The Memory Cloud is an interactive art installation which relies on the general public sending in messages via a text message which is then displayed as "light-and-air smoke signals". Sounds impressive? It sure does. It conjures up the idea of mixing new age and ancient technology however, Londonist feels that it was no more sophisticated than something you may encounter at school dance in this day and age. The messages at times were difficult to......

Londonist arrived at Harvest Twestival a little late last night but was, nonetheless, overwhelmed by the party atmosphere and by the sheer number of attendees. The event was gleeful, tipsy and (we can only imagine) the first of many more high profile Twitter-inspired events in London (all promoting, RSVPing etc was conducted via the micro-blogging site extraordinaire, Twitter). Held a few steps from Trafalgar Square at Doon (Albannach’s swank downstairs bar, this “tweet-up with......

There was a bit of an awkward silence at London House in Beijing when the image of Myra Hindley flashed up during a video meant to promote London. A six-minute video by Visit London was playing on a loop at London House for a private audience. Unfortunately, while panning through an art gallery, one of the paintings featured is that of Myra Hindley's mug shot done in children's handprints. Though not a part of......

To get you in the mood for today's 08.08.08 8pm Beijing Olympics opening ceremony here are some pictures taken on the first day of the Trafalgar Square Festival yesterday, featuring Yellow Earth Theatre and the Flying Dragon Circus setting the Square alight. Catch them again, today and tomorrow. The Festival runs until 23 August. Many thanks to leonardaye and Ali y Javier for the images.......

It seemed the debate over Trafalgar Square's fourth plinth was settled: after Boris' election pledge to install a statue of Sir Keith Park was shot down, the space would continue to home modern art. But perhaps not: Prospect magazine reckons Westminster council plans to erect a statue of our dear Queen once she's pegged it. Like her nearby relative George IV, the scheme would see Liz on horseback, though we're not sure that would be......

Those Traf Square fountains, eh! Cor, aren't they fab. Tourists can't get enough of 'em, and they're a convenient birdbath for the square's remaining pigeons plus a natural magnet for mischief-making teens with bottles of soap powder. Still, they could perhaps be spruced up a little, which is something Richard Jones, a GLA councillor with jurisdiction over the square, is tackling head-on. He plans to introduce coloured lights to illuminate the fountains for special......

Half a million people braved a dodgy weather forecast to attend London's biggest ever Gay Pride on Saturday, and were rewarded with a nice sunny day for it. Pride virgin Mayor Boris led the procession from Baker Street, looking happy to be taking a break from his present troubles at City Hall and, judging by the cheers he got from the people around us (four very drunk men in pink boob tubes), he seems......

Long a feature of the New York summer, yesterday saw crowds estimated at 45,000 turn out for London’s first Salute to Israel, held to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Jewish state / tragedy of the Palestinian people / bungling British withdrawal from tricky bit of Empire (delete as appropriate). A Star-of-David-studded march proceeded down Piccadilly to Trafalgar Square to hear luminaries such as Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosser and er, LBC......

Changes are coming to Trafalgar Square and the Fourth Plinth. It was announced today that new installations by Antony Gormley and Yinka Shonibare will be the next works to grace the plinth. Currently occupied by Thomas Schutte's "Model for a Hotel" (the colourful scaffolding looking structure), Gormley's proposal for the plinth is called "One and Other," a project meant to last for 100 days. His work will involved 2,400 people standing on the plinth......

Last year we had Peeping Dave with his customised trainers. This time it's Peeping Warren, an upskirt tourist of epic and brazen proportions. Mr RIichardson is accused of covertly filming female buttocks in Trafalgar Square at the height of tourist season. He was also caught filming "intimate areas of a female person" outside the gates of Buckingham Palace without his leading ladies noticing. This man is wasted on petty voyeurism. He should have a......

Much as we love digital photography - heck, we regularly feature the work of our Flickrpool snappers - there's something about the fading world of film photography that still appeals. The people at Lomography agree, and this week sees the Photographer's Gallery play host to London Lomography Thursday. Lomography is the art of using old, Russian-built cameras to take photos in an endearingly spontaneous and creative way. The movement began in the Nineties, when......

2012 Games won't benefit locals, claims think tank Take that, Monaco - London now has the world's priciest homes Our Amy's up for three Ivor Novello gongs Lie detector software proves a nice little money-saver for south London council Russian heavyweights to square off at the High Court Which? reveals candidates for London Restaurant of the Year Image courtesy of Orhan* via the Londonist flickr group.......

Ding dong! Big Ben is 150 years old this year, and is hosting an educational kiddie fest to celebrate. There seems to be a 30’ cigarette butt in Trafalgar Square. To highlight our littered streets apparently. Londonist reckons gum is worse. Crime is costing Londoners £400.00 per head every year. Best ban it then. Tube workers are to strike. Again. Um, does anyone else have trouble keeping track of all this at the mo?......

There's a Spitfire in Trafalgar Square today. Not a Banksy Spitfire, amusingly positioned so it looks like it is crashed into the steps leading from the National Gallery. It's not propped up between the lions by a protest group and it's not there as a misguided celebration of Prince Harry's safe return to England. It's there to launch a campaign to put a statue of Sir Keith Park on the fourth plinth and do......

At first glance, this looks like a rather pleasant alternative to the Millennium Bridge - a verdant, undulating span like nothing else in London. But look at what's written along the side and you may feel your gorge begin to rise. The Diana Memorial Bridge is one of dozens of abandoned London schemes in a long-running thread on skyscrapercity forums. These include an X-rated erotic gherkin, a bulbous colander for Trafalgar Square and, our......

