Artist Anthony Gormley, most famous for the Angel of the North, was down at the British Library earlier today unveiling a new work – titled ‘Witness’. I’m a big fan of Gormley ever since seeing one of his great seas of clay men (Field) back in the nineties. He’s always […]
#ideas4Mayor is an attempt at inclusive policy making. Dave Mentiply takes a look. In the run up to the first London Policy Conference on 12-13 December, a competition was held to find the best idea for ‘making working, home or commuting life in London better.’ Here is a sample of some of the […]
Tonight I attended a great benefit gig at the Star of Kings, near kings Cross, for the wonderful False Economy an organisation that is well worth putting your heart and soul into – if you have either. Over the years I’ve attended some pretty sparse benefit gigs, some of which I […]
La Soiree at the Round House are essentially a darker, more sophisticated set of circus acts – without the cruelty to animals. There’s a more urban feel to these jugglers, contortionists, acrobats and comedians than you might find in the big top but that can only be to the good. Certainly […]
So here’s the thing. I don’t like rock, I don’t like musicals and frankly I don’t like going out. Somehow I found myself going out to the rock musical “Rock of Ages”…. and it was brilliant! I am slightly disturbed by my new found conversion to ‘fun’ but I can […]
It’s interesting that when you hear people talking about the war (the Second World War, not the current ones) something they often mention is the hardship of rationing. When did we start seeing rationing as a bad thing? My grandma thought wartime rationing was great. Bringing up five kids, with her […]
Without looking it up how many of London’s 24 female MPs can you name? To give you some clues there are 16 Labour, 6 Tories and 2 Liberal Democrats. I think this is genuinely impossible to know them all, I managed ten. An extra pat on the back if you […]
Religion can be a complex subject at the best of times, but when you add in the messy and beautiful mix that is urban life we can get something rather special. Last night urban diary observed one such exchange even though we weren’t ear-wigging, honest. A young woman in headscarf […]
In the first of a regular feature Big Smoke takes to the pulpit. This week Jim Jepps takes on tribalism in politics. With the Occupy Movement creating a unique fusion of camping and political philosophy (spawning the greatest political pun ever “This is the winter of our discount tents”) it’s […]
As Transport for London seem to be ripping down every spare railing in London (presumably to help in the war effort) it seemed fitting to reprint this piece by Jim Jepps on who owns the land (this article first appeared in the Morning Star) Britain has a long history of […]
Never noticed this before. As strolling past Trafalgar Square I saw the statue of Charles the first....
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