The scourge of polite society, and a garment guaranteed to strike fear into the hearