Heads up people: the East London Line closes this Saturday. It will undergo a magical transformation that will take rather a long time but the line will reemerge from a 3 year chrysalis as a beautiful section of the newly tangerine London Overground network, linking the North and East London railways. You'll eventually be able to travel from Richmond in the West all the way round in a massive arterial horseshoe via the existing......

Londonist was rapped on the nose the other week for cocking a snooty snook at the unending, Tube-clogging newspaper coverage of the travails of Ms. Winehouse, while - yes - covering the story ourselves. Cowed and humbled, we bring you the latest from Chez Amy without any further editorial pawmarks. With her hubby incarcerated and her private life a whorl of drug-taking and rumours of ill health, Amy has wisely decided a change of......

The dear old Evening Standard is all up in arms that people are being "forced" to shut their dustbin lids or risk not getting their rubbish collected. We're not quite sure why. Surely, putting your rubbish in a standard issue (240L, wheelie, locking) bin and keeping it shut helps keep our streets cleaner and safer? Foxes can't get at bin bags, things can't blow away, unsightly stacks of supermarket carrier bags and globs of spilled......

In Los Angeles, LAist most definitely celebrated Thanksgiving like no other. After all, one has to keep up all the energy to keep on walking the line at the Writers Strike and fighting the unfortunate return of the wildfires in Malibu, which single handedly destroyed over fifty homes within the first 24 hours. National outlets may be covering the fires, but CNN also found it is easier to buy a gun than fruit and......

Here's a word of advice if you're thinking of using one of the 12 private suites on the new A380 super jumbo to indulge in some carnal activities: KEEP THE NOISE DOWN! Or use the toilets like everyone else. That's not the word from Singapore Airlines who will be flying the jets to Singapore out of Heathrow next year. They say: DON'T, but we here at Londonist towers could never deny anyone the opportunity......

Mince pies are proliferating on supermarket shelves people. It really is time to book your festive entertainment. I mean, we told you back in August about Cinderella at The Old Vic. Stephen Fry's "cheekily updated" script, Pauline Collins' Fairy Godmother and Sandi Toksvig's narrator promise to make this a cracking, cross dressing, cake filled chuckle fest in a veritable grande dame of a venue. Our advice is to try and get as close to......

As we noted yesterday, art fair season is upon us in full force this weekend. With so many events happening around the capital, it would be hard work to take it all in, and the best advice one can offer is to try to see as much as you can without making it all a rushed annoyance of cab rides. Possibly even better advice, however, would be to make a point to check out......

You might think the act of visiting an art gallery specifically to gawp at a hole in the ground would obviate the need to remind people not to trip over said hole. Apparently not. Mere days after the unveiling of Doris Salcedo’s Shibboleth, a 548 foot long fissure running the length of the Turbine Hall, people are already coming unstuck. One young woman reportedly fell feet-first into the exhibit and had to be dragged......

Londonist was tickled by an article about a Kingston University chappie who reckons he has found the perfect way to motivate the slothful into taking more exercise. This on a day when this particular Londonista chose to stay in blogging instead of pounding the treadmill. Lecturer Oliver Webb plastered brightly coloured (we’d like to think they were post-it) notes bearing the words:“Seven minutes of stair climbing daily protects your heart" all over the stairwell of......

The British Library is a great place to hang out. Even if you have no cause to go into the reading rooms to request any book ever published, there are an array of good talks and exhibitions to see, a fine gift shop that sell natty oystercard holders and we once saw Jeremy Paxman in the cafe. (We, of course, cannot guarantee that you'll see a member of the Newsnight team, we don't know......

The Health Protection Agency is calling for better monitoring of Thames water quality, particularly in areas where the river is used for watersports and fishing, following the publication of its Thames Recreational Users Study today. The report focuses on "potential risks to public health posed by faecal pollution of human or animal origin" in the river. That's poo to you and me. Although the Thames is known as one of the cleanest rivers in Europe,......

There are some very pissed newts in Stratford, as the Olympic Planning busy bees have slapped a compulsory purchase order on their current ponds to make way for a cycle track. Actually, they shouldn’t be that pissed off, as they are to be offered a bijou new des res in an all new pond nearby replete with grub-friendly foliage and goo (and they’ll probably be given discount vouchers for the velodrome ‘an’ all). The Great......

Almost time for the London Film Festival again! This year the event is opened by David Cronenberg's London-set Eastern Promises - Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen following up A History of Violence with this violent tale of Russian organised crime, penned by Steve Dirty Pretty Things Knight. One to watch for sure. Closing the festival is the new Wes Anderson movie, The Darjeeling Limited. In between there are some 180+ feature films and 133 shorts,......

Camden Town may be changing with the relentless advance of corporate chain stores (no, not those kind of chains) and glass and steel canalside developments but the Council is upholding the area's reputation for cyberpunk techno-progressiveness. It's launching webcasts and podcasts to be more accessible to the teched-up community and encourage local residents to get involved in local democracy. So, has it recorded a punchy, motivational and trendy radio show with a slurry call......

The rather tortured word-play of "thera-pea" is worth it, trust us. We've got an extraordinary event for your diaries and all will become clear... Bobby Baker is an artist who has been bringing the mundane and the ordinary such as housework and healthcare into the world of art and performance for the last three decades, using food as her media and live presentation as the way to communicate. This means dancing with meringue ladies,......

