So the Thames Gateway really is a a portal to somewhere rather than a hiding to nowhere. Today saw the signing of a really serious contract to build a new deep water container port on the north bank. £400,000 worth of building work has been commissioned, and so it looks like the project’s a goer. The £1.5 billion site belongs to Dubai Ports. It occupies the former Shell Haven (which never was a haven by......

Being Mayor of London has its perks. If your family have a crappy time getting home from holiday, caught up in the purgatory of Gatwick baggage reclaim and – despite your eminent public standing and instantly recognisable blond moptop – being helpless to do anything about it then at least you have the comfort of spilling your literary aspirational guts about it in the Telegraph and tacking on a bit of transport policy too,......

Fancy getting sporty next summer? Two day athletics beano planned. Thames Gateway staff turnaround. Don't suppose it will be the last. Peckham's Universal Church of the Kingdom of God is praying for a financial revelation. Daffy immigration rules hit football. 2012 budget in the news again: this time it's security issues. Image taken in St James' Park yesterday courtesy of daveograve@ via the Londonist flickr group.......

There’s some serious pessimism going on at the Olympic ticket sales office. You can build a new town, but how do you create a community? Thames Gateway in the news again. Not all community council or residents’ group meetings have to be boring. Wintry vista courtesy of Morphina_org's Flickrstream.......

...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......

Steve Rider. The last person you'd expect to be connected to a CS gas attack. Except, perhaps, Pliny the Elder. Mayor plans more pedestrian areas. Thames, Serpentine to be paved over. With nougat. The Thames Gateway management team are 'weak'. In other news, the 2012 Olympic Delivery Authority are 'pious'. Christmas will cost us £700 each. Watch our for further expense on St Swithin's Day, which next year will set you back £12, a......

Last week we reported on Walk Score, a tool for people who want to take positive steps towards greener living. This week, something for our more pessimistic readers: Flood Maps. Another twist on Google Maps, look up where you live or where you’re thinking of moving to, type in the amount you predict sea levels will rise, and find out whether you’re going to end up underwater. Projecting sea level rise is problematic. A......

'Flashing' judge not quite swinging free just yet Sheddy Terringham denies lying to police about speeding A man claims he is 'allergic' to phone masts and wifi (he might be able to make use of our map!) After the rabbit who dialed 999, here's a kipper that started a fire alarm Don't build the 120,000 homes in the Thames Gateway, says Tristram Hunt. Mudflats have history too. London to Birmingham in 45 minutes -......

The BBC has a leaked government report which says large areas of the Thames Gateway could be allowed to flood as part of an 'estuary park'. Arsenal unveiled their new 60,000-capacity Emeriates Stadium in front of a 20,000 crowd yesterday, with an open traning session. Scary doctor story: An Elstree doctor injected thousands of children with out-of-date MMR vaccines which he carried in sandwich bags, and stored in a tiny refrigerator plugged into a......

We just got the following press release: People’s Question Time-Londoners’ opportunity to question the Mayor and the London Assembly The Mayor of London and the London Assembly are inviting Londoners to come to Hendon Police College on Wednesday 23 November at 7pm, to take part in People’s Question Time. Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, said: 'People’s Question Time is an opportunity for Londoners to raise their concerns about life in the capital. Since the last......

Ok, so 'Superbridge' is not the official name for the planned £455 million toll bridge that will link Newham and Greenwich. It's actually called the 'Thames Gateway bridge', but we prefer 'Superbridge', so that's what we're going to call it. However Superbridge may never actually come into being as the plans for its development are going through a public enquiry, starting today. On one side you have the Thames Gateway London Partnership who (as......