Having barely emerged from January’s wreckage of failed New Year’s resolutions, it was with a groan that we greeted the news that Lent arrives early this year. Questions of belief aside, Lent always seems likes such a promising self-improvement programme: give up chocolate, drink less, quit smoking. But didn’t we just make – and break – those same resolutions last month? We’re not such optimists to think we should try again so soon. Perhaps......

Is it just us or was January rubbish? Nice then that February, with its special extra day this year, commences with Brazilian Carnival, yummy pancakes and Chinese New Year... it's like a whole new start for 2008 and lots of it totally FREE! Monday: Get some Monday Love at the Inspiral Lounge, Camden Lock as UK Indymedia host their radical film, talk, and music night. Free entry for all those who still believe in......

London's Latin American community will descend on Trafalgar Square this Monday. As part of a protest that is stretching from Bogotá to cities across the world, they will be marching on the Great World Rally Against FARC. FARC, or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, is a guerrilla Marxist group that has fought the Colombian government for over four decades, the longest insurgency in Latin America. Listed by the United States and the EU......

It was New Year's Eve. You stood looking up into the sky as the fireworks faded and the boom and crack of them rang faintly in your ears. That was it, you thought. That's the last party until spring time. But you were wrong! Because in London, you can have New Year's celebrations several times over before the clocks go forwards, starting with the Russian 'Old New Year' in Trafalgar Square this Sunday! And......

Just in case there are any 2012 sceptics left amongst you out there (it’s gotta be good, right?), Ken is sending his Olympics PR machine out to get you. In what is actually quite an inspired little scheme, a series of three perky little igloos in jaunty, hard-to-miss shades will be hitting your high street, town square, playing fields or municipal car park real soon. All 33 boroughs in 3 months, starting off in Trafalgar......

Big names making big sculptures are making big waves. Six new ideas for sculptures for Trafalgar Square are open to public viewing from today - and you will have the chance to pick which one will follow the current whacking huge great Thomas Schütte coloured plexiglass sculpture that sits on the fourth plinth right now. The fourth plinth has remained empty since money ran out and a permanent statue of King William IV couldn't......

January is a toughie. Torn between new year's virtue and that rebellious streak? Well, here are some things to amuse you that at least wont tug too hard at your purse strings. Monday: Witch hunts to start the week at Gresham College from 6pm. Free knowledge. Tuesday: Are you a tech geek? Are you interested in search engines, the internet and web technology? Do you need to make more friends? Well, pitch up for......

The Christmas turkey is cold and in sandwiches. A few of us have struggled back to work, carrying surplus chocolate to the office in a desperate attempt to stop our expanding waistlines. Which must mean it's about time to start panicking about what to do on New Year's Eve. Aside from rammed pubs, pricey nightclubs and awkward parties in someone's frontroom, the main focus for London will be squarely on the London Eye. Since......

Remember the pigeon feeding turf wars of 2006? Well, the Pigeon Action Group are back in the news. A candlelit vigil was held at midday today on Trafalgar Square's north terrace (in daylight?) to highlight the plight of the poor starving birds. Westminster City Council closed the loophole that had allowed certain pigeon protestors to feed the birds on a daily basis back in September to make the public square more hygenic and pleasant.......

More Olympic cost rumbling Get inside MI5 via radio4 Lottery winners in Ealing, Islington and Kensington & Chelsea are running out of time Good Ken: Green500 scheme gets big firms to commit to reducing emissions Bad Ken: pigeons are starving in Trafalgar Square Image courtesy of Orhan via the Londonist flickr group.......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 10th December 1907: Anti-vivisectionists march through central London to protest at the dissection of a brown terrier dog several years earlier. The ‘anti-doggers’ clash with police at Trafalgar Square, in what would become known as the Brown Dog Riots. Tuesday – 11th December 2005: Much of London is covered by a vast plume of smoke, following a series of massive explosions at Buncefield Oil Depot in Hertfordshire.......

Advent is upon us. Hanukkah starts on Wednesday. Office parties are already everywhere. Tis the season to be jolly, jolly, jolly but we know this can be draining, emotionally and financially. Don't let the state of your wallet throw you over the edge. We can't afford to buy tickets to the BFI IMAX all-nighter next weekend and we're not allowed to enter our own competition. But we can do the following splendid things for......

If Napoleon had won, Trafalgar Square would have been a very different place. For starters, it would have probably been called Austerlitz Square, or something. And there would be no need to employ hawks to scare off the pigeons. A set of imperial eagles would have sorted that one out. Why don't we make this a theme? Please send in your images of how the capital might have looked had we not won certain......

There have been many suggestions for women's safety at night: travel in groups, don't get minicabs, always walk facing traffic, carry a rape alarm, make sure you're home before it gets dark and stay indoors until daylight. All really helpful - for putting sexual equality back to the dark ages (so to speak). Women should be able to be out and about at night without fear of being attacked, raped or sexually harrassed which......

Over on our flickr group there has been some interesting discussion about Google Maps. It's web 2.0 crazy. Simon Crubellier began the thread ('Google Maps Strangeness') with, Has anyone looked at the maps.google.co.uk satellite photo of Trafalgar Square lately? What on earth is going on there? It's obviously the crack of dawn on a summer morning, all the surrounding streets are empty, but the place is packed... The images of London were last updated......