The Cheesegrater, the Shard, the Walkie-Talkie... love them, loathe them, or merely shrug your shoulders in their general direction, our shiny new skyscrapers and bulky buildings are set to change the London skyline as they creep up over the Square Mile in the next few years. But will we be able to fill all this new space? The lean spell that every economist and his pet abacus is predicting means that offices are finding......

We've spent enough time wading through the flytipped rubbish on our street or struggling to blast the grime off our bodies following a grubby commute home to realise that London's not exactly the cleanest of places. But is it really the dirtiest city in Europe? In a shameless promotion, travel experts Trip Advisor commissioned a survey asking tourists to rank their likes and dislikes across a number of continental destinations, and London cleaned up......

Transport for London's latest cycle safety campaign focuses on road user awareness of what's going on around them. Especially HGV drivers. But this awareness test genuinely shocked us, making the point that however observant you may think you are, however you use the roads, you often don't see things you're not looking for. To reduce the number of incidents involving cyclists and lorries, TfL are giving out free "safety lenses" to freight companies operating......

After the (non-)scandal of (un-)banned Tube posters, the works of Lucas Cranach the Elder are now well and truly on show at the Royal Academy. Painter, print-maker, illustrator, businessman, propagandist, and huge fan of the female nude, this is Cranach's first major exhibition in Britain. And while you're gazing at all the nakedness, remember; this was a mate of Martin Luther, and those erotic female nudes are all about Protestant devotion. Honest. Openings Ahoy!......

There are just too many good events around town this week for us to narrow our picks for certain nights. Thus we present you with multiple options and leave that difficult choice to you. In the meantime, we’ll be brushing up on our science fiction in an effort to figure out how to move quickly from event to event. The solution? Teleporting. Clearly. Monday: writLoud returns to RADA tonight. We like this event, as......

Photograph of investigation at Times Square recruiting center by kerfuffle & zeitgeist on Flickr Gothamist found that an explosive set off outside the Times Square army recruiting center may be similar to five past bombings in New York City.Seattlest worried when severed right feet and bottles of rat poison started washing up on local beaches.Shanghaiist was surprised by Bjork's rooting for Tibetan independence at her concert (see video), and the political fallout has only......

A series celebrating the talent of our friends over in the Londonist Flickr pool who make our site look pretty with their fabulous photographs. Here, they introduce themselves and share their favourite London shots. Going Underground: I like this one as it always makes me think of heading into the city and what adventures are to be had there. Also, the colours really make it stand out IMHO. I didn't have to do any playing......

The Royal British Society of Sculptors? No, we hadn't heard of its existence either. Well, if there exists a Royal Society of Holographers, there must be a Royal Society for this slightly more ancient artistic medium. With its headquarters tucked away in on Old Brompton Road in West London, it has existed for just over 100 years and currently has over 500 members. They are working sculptors, from all over the world (they removed......

Our environmentally sustainable Mayor is taking on the IOC bigwigs who are demanding VIP fast lanes for a fleet of up to 3000 cars "to take officials, politicians and corporate sponsors to venues" at the 2012 Games. No fool he, cunningly waiting until they'd finished their progress inspection and given a favourable verdict earlier this week. He's not diving headlong into a fight though, preferring to wait until the Beijing Olympics are over this......

Olympic news items are like buses, or decent Boris Johnson policies: you wait for ages then two come along at once. This week we've heard about the package of security measures announced for the Games, while the International Olympic Committee popped by to check up on how we're doing. The announcement in July 2005 of London's Olympic triumph came just hours before the worst terrorist atrocity the city has ever seen, so from the......

Back before there was Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, or Meg Ryan and virtually any other male lead, there was Kate Hepburn and Cary Grant, Kate Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, Kate Hepburn and – well, you get the idea. Never seen the inimitable Ms Hepburn on the silver screen before? Now’s your chance: she and a host of other sharp, witty, irrepressible, and, of course, gorgeous comedic heroines will......

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......

When you're picking up your freesheet on the way home tonight don't just leave it on the train for some other, poor, reading material starved sucker. Turn it into public art! No, we don't mean have an art attack on the platform and start making saucy hats or paper planes (although both are better uses for these "newspapers" than reading them). We mean, go to Gillett Square in Dalston and help build the Newspaper......

Yesterday, we saw a strange sight in Soho: Cars are being lifted straight out of their parking spots onto trucks and being hauled away. Even more surprisingly, we heard reports of it happening again today, on Regent Street. Well, we can expect to see many more cars being carried by cranes, as it turns out that TfL have yet another congestion-reducing trick up their sleeves. Yesterday they announced that 21 new high-tech removal vehicles will......

In the realm of fuzzy math and statistical manipulation, nothing sounds so wonderful as things that'll add years to your life and nothing so scary as things that'll take those years away. And though we're not scientists or number-crunching pros, we don't want to feel like suckers when it comes to fear mongering figures. So let's take a look at London's newest set of mortality figures, which supposedly triumph the roughly quarter decrease in......

It's not quite the same as having the local bobby back on the beat, but a scheme trialled in south London that addresses public unease with the remote, impersonal nature of modern policing is set to be rolled out across London. The £325 million Home Office plan will see each council ward assigned a team of police and community support officers, with residents given a mobile phone number and email address to contact their......

