Another day, another transport strike looms: this time it’s South West Trains. Quick: What’s 7 + 8 + 4 + 9? Did you have to use your fingers to complete the calculation? Half of Londoners do. And it’s costing us £500 million a year. Right, so the money goes to a worthwhile cause, but please don’t name your child Ulysses. We’ll take our greens with a side of green, please: Camden Council wants to......

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......

A tribute to the capital’s alleys, ginnels and snickleways. 31. Platform 1, King's Cross Where? Erm, King's Cross. But it's more than just a platform. It's a sneaky back passage. What? Harry Potter's Platform 9 3/4 isn't the only secret portal on the station. Platform 1 runs along the east side of the main building - it's the one with the pirate-themed pasty stall and the AMT coffee kiosk. The powers that be allow pedestrians......

Bloomsbury might become the place to relax after a heavy shopping session in town, if new proposals go ahead. Plans are being put forward to Camden Council to pedestrianise the Bloomsbury area and evoke its old free-roaming Bohemian spirit. The constant sound of drilling, and building works isn't conducive to a gentle autumnal ramble and academic chatter. And for most non-student Londoners who are coming into the West End on a bus, the area......

A tribute to the capital’s alleys, ginnels and snickleways. 14. New Turnstile Where? Refurbished shortcut at the back of Holborn Tube station. What? The most recent and blandest of several 'turnstiles' in the area - Great Turnstile and Little Turnstile are the others. These alleys once contained gateposts to prevent livestock escaping from the grazing areas now known as Lincoln's Inn Fields. No sign of the posts, or the sheep, remains today. In fact, there's......

A father of two has been stabbed to death outside his home in Evergreen Square, Hackney. Four teenagers have been arrested. Peter Bishop, Camden Council’s Director of Culture and Environment, has been appointed ‘Design for London’ Director. You can pay for parking with your mobile now. They're also useful for damaging traffic wardens at long distance. The Times asks can musicals keep the West End alive? Pinewood Studios is 70. Happy birthday Pinewood! Image......

Don’t be fooled by the peace and tranquillity that pervades the oasis of NW3 – the Guardian readers stacked up on Primrose Hill, yummy mummies hiking those 4x4 buggies along Belsize Lane, up past the celeb-spotters perched outside the latest place to be. Despite the semblance of calm, you’ll find the area has broken into two warring factions in an argument started by actress Helena Bonham Carter and her director partner Tim Burton. The......

The traffic warden - one of the most hated jobs in London. The hatred is especially prominent in Camden, where a protest will take place against the number of tickets given in the borough. At least 200 cars will encircle the Town Hall, their disgruntled drivers dressed as pirates, to reinforce their claim that parking enforcement is banditry. The oddest display, however, will be a picket consisting of cabbies and local celebrities, including Michael......

The mystery red line is back. And this time it's tricksier than ever. The new piece of minimalist pavement art picks up where it left off, opposite the Novotel on Euston Road. (Camden Council must be apoplectic, after doing their best to erase the earlier marking.) We followed it along Pentonville Road for quite some way until it took a sharp right down Amwell Street into Finsbury. From there, it runs into Roseberry Avenue......

It's a rite of passage for any Londoner (or anyone who's walked up Tottenham Court Road, at least) to be accosted by a man who trades from the back of his van, usually offering some heavily discounted speakers. Apparently, if you're posh enough to live in Hampstead or Marylebone (we hardly need to tell you that Londonist writers don't fall into that category, not on our wages), you get an upmarket version of this:......

There’s a thin line between genius and madness, and we think we’ve just found it. Anyone who’s been into central London over the past few days may have noticed a seemingly endless red line wending along the pavements of WC1 and WC2, like the aftermath of some giant menstrual snail. On and on it goes for well over two miles. And so did we, in search of answers. The line begins at an anonymous......

How often do people praise their local council for something? Probably about as seldom as they commend traffic wardens or applaud the work of Steve Penk. But Londonist salutes forward-thinking Camden Council, as it reveals plans to install wind turbines atop its town hall in Argyle Street. And, no, we’re not talking about those massive wind farms that regularly get NIMBYs into a tizzy. These are discrete little baby turbines that will sit unnoticed......

Common sense prevailed today when Londonist's favourite mulletted-twat-punching Deputy Prime Minster John Prescott announced that the plans put forward by London Underground for redevelopment of Camden Town tube station (which would have meant the demolition of Camden Market and the Electric Ballroom) would be refused permission to go ahead. The decision follows an appeal by London Underground against Camden Council's eminently-sensible reaction to the plans in 2003. The report in the Evil Standard said......

Picture the scene. There you are, a happy father with your “life-partner” and two pre-school children. You manage to get a mortgage on a terraced house in NW5, which the estate agents call “Gospel Oak borders” but your neighbours call Kentish Town. It’s not quite Islington, but it’s definitely a move in the right direction. You have been very worried by the recent media scares surrounding manufactured foods, but you have a nice apple tree......