A tedious survey from a government department we'd barely heard of has concluded that kids in the UK know little to nothing about the 2012 Olympic Games coming their way. The Olympic bad news yawnarama continues. Considering it's 4 years off, the whole Beijing thing's yet to explode and that the research was mostly conducted almost a year ago we're really not that surprised and care even less. 4 years is an inconceivably long......

Right now, on the mean streets of Thornton Heath you might be disturbed to see students from Kensington Avenue School walking Ark-entry like, 2 by 2, in what we guess will be less than solemn procession as they'll be legitimately skiiving off lessons for a full 500m round trip. If there's cheering involved, that's because they're part of a national attempt, coordinated by the charity Brake to break the World Record for number of......

Just a normal, stressful morning, getting your wee ones ready for the day ahead. Has Taynor remembered his lute? Does Duchy have her ballet shoes? Everything in order? Great, just enough time to drive them to the nursery, pass through the fingerprint scanner, and kiss them goodb- Hang about, fingerprint scanner? Where's this nursery located, the American embassy? Nope, Dartford actually, where Springfield Lodge Day Nursery has taken the step of introducing scans to......

Earth shattering revelation of the day: Met Commissioner says parents key to bringing up children who don't carry weapons. Yep, apparently so. Unlikely news of the day: Hayward Gallery goes psycho. We'll be there later this week. Motoring news of the day: Lorries park up and protest Faintly amusing news pun of the day: Pawn very popular. Hah. Ha ha. Marvel-lous news of the day: 3D comic book superheroes to go on display Image......

The government today accepted recommendations from a report about improving public-military relations which included the appointment of a "cadet ambassador" for London to do "everything possible" to urge schools to start Combined Cadet Forces and get their pupils to join them and enjoy "a taste of the military". Currently, there are 253 CCFs in England and Wales but only about 60 are in state schools. They provide extra-curricular "military-orientated and adventurous training" with the......

You can't blame the Queen for not visiting East London very often. You can't get the tube there from Buck House for starters, and since the Number 38 went 'bendy' the Corgis won't get on it. But this week she went to the remarkable length of flying to Istanbul to meet a group of teenagers from Hackney. To be fair, she was on a visit to Turkey anyway. But she spent the day meeting......

In the fall, Hackney had a measles problem. Now, the spots have spread to Lewisham, with 19 cases in January -- a third of the 67 cases reported in south-east London. The Health Protection Agency are warning that we'll be seeing even more sick spotty kiddies in the coming months if more tots aren't vaccinated, so they're making a new push to inform parents. In Lewisham, MMR vaccine uptake is currently 64.3%, while the experts......

The BBC programme Whistleblower will tonight reveal some fairly extensive and shocking inadequacies in Ofsted inspected nursery and childcare provision. Following a tip off from an Ofsted insider, 21 year old undercover reporter, Imogen Wilkes, decided to test out the claims herself by infiltrating a Hanwell nursery and getting a job as a nursery assistant, armed with secret filming equipment. 21 year old Ms Wilkes blagged a job with a fake CV and references,......

The Tate and the National Galleries of Scotland are about to see their collections bolstered. London art dealer Anthony D'Offay announced that he would be giving a collection of 725 works of modern art to the galleries at their original ticket price. Estimated at a value of £125 million, D'Offay is asking for the £28 million he originally paid for the pieces. His reason? He's doing it for the kids. The collection will be......

It’s the week before Christmas, and like us, you’re probably panicking because you’ve still got loads of shopping to do. If you have a spare night when you’re not out at wild and crazy office Christmas parties or fighting the crowds on Oxford Street, here are a few suggestions to keep you entertained. On TV, Londonist likes: Monday, 17 December Dispatches: How Safe Are Your Christmas Toys? (Channel 4, 21:00-22:00) If you’re Christmas shopping......

It's been a bad few weeks for the Spice Girls: they released the worst selling Children In Need single ever (to put this into perspective, let's remember that Martine McCutcheon once had a Children In Need single. Martine McCutcheon), appeared in terrible Tesco adverts, played to half full shows in America and Baby Spice sprained her little baby ankle on stage. However, little Emma Bunton ingested her weight in painkillers, soldiered on and appeared......

London is getting more dangerous by the day ladies and gentlemen. It's not enough that a quick trip down Oxford Street is going to leave you gasping like a floundering flounder on the deck of a homeward bound fishing trawler, now you can't even grab the number of your local brass from that phone booth down the road in safety. Well, not if you live in Camden, so breath easy SE London for the......

Never knowingly underrated - his was the sole photographic contribution to a recent Phaidon book about art history - Canadian photographer Jeff Wall is best known for his imposingly large colour transparencies that evoke scenes from unmade films. For his first UK show since a 2005 Tate retrospective, Wall has filled the lower half of the White Cube in Mason's Yard, SW1 with a selection of his lesser-known black and white photos. Drained of......

Those Peckhamites have got their rose-tinted spectacles on again. This Saturday and Sunday sees the 4th (or 5th - really ought to research things more thoroughly) annual Flavas of Peckham Festival in Peckham Town Square. Which is of course a food festival. Now Londonist is rather partial to food, so this one may be worth checking out. We're not talking gourmet and celeb chef here - the festival is all about celebrating the area's multi-flava-ed......

You may have heard of Caliper Boy - we've previously spotted his era-spanning scrawls around London and learned a bit more about the legend of this early 1800s downtrodden child, allegedly locked away in a cellar in 1819 by his prostitute mother until age 12, when he escaped to find his father. dANTE OR dIE is a theatre company that dances, sings and performs a type of musical theatre that is the complete opposite......

