Foreign visitors may be bemused by our relatively toothless bobbies with their funny hats and ineffectual truncheons, but the truth is they can't always be trusted when packing heat. A female officer has been removed from operational duty after she left her firearm in an Edgware Road Starbucks. With a bladder perhaps filled with one of the chain's venti soy frappucinos, the officer, who has not been identified but whose surname is suspected to......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 19th May 2004: Security at the House of Commons is breached, as two protesters from the ‘Fathers 4 Justice’ campaign group throw condoms filled with purple flour at Prime Minister Tony Blair as he addresses the House. Tuesday – 20th May 1609: London publisher Thomas Thorpe publishes Shakespeare’s Sonnets for the first time, possibly without The Bard’s permission. Wednesday – 21st May 1853: The Aquatic Vivarium, the......

If you're a highly recognisable global statesman, whose successor's pathetic performance is making the country remember why they fell in love with you in the first place, it can be tempting to think that you're above the laws of the land. That's the only explanation we can find for the damning news that Tony Blair was apprehended by a ticket inspector as he travelled on the Heathrow Express on Wednesday. Upon asked for a......

The blink-or-you'll-miss-it honeymoon that Gordon Brown enjoyed last summer seems a lifetime ago. Amidst the Northern Rock fiasco, poll drubbings by the Tories and an economy on the turn, along comes another, devastating blow to the PM's authority: Madam Tussauds has declared that he is "too obscure" to merit a waxwork. The Marylebone tourist magnet has announced that they will not be making a waxwork of Brown for their World Leaders department, citing his......

Catholicism may be Britain's most popular religion - and have recently claimed a high profile new convert in the form of a certain ex-PM - but faith alone won't save Westminster Cathedral. The mother church of the Roman Catholic community in England and Wales is in need of urgent structural repairs, and Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor has launched an appeal to cobble £3 million together for renovations. Dating from 1903, the unfinished Byzantine cathedral spires......

I have been interested in recent newspaper reports suggesting I had lost, or was about to lose, one leg, two legs, an arm, a head - some people suggesting this went some time ago! - or even a fingernail. I am happy to tell you that, when I last looked, all of these items appeared solidly where they have been for many years. Michael Winner on rumours that he’d had a limb amputated. January 19......

In a story that's bound to excite Evening Standard headline writers, a group of four asylum seekers have attempted to smuggle themselves into Britain by hiding in Tony Blair's car. Before you get Jason Bourne-style visuals of dodgy-looking men clinging onto the chassis as our witless ex-PM is driven around town, we should make clear that this is in fact Tony's new motor. The custom BMW 7 Series model, complete with bulletproof glass and......

“We’re proud to be able to play in one of Tony Blair’s legacies to the UK” David Kay of Tiny Dancers said of their chance to be one of the first bands to play the indigo2 at the former Millennium Dome. One of the most state of the art venues in the UK Indigo2 is the smaller of two venues at the new O2 complex which comprises shops, bars and cinema as well as the......

Londonist was much struck by the documentary Taking Liberties and got in touch with director Chris Atkins to find out more. Is it really just motivated by a personal hatred of New Labour? Why do they want to ASBO John Reid? And what's this about rolling full-tilt into a group of rozzers while stuffed inside a bin?! Read on to find out more ... What prompted you to make Taking Liberties? I woke up......

Apologies for the first-person perspective - normal service will resume after this post. About a year ago, Phil, a friend of mine, had a run-in with the British Transport Police over the use of a four-letter word - "shit" - when describing the accuracy or otherwise of a metal detector set up at Highbury & Islington station. I witnessed the whole thing and wrote about it on Londonist; the story was then picked up......

Celebrating the capital's carbuncles, misfits and ne'er-do-wells. 1. The Millennium Dome It might be lambasted as any number of journalistic clichés that are applied to failure, from ‘white elephant’ to ‘waste of taxpayers’ money’, but I think this building is anything but. Misunderstood from its birth, the architectural quality of the scheme has soared over the heads of most, who instead concentrate on the budget. The Richard Rogers Partnership attempted to do exactly what......

The nicer the weather gets, the busier we get across the Ist-A-Verse. But we like being busy. Here's a peek at what we've been up to since last week! Chicagoist had an interview with Audrey Niffenegger, whose popular book, The Time Traveler's Wife, was based in their fine city. They also had a heated discussion about Rush Limbaugh's controversial Barack Obama parody, talked about whether Uncle Julio's Hacienda is a good place to get......

Today the spotlight is firmly on Tony Blair. As he heads off into the political sunset, he may consider the high point of his premiership to be the securing of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games for London - and the low point to be the war in Iraq. So it's fitting that the Olympic Park right this moment looks like a bomb-site. But this is not ordinary rubble, oh no - it is......

So, Sarko finally beat Sego. As France faces a brave new dawn under Nicolas Sarkozy, our own Premier is also looking to the future as an announcement is expected on Thursday of removal vans heading for No.10. Tony Blair is always fond of new things, even going so far as to try out a new name for his own political party. Eager not to miss out on this weekend's 'newness' and 'frenchness', he has......

A Hindu temple in Tooting may have links with the Tamil Tiger rebels. Our Lord and master, Tony Blair, has been given permission to renovate his property on Connaught Square. A train driver mistakenly told all the passengers over the Tannoy that she had run a red light. A former school finance officer has been found to have stolen hundreds of pounds of dinner money and charity donations. A teenager from Chiswick is one......

