot in North London. Toddler dies in swimming pool. Authorities agree to give bus drivers more toilets. How nice. Mum fights web drug dealers. Hooray for cyber mum! And here's what we think might happen next week: Pete Doherty arrested. Again. Amy......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 7th May 1663: The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane opens for the first time. There have actually been four theatres on this site since the 17th century, and the first one didn’t even last 9 years before burning down in 1672. The second was built in 1674, but demolished in 1791. The third lasted from 1794 until it burned down in 1809 (flammable things, these theatres). Finally, the......

What's more boring than talking about the weather? Betting on it: Totesport, which has come up with a series of "global warming wagers", is also offering odds of 50-1 that the Thames Barrier will be breached over the next decade.The company, which thought up the bets with the help of former BBC weatherman John Kettley, is offering odds of 4-1 that 2007 will be the hottest year on record. Totesport spokesman Damian Walker said:......

It’s not often we feel the need to applaud a lawyer, but Lewis Pugh will deserve a pat on his sodden, algae-plastered back if he successfully swims the entire length of the Thames over the next few weeks. Mr Pugh, a veteran long-distance swimmer, is attempting the insane journey to raise awareness of environmental issues. Speaking of global warming, he commented: I'm hoping my swim down the River Thames will bring the message home......

Climate change is in the news again (not that it ever leaves), as international delegates burn hundreds of tons of kerosene to reach the Montreal climate talks. On the agenda: how to meet the tough targets set in the Kyoto agreement; what should replace Kyoto when it expires in 2012; and how to find rapprochement with countries whose views on climate change differ. At the same time, there are further warnings that we might......

In the wake of what's been going on in New Orleans over the past few days, the blog Pocket Planet Radio brings things a little closer to home by suggesting "New Orleans' fate might give Londoners pause for thought". Flooding was identified as the main reason London was categorized as a Top 10 "megarisk" city in a recent insurance company report. A Thames flood in 1953 killed 300 people and our major defense the......

Having visited Glastonbury over the past few days Londonist already has a pretty good idea of what floods of biblical proportions look like. But anyone who gloated at the mud-splattered revellers over the weekend might soon be eating their words as, according to a new report (registration required), "the flash floods and sweltering heat that have swept across Britain during the past few weeks could be a harbinger of major problems in the future."......

If you thought the Islington flood was bad then just wait until all that polar ice melts and the world's ecosystem goes to pot. It'll take more than Thames Water to sort that mess out. The latest in eco-scares comes from the three-day international conference on climate change currently taking place ahead of the summer’s G8 summit. Chris Rapley, director of the British Antarctic Survey, presented the most recent findings which showed that the......

It's no understatement to say that weather has been featuring prominently in the news lately, and as with most natural disasters you sympathise with the victims, are in awe of the power of nature in general, and then the "what if that happened where I live" factor kicks in. Well Londoners can rest easy if proposed plans for a bigger better Thames Barrier go through. Recommended by leading climate change experts, (we're assuming just......