Danny Bates asks “is another Olympics possible?” I’m not against the Olympics. The Olympic ideal of celebrating excellent achievement – in sport, arts and culture – is important. Unfortunately the 2012 London Games falls far from this ideal. So, as a longstanding resident of an Olympic Borough (Hackney), I’ll […]
While we’re singing about Kilburn, Jonny Granville has a different take on the place. Great stuff.
William Blake radical, poet and artist was born and bred in Westminster in the 18th century. An advocate of “free love” and opponent of organised religion Blake was not one to swim with the cultural tide of the day and was one reason why he owned his own printing press. […]
Keri Brennan of Hillingdon Against HS2 writes on the impacts of High Speed Rail on London. You may or may not have heard about something called “HS2” – but what exactly is that? It’s a proposal to build a high speed railway (High Speed Two) from London to the regions, […]
The leader of the Labour Party, and son of two European refugees who fled to this country, decided to give a landmark speech on immigration. It was a disappointing speech, but perhaps that’s not surprising. Despite a call to be “candid” it was a generally thin speech, designed to get headlines […]
The Cellar Upstairs at the Exmouth Arms near Euston hosts a regular season of folk clubs (restarting in September, it’s not a summer sport) with some of the top names in today’s folk scene as well as talented locals who just like to get up and have a go. There’s […]
With the news that the Olympic openning ceremony is to conjure up images of a greener Britain using farm yard animals like horses, cows and ducks – yes ducks – it’s time to reflect on whether these people are just making it up as they go along. According to the […]
The Save Our Placards project ais to preserve all those wonderful hand drawn banners and placards that would otherwise end up in the bin somewhere. Personally speaking, I far prefer the home made placards than the mass produced ones because they are sally funnier and because, more seriously, they don’t […]
It’s that time of the month again. Foxes, our poor benighted urban neighbours, are getting it in the neck from no less a personage than Ian Wright, yes, him out of that Arsenal. In the Evening Standard this week Wright has been complaining that important and rich people like himself […]
We spoke to Tom Moggach, author of The Urban Kitchen Gardener, about his new book and the idea of following your food from seed right through to wolfing it down. We pledge to you, here at Big Smoke, never to interview anyone with a chicken on their lap again. Hens […]
Never noticed this before. As strolling past Trafalgar Square I saw the statue of Charles the first....
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