The RMT Union has announced a three day tube strike next week by Metronet workers. Next week, the City of London will become Europe's largest wifi hotspot. Tony Blair blames a distinctive black culture for the recent spate of knife and gun crime. A new Cutty Sark exhibition has opened in Greenwich. Image courtesy of Orhan* via the Londonist flickr group.......

Tony Blair has obviously been listening to a lot of Huey Lewis lately -- he thinks it’s hip to be square. And what is more squareishly hip than to broadcast your political party on YouTube in the hopes of attracting the Cool Kids? In the 58 second clip, Blair explains that Labour’s goal in broadcasting on their new YouTube channel, Labourvision, is "to enable you to hear unmediated, fresh, first-hand, what it is we are......

Are the Greenpeace campaigners still aloft their erection near the Commons? Anyone got any pics? Once in position the activists unfurled a 50ft banner suggesting PM Tony Blair "loved" weapons of mass destruction. We're not sure it is love as far as Tony is concerned. We reckon Blair just wants to have his way with the naive WMD's and then scarper rather than face up to the consequences. Bastard. Two government members have so......

As Tony Blair holds a summit on the recent spate of shootings, a walk of peace is taking place in Peckham and Brixton. Chris Eubank doesn't want Harry going to war (the ex-boxer has never been a fan of physical conflict). His bizarre trucking protest ended in arrest. It's adults only at the Barbican. Surfing. Indoors. What will they think of next. Image courtesy of DaveWilliams via the Londonist flickr group.......

Two men have been arrested on suspicion of attempted rape after attacking a woman involved in a car accident: She was driving in Enfield, north London, on Wednesday night, when she collided with a traffic island. Two men offered to help but took her to Theobolds Park Road where officers say she was indecently assaulted. Police were called by members of the public who saw the semi-naked woman... A 19 year old has been......

Noel Gallagher yesterday did an about face on the reacharound he gave Tony Blair ten years ago and said that the PM hadn't quite lived up to expectations. Isn't it nice when the musical establishment has its finger pressed so hard on the political pulse that they can find the time to point this kind of thing out to us? "Nobody ever mentions Labour, they mention Tony Blair now. Everything is Tony Blair's fault.......

Crazy story in The Independent today: A former British National Party election candidate who stockpiled explosive chemicals for use in an anticipated civil war in Britain boasted that he would shoot Tony Blair... Police raided the home of Robert Cottage, who held "strong views on immigration", and found 21 types of chemicals which could create explosives when mixed together, along with a 300-page computer document called the "Anarchy Cookbook", which detailed how to make......

oh dear. Tony Blair has been interviewed for a second time by police investigating cash-for-honours allegations. Downing Street disclosed that the 45 minute questioning took place in Number 10 last Friday, but was kept secret at the request of the Metropolitan Police. What happens if Levy turns rat? Will the whole thing end badly in an Infernal Affairs / The Departed inspired series of head wounds and elevator doors? Could it be that Blair......

Wannabe French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, rallies French expats in Old Billingsgate What must it have been like to be blind during the Blitz? Nonagenerian Baroness takes a tumble down a Westminster esculator. The Queen and Tony Blair to be granted a special audience with Shilpa? Let's hope Prince Phillip isn't around. Ballerina flash mob thinggy tomorrow. The numerically inaccurate 'Balcony' image courtesy of Homemade via the Londonist flickr group.......

Wow, they just arrested Tony Blair's personal fundraiser Lord Levy on suspicion of obstruction of justice. Tessa Jowell think the Tories are undermining the Olympics. Isn't Seb Coe a Tory? Last year was a record year for the West End thanks to the singing nuns and Monty Pythons. Bankers vs. messengers vs. media types vs. gym boys. Not bare-knuckle boxing but "old school roller racing". And all in aid of Leukemia research. Our new......

Kind of. The Tricycle theatre is set to follow its stagings of the Stephen Lawrence inquiry, the Bloody Sunday hearings and the Hutton inquiry with a staged indictment of Tony Blair for a crime of aggression against Iraq. The real PM won't be present of course, but the lawyers, testimony and expert witnesses will be" The theatre will create the event itself and then use actors to stage a condensed version entitled The Indictment......

The FBI have released ten pages of their 'Now That's What I Call Lennon' series: The FBI has released its final surveillance documents on John Lennon to a university historian who has waged a 25-year legal battle to obtain the secret files. The 10 pages contain new details about Lennon's ties to leftist and anti-war groups in London in the early 1970s, but nothing indicating government officials considered the former Beatle a serious threat,......

Blair is having a time of it. Following on from a little unwanted attention by the police it turns out the one person in the world that he wants to be noticed by doesn't really care: Tony Blair has failed to influence the policies of George Bush's White House in any significant way, despite his unwavering support for the US president, a leading foreign affairs think tank said today. Delivering its verdict on ten......

BBC: Prime Minister Tony Blair has been interviewed by police investigating allegations of cash for honours... BBC Political Editor Nick Robinson said it was an extraordinary development but one that had been expected for some weeks. But he said the fact that Mr Blair was not interviewed under caution was significant as it implied that police did not intend to bring any charges against him. But he said it was an embarrassment for the......

What's most interesting about Pornography by Colin Gregory Palmer isn't that he got the girl to hold the sign, but that she actually seems to be eating it. And because we didn't have a Photo of the Day on Friday (which had nothing to do with us being drunk) here's a bonus pic from Herschell Hershey, The UK Prime Minister with the editor of The Guardian, Mr Harry Potter (12): So a big hello......