Big Smoke: one week in

Big Smoke celebrates its first week today and we hope you’ve enjoyed it so far. We’re very happy with it so far and from the feedback we’re getting you like the look, you like the idea and you’ve really appreciated what we’ve written.

Although we only ‘soft launched’ the site (as in no fuss or fanfare) and the ‘hard launch’ is coming up in January which will involve twiglets, boxed wine and people actually in a room together we’re hoping that any wrinkles that need to be ironed out will be minor and rare (like the ghost postings that appear on the rss feed, but are leaving the front page uneffected). If you can help us solve that little problem we’d be very grateful as it’s the only fly in our ointment right now!

We’ve been talking about making London a more ecologically sustainable place. Whether that’s on cycling, the HGV review, urban planning, Boris’ strange desire for an airport or air pollution. We’ll keep that up and this week we’ll be writing on how Islington campaigners won 20 mph, the need for green spaces and taking a look at practical steps to make our streets safer, nicer and less noisy.

We’ve been talking about strikes and industrial action a fair bit. That’s the national gallery, the fire fighters and of course we’ve not even mentioned the big pensions strike due on Wednesday (otherwise known as N30) yet. Don’t worry, we will. Solidarity brothers and sisters.

Interestingly our most viewed posts are on Occupy Bloomsbury and the Chemical Spill on York Way which in a small way vindicates something that we suspected – that people are interested in the places they live and work. We’ll try to keep that up without neglecting the bigger topics like it’s time to democratise the City or promoting events, videos and right-on vacancies.

To do all this we need your support. No, no, put your wallet away! We need your suggestions, we need your comments and we need you to write for us. The wider the number of contributors and voices we have on this site the better. We’re also very conscious that our small team can’t cover the entirety of London and we do need eyes and ears in every corner of our city if we’re to do it justice.

We’re looking forward to hearing from you so drop us a line at editorial@bigsmoke.org.uk although if you’re going to tell us where we’re going wrong please do it nicely!