Blame the credit crunch, the pusillanimous dollar, or our overly expensive attractions: whatever the reason, tourist numbers dropped by 4% during 2007, after a downturn in the final six months of the year. Worse is expected: visitor levels are expected to drop 2.7% and 1.2% respectively over the next two years. The sharpest fall is in visitors from the States, where a queasy greenback is inclining Americans to visit cheaper shores (like almost anyplace else......

Later this month our benevolent Mayor will announce plans to introduce a "living wage" for all staff employed by the Greater London Authority and any organisations funded by the London Development Authority, says a report in the Guardian. He will also encourage hoteliers to do the same before the Olympics. Boris has been under pressure to introduce these measures from various groups, to improve the lot of those at the bottom of the food......

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......

The looming financial crisis and gradual decline in demand for city property may have claimed a victim: the controversial Walkie Talkie tower on Fenchurch street could be delayed until the commercial property market slump has passed. While demolition of the existing 1960s block is due to be completed early next year, the developer, Land Securities, has stated that they will wait to secure a tenant before construction begins on what is arguably the least......

The Gordon Brown statue saga has intrigued psephologists and, er, wax-ologists for months now: would our embattled PM be given his own waxwork at Madame Tussauds, or have the curators bargained that, with the odds of his removal ever-shortening, the task of crafting those craggy features into a lifelike visage isn't worth the effort? As we reported earlier this month, Tussauds turned the decision over to a public vote. The results are in: nearly......