Merry Christmas! (Or, if you’re not so much into the whole Christmas thing, Happy Tuesday!) We hope you’re having a very lovely Christmas day. If you need a break from the family madness, here are a few things you might want to take a peek at. On TV, Londonist likes: Top of the Pops Christmas Special (BBC1, 13:30-4:30)) Fearne Cotton and Reggie Yates present this look at the year’s most popular acts – and......

This week, we have a film about Irish Republicanism (The Wind That Shakes The Barley), a nonsensical thriller with Demi Moore (Half Light) and a movie about true-life legend of patriot fighter-hero, Huo Yuanjia (Fearless). First up, The Wind That Shakes The Barley, a film that won director Ken Loach the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes film festival. As discussed at the end of last week's Friday Film News, there has been a......

Neil Young - Prairie Wind As prodigious as he is unpredictable (this after all is a man whose record company once sued him for not sounding like himself), Neil Young's 41st solo record, just shy of his 60th birthday and recovering from an aneurysm that almost killed him earlier this year, finds him in a gentle, reflective mood on his strongest and most affecting album in ten years. Returning to his country folk roots,......

This past weekend saw the doors close for the final time at the 113-year-old Whitechapel Library. The library was founded 1892 by the Liberal MP J Passmore Edwards (there's a nice picture of the man himself here) and quickly garnered a reputation as "the university of the ghetto". Saturday's Guardan reported on the closure, reminding us of the scores of notable men and women who have perused the lbrary's shelves: Jacob Bronowski, scientist and......

The earlier post about London's Strategic Emergency Plan has led to an outbreak of disturbing memories of When The Wind Blows and Threads. Please, London - REMAIN CALM. Yes there is a threat and yes we are a plump target, but we must never forget that we have a noble body of people working to protect us and while they may not wear black rubber and drive around in souped up tanks like Batman......