About M@

Matt Brown

I'm Editor of Londonist and utterly obsessed with the capital.

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London In Nerdy Detail The Likes Of Which Ye Have Never Seen

English Heritage, the scoundrels, keep trying to block new skyscraper proposals; but they are good for something. With the Institute of Historical Research, EH are embarking on a project to give free public access to the epic Survey of London. The survey was founded in …

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Monday Miscellanea

This day in London’s History 1938: Trouble at the top. Anthony Eden resigns as Foreign Secretary in protest against Prime minister Neville Chamberlain’s policies of appeasing Hitler and negotiation with fascist Italy. The inexorable march towards war continued. London fact of the week Bar Italia, …

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Watch The Birdie

You know it’s time to think about moving when even the local birds have CCTV installed. That’s what’s happening on one Tower Hamlets residential block, opposite the Greenwich Peninsula. Cameras have been fitted atop the tower to protect a family of peregrine falcons. The birds …

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Dalek Invasion Of Southwark

You will be ex-ter-min-a-ted. That’s what Southwark Council and various pressure groups would like to say to the proposed Berkeley Homes development ‘twixt City Hall and Tower Bridge. But John ‘Girth’ Prescott has decided, as is his wont, to grant planning permission anyway. The move …

Come In R671 LPD, Your Time Is Up

This is just too astonishing to be true, so we’ll get right to the point. According to the BBC, a single white van in the city of Westminster has accumulated a quarter of a million parking tickets, all of which remain unpaid. A quarter of …

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Londonist Stalks…The Beast Of Bexley

Normally when Londonist goes stalking, it’s to track down connected works of art, or famous buildings by the same architect. But we decided to take the word ‘stalk’ back to its hunting routes this week. Prompted by the news that the Beast of Bexley has …

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Cogito Ergo Summary: Your Weekly Science Listings

These listings appear every Wednesday. If you want to let us know about any upcoming science or technology events, you can contact us on LondonistSciTech@Gmail.com Event of the Week Opening of the new Time Galleries at Royal Greenwich Observatory At Londonist, we rarely find ourselves …

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Scraper Capers

Things are a-brewing on the South Bank. The proposed Beetham Tower, AKA 1 Blackfriars Road, AKA The Boomerang, looks like it’s found a major occupant. But a substantial redesign will also be necessary. The 68 gleaming stories will rival the nearby Shard in elegance and …

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Insects Found In Attic!!!

Well, what can we say; it’s a slow news day. These insects, however, aren’t your common-or-garden bugs. They’re 150 years old and packed with historical goodness. The chitinous army of 219 ‘beetles, bugs and stick insects’ form part of a famous collection by the great …

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Imperial Star(dust) Destroyers

It Came From Outer-space… …And landed in a London laboratory last week. Workers at Imperial College’s Department of Earth Sciences and Engineering have got their fingers on a few grains of a very precious dust. The tiny crumbs come from comet Wild-2 and were collected …