Even on its quietest weeks, London is something of a happy haven for bibliophiles such as ourselves, though we may be doing nothing more than perusing one of the city’s many lovely bookshops. This week, however, we’re in a veritable book geek heaven, as the London literary scene goes all glittery, playing host to some major names and fantastic events, leaving us tongue-tied and weak at the knees. Do we gush? Very well then,......

Just as London spring begins to break beautifully over the city, the Flamenco Festival is charging into Sadlers Wells to make us all long for the heat and sultriness of a Spanish summer. The fiesta spans the spectrum of the dance form from the Farruquito family presenting traditional gypsy flamenco to one woman and one man pushing flamenco into the 21st Century. There's a showcase homage to the great women of Flamenco, tributes to......

And if you’re unemployed, you’d best turn all the lights and hide (embarrassingly Londonist has actually done this, but usually only after we’ve been watching horror films home alone)(or because we don’t trust ourselves to be polite). The good burghers (actually project workers) of the City of London Corporation have decreed that the jobless shall be found gainful employment. And they’re coming to get you. Actually, behind this rather scary prospect lies a seriously......

Here at Londonist we love to indulge in all sorts of devilishly scrumptious treats. However, we know healthy, conscientious eating is the key to a happy life. It’s hard to be a saint in the city, especially when trying to eat healthily and conscientiously. That’s why we truly appreciate Vegan London for providing “perhaps the most up-to-date information on the best vegetarian restaurants in London that are suitable for vegans,” along with “details on......

Photo by Phillyist's Matt Johnson, SkyscraperSunset.com, December 19, 2007. Phillyist explored an impending implosion and lived to tell the tale.Gothamist marveled at the city's new NYC-branded condom campaign - especially the use of a Toronto landmark in the advertising. (Also, fun fact: Gothamist turned five years old yesterday.)Tired of the worldwide Scientology protests? Torontoist totally isn't: they covered the big downtown protest the day it happened, and followed up with an examination of all......

Thanks to a concerned reader, we were alerted today to a potential tragedy in the making. It seems that the folks over in Monopoly Land are holding an online vote to choose the world’s top twenty cities (in addition to two wild cards) for its Here & Now: World Edition version of the classic game. Winners will be awarded prime real estate slots in the world edition board game – leading us to wonder......

Photograph of Michael Strahan, coach Tom Coughin (holding the Vince Lombardi trophy) and quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning by Tien Mao Gothamist was amazed after the Giants won the Super Bowl, the city went wild, and it witnessed a ticker-tape parade.Barack Obama drew 20,000+ ahead of Seattle’s Saturday caucus.Londonist had Super Tuesday too.Elusive guerrilla street artist Banksy revisits Los Angeles.After the Patriots lost the Super Bowl and came this close to making......

SFist worried over drugstore chain Walgreens celebration of Black History Month.Gothamist was surprised that apparently New York City is the fourth most miserable city in the country, after Detroit, Stockton, CA, and Flint, MI.Shanghaiist finds out what the Chinese think of Hilary and Obama.It was with a healthy amount of schadenfreude that Phillyist reported that former Eagle, and now Cowboy (ew), Terrell Owens owes the Eagles a significant wad of cash.Torontoist is two weeks......

Well known architectural pundit Prince ‘Chuckles’ Charles gives the London skyline a right royal disapproval: Not just one carbuncle on the face of a much loved old friend, but a positive rash of them that will disfigure precious views and disinherit future generations of Londoners. Says the grey heir. Charles was born in 1948, so the lamented ‘old friend’ he loves so much must be the shabby, bombed-out city of the 1950s. And those......

Well, blow us down with a wrecking ball, it's refreshing to see a piece of news about someone trying to save an old building rather than tear it down and turn it in to a pre-fab pimp palace. Don't get us wrong, we can't wait for the day all those crusty red-bricks are gone, replaced by a skyline of rising chrome and steel, surrounded by a slum where we can stick all the nurses......

It's finally here! The Sweeney Todd movie opens today. We were so excited yesterday, though, that we took to the city streets with the fabulous free Sweeney Todd Soundmap in our ears. This movie themed walk starts at Temple tube and wends its way through the back alleys cutting across Fleet Street and leading you, of course, to the site of Mrs Lovett's pie shop, Sweeney's barbaric barber shop, St Dunstan's in the West,......

If only we'd known, we could have taken that £80 million we had squirreled away and bought ourselves a nice luxury pad in Hampstead; added that beauty spa and cinema we always wanted to go with the pool and seven kitchens - one for every day of the week! According to Glentree Estates, who sold the property to an undisclosed buyer: it just shows you that the market is as strong as ever at......

You wouldn’t think Jacqui Smith scares easily. In her time as Home Secretary she’s dealt with car bombs and blazing jeeps, and she’s lately been facing down a bunch of mightily annoyed cops. But in an interview appearing today in the Sunday Times, Jacqui revealed that she wouldn’t dare walk down a London street alone at night. Would she feel safe walking alone at night in, say, Hackney, east London? She looks alarmed: “No.......

The Shunt Lounge garden shed, courtesy of the author Londoners can be a playful bunch, going on Flickr Photo Scavenger Hunts, playing Rubbish Games and doing pictures of our favourite landmarks. There's also a chance all next week to play houses and happy families at Home Sweet Home in the Shunt Vaults, an installation by collaborative arts company Subject to Change. Home Sweet Home is a small city made of cardboard, all neat streets and......