What is it? The Barbican Conservatory, a glass-covered green hideout in the heart of the City. Nature-ist's mission is to uncover the unconventional bits of wilderness that poke through London's rugged urban landscape. And a conservatory doesn't strictly count. But when we're talking the capital's second biggest conservatory after Kew, and a place that seems little known by most Londoners, then we thought we'd make an exception. Where is it? Er, the Barbican, surprisingly.......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 18th August 1937: William George Rushton is born in Chelsea. Better known as Willie Rushton, he would become a popular comedian and satirist, co-founding Private Eye magazine and featuring as a regular panellist on Radio 4’s I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue game show. Tuesday – 19th August 1897: London’s first horseless taxi is introduced by the London Electric Cab Company of Lambeth. The taxi is battery-powered,......

An aid agency is trying to achieve what the Luftwaffe and V-2 rockets failed to do: the destruction of St. Paul's cathedral. ActionAid has submitted an application to the City, requesting the "total demolition" of Wren's 17th century masterpiece, in order that they can search for precious metals underneath. Surely they can't be serious. The very idea! What's yanked the chain of these cheeky chariteers? The request is actually an ingenious way of calling......

Those pesky planning developers are moving in again, this time threatening the pleasure-paved streets of Shoreditch with high-rise towers to house businesses. At the heart of the controversial Bishop's Place scheme is a plan to construct a 51-storey tower in the locality, which will replace a 19th century building that houses the area’s much-loved Light Bar. Once a seedy den of music hall, theatre, vice and booze, Shoreditch is now known for its, er,......

Sport is sometimes accused of taking itself too seriously, but Saturday evening will see a historic London landmark welcoming elite athletes, dogged semi-professionals and high-spirited amateurs alike to the second running of the Smithsfield Nocturne cycling event. Last year's occasion attracted 5000 spectators to the bars and barriers around the 1km course despite heavy rain and was such a success that further similar events around the UK, including perhaps one in Canary Wharf, are......

Our economy is being crunched by a credit conundrum, and the pennies in your pocket are being squeezed to within an inch of their copper lives - a loaf of bread now costs approximately £1,600 plus VAT, and financial planners are offering guidance on weighty investment decisions, like whether to purchase one- or two-ply toilet paper. Things are tight. So are the good times over? Not if you're a City banker. Despite melodramatic predictions......

"It’s very easy to forget about the mayor. No, not that mayor: hey, not a day goes by without us mentioning the Mayor of London or his latest dictum. We mean the other mayor: the one in the pantomimes, the Lord Mayor. If you’re anything like us, you get him out of your mental closets once a year for the Lord Mayor’s Show and its surrounding pageantry, and then you kind of file him again......

Well, not all of them, obviously. But the London launch of a US newspaper heavyweight, and a high-profile fundraiser for a Presidential candidate, has given us threadbare cause to run that rather glib headline. Moving on.... For London's business and financial elite, the pink pages of the Financial Times are the only thing to be seen reading on the morning commute to work. However, the FT's sturdy grip on matters monetary will be challenged......

And if you’re unemployed, you’d best turn all the lights and hide (embarrassingly Londonist has actually done this, but usually only after we’ve been watching horror films home alone)(or because we don’t trust ourselves to be polite). The good burghers (actually project workers) of the City of London Corporation have decreed that the jobless shall be found gainful employment. And they’re coming to get you. Actually, behind this rather scary prospect lies a seriously......