As if Open House wasn’t enough to get you exploring the capital tomorrow, TfL announce London Walking Weekend. They’ve arranged free walks in every borough and have a big tent at the Mayor’s Thames Festival to offer further advice. As usual with such things, they’ve conducted a questionnaire to make the job of the headline writer a little easier. We’re told that 1 in 6 Londoners think Embankment and Charing Cross stations are a......

The fifth in our series of interviews with potential candidates for next year's Mayoral election. Previously: Victoria Borwick (Tory), Andrew Boff (Tory) and Warwick Lightfoot (Tory), Sian Berry (Green). Today: Liberal Democrat candidate Fiyaz Mughal. He's competing with fellow LDs Brian Paddick and Chamali Fernando to represent his party in next year's elections. Would you vote for him? Read his ideas below. Where do you live in London and what do you like best......

Londonist asks that most pressing of daily concerns: where to go on your lunch break. Laxeiro 93 Columbia Road E2 7RG Reservations: 0207 729 1147 12pm-3pm, 7-11pm (Tuesday – Saturday) 9am - 3pm (Sunday) Map Expect to Pay: £5 for most tapas Rating: 9.5 out of 10 After last week’s lunch of very good but still not phenomenal tapas at Meson los Barriles, we were left desperate for some proper Spanish cooking. So, going......

This time last year, in the final few days before the closure of the international football transfer window, we took a look at where London's Premiership clubs needed strengthening and offered some friendly advice about a player we thought might fill a key squad gap for each of them. One year on we review what actually happened to both clubs and players and make our suggestions for this year's late purchases, once again taking......

The Aftershow. It's got that exclusive ring to it, smacking of VIP-ness and celebrity glamour. How exciting then, when it was announced that O2 Prince shows would also have an aftershow party at nearby Indigo where you - the people, the fans - could get intimate access to the Purple Hero of Pop, party with his band and generally have one stonking night to remember. But of course, being so little and not, in......

The Health Professions Council is a statutory body set up to regulate 13 health professions including dieticians, radiographers, paramedics and arts therapists. As they say, when you need one of these people, You need to know that they meet professional standards. You also need to know that someone will take action if things go wrong. Unfortunately, the farcical nature of such regulation has been highlighted today by the case of Derek Gale, working out......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 6th August 1937: Barbara Windsor is born in Shoreditch in central London. She would achieve fame as an actress, notably as a ‘saucy strumpet’ in the Carry On films of the 60s and 70s and later as a major character in Eastenders. Tuesday – 7th August 2001: The Department of Health pays £27 million for a private Harley Street heart hospital, re-nationalising it and bringing it into......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 30th July 1966: England defeat West Germany in the FIFA World Cup Final at Wembley Stadium, claiming the Jules Rimet Trophy (and, of course, the status of Football World Champions for the next four years). Tuesday – 31st July 1962: Violence erupts at a rally of the Union Movement (formerly known as the British Union of Fascists) in Dalston, East London. Sir Oswald Mosely, leader of the......

Ask someone what they picture when the word "burlesque" is mentioned and chances are they'll think of a pretty girl wearing feathers slinking about on stage. But what if Dita von Teese were a bloke? If you'd like to find out, boys and girls, head on east to the Bethnal Green Working Men's Club for the final of Tease:The UK’s ONLY Male Burlesque Competition ! Come and see who will be crowned ‘Mr Male......

It wasn't so long ago that London-based "social music revolution" website Last.fm was bought out by American media behemoth (no, not the band) CBS. We asked co-founder of Last, Martin Stiksel what it meant for the site - and what on earth is going on with Paris Hilton ... What does the CBS deal mean for Last? Apart from £140m, of course. It means we get the muscle behind us to do all the......

We all know the teeth-grinding, hair-pulling inconvenience of needing a ticket to board a bus then finding that the ticket machine has been vandalised and won't dispense the expensive little slip of paper that the driver doesn't look at anyway. A good citizen will cross the road or go further along the route to find an unvandalised, working ticket machine. We commend those good citizens. Barnet Council tries to fine them instead. Office manager......

"Non Stop Neurotic Cabaret" is a good tagline to attract our interest but calling a club Big Sexy Land? Well the name enough has put a few of our friends off coming to this great night at The Phoenix on Cavendish Square, merely because they thought we were taking them to a dodgy strip club. That is not the case. Instead it's a monthly club night held in both London and Manchester set up......

It's a widely accepted fact that hospital food and airline food are about as bad as it gets. And if you've spent any time as a guest of the NHS lately, you'll likely be of the opinion that hospital food isn't getting any better. James "Smurf" Smith, a 21 year old currently recuperating at Hillingdon Hospital from a shattered pelvis and broken spine, is in agreement with you. He's been so disgusted with the......

Like many a Londoner, you're probably aware that there's a fair amount of crime in this lovely city of ours. In fact, if you're a victim of one of the 917,661 crimes in London in the past year, you're probably shocked to hear that London isn't number one in Britain's burglary league tables. We're still top five though. Only Nottingham, Leeds and Hull are more burglary-ridden, according to a new report by insurance company......

Bus passengers can be quite rude. Buses themselves have a tendency to be a bit offensive and they don't work in reverse which can be a little irritating. However, it's the jaw-dropping bastardness of this story that drove us to add to our store of bus related tales. 13-year-old Jennie Scott and her female friends of similar ages were twice refused entry to a local bus by the same driver. While many of us......