You may remember that we're not exactly lukewarm about this place. We were even up for finding love here. I guess you could say we're fans. Nothing has changed with a change in exhibition: Sleeping and Dreaming is marvellous and you must go. For a start, it's free. Nought pee. You can just swan through the doors, turn left and there you are. But that's where it gets dark and you immediately start watching......

Five years ago, Sharon and Terri Arnold solicited firefighter Andy Bathie’s help in starting a family. Under the assurance that he would bear no financial or emotional responsibility for the children’s upbringing, he twice obliged. The women had a boy and a girl, but broke up soon after. And Bathie, who thought he had been doing his friends a favour, now finds himself financially liable for the children. Charity, apparently, sometimes comes with a......

We feel churlish bringing it up again, but not so long ago Heathrow was voted the world's least favourite airport. As we head into the crunch Christmas travel period, it could surely use a slice of decent press. So is there any good news to come out of TW19? Is there 'eck. Word reaches us that key workers at Heathrow are to be balloted for a strike. The Unite union has asked the airport's......

Another faith school is ruffling feathers, following on from yesterday's news about the JFS - and this one hasn't even opened yet. The Hindu Krishna-Avanti school is due to open next year in Harrow, north-west London and is causing a certain amount of concern in stipulating that at this point, the school authorities will prioritise applications from Hindu families practicing the religion regularly, mainly needing proof of regular worship at home and at temples,......

Jewish Free School (JFS) in North London, Britain’s top Jewish state school and indeed one of Britain’s largest schools overall, was yesterday charged with breaking anti-discrimination laws and ordered to remove a section of its admissions criteria that gives preference to ethnically Jewish children over religious Jewish children. The decision comes in light of a series of controversies in which the off-spring of Jewish converts have been rejected from a place at JFS on the......

Hundreds of fans flocked to Leicester Square last night for the London premiere of The Golden Compass. Fans who braved the slightly rainy weather were treated to glimpses of stars Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, along with the thirteen year old star of the film Dakota Blue Richards and director Chris Weitz. Based on the first book in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, Northern Lights, the film has been the subject of much......

Isn’t it too early for winter? You’ll risk hypothermia if you’re outside this week, so stay in and watch the telly. Isn’t that really the best option? On TV, Londonist likes: Tuesday, 20 November & Wednesday, 21 November The Eight Hundred Million Pound Railway Station (BBC2, 22:00-22:30) The next two parts of this series on the brand spanking new St. Pancras station look at the race to finish the station on time. Apparently, the......

It's definitely time to start scrimping on things so you've plenty of dosh for those Christmas outings and present buying blitzes. London on the Cheap returns after a hiatus (we were temporarily flush, we made the most of it...) to help you get the most of the city on the scrag ends in your pocket. Monday: Get in the right frame of mind for Christmas shopping. Fortnum and Mason has just emerged from its......

For many of us ice-skating is a terrifying experience, bringing back memories of clinging to the edge of the rink, cold feet and humiliating wipeouts. We all know it's never as serene an experience as the Christmas cards make out, but there’s a veritable plethora of skating experiences to be had across London this snowy (hopefully) season. There are rinks with a touch of class at Somerset House (21 Nov - 17 Jan) or......

We've seen you racing down Rainbow Road in the queue at Sainsbury's. We've also noticed you desperately arranging tetrominoes on the tube and catching Pokémon at the bus stop, so we know you're just as addicted to playing Nintendo DS as we are. For over a year now, DS:London has been organising frequent pub meetups where fans of the handheld console can gather for competition and conversation over pints. If you've been playing alone,......

Close to 300 cases of measles have been reported to City and Hackney Primary Care Trust over the last 5 months. It is thought that the outbreak is directly linked to increasing numbers of parents deciding against the MMR vaccination for their darlings in the light of the well publicised but now discredited research which linked it to autism. With hundreds of spotty kids sickening in East London direct action is being taken by......

Barry George launches second appeal against his conviction as Dando killer. Remember that plane at Heathrow, which lost its wing tip in a collision? Well, it flew 24 hours later with the wing tip still missing. Perfectly safe, though, apparently. 'Brick Lane' premiers in London amid controversy. Rubbish charging is...rubbish, thinks Mayor. Wandsworth prison starts a homework club for children of inmates. "OK son, remember to bring your chisel and metal file next week,......

Londonist got the big scoop of the week with what may be the first images of notorious street artist Banksy in action. They also got on a runaway train without an operator provoking a response from the transport authorities. Elsewhere, London's answer to Central Station is about to open for business, and Londonist got a sneak preview. Meanwhile, spooky goings-on beneath London Bridge, where a cache of skeletons provided an apt story for Hallowe'en.......

Revolting peasants and Scottish heroes, a buried river, and a 1000 years of death, slaughter and destruction. Smithfield surely deserves some kind of cultural centre. And there just happens to be the perfect place to put it, if we act fast… As many readers will know, several buildings of the famous meat-market complex are under threat. The General market, Fish market and Red House are in a dilapidated state and the targets for demolition......

24. Haunted Roads For Halloween! Despite London’s congested roads and the daily chorus of thousands of beeping horns, ghosts of the cities roads are in fact sporadic. Look through any catalogue of phantom hitchhikers or ghostly vehicles (for example http://www.roadghosts.com/) and you’ll notice a distinct lack of activity within the capital pertaining to tarmac terrors. Why this is we’ll never know – maybe it’s simply down to the fact that elsewhere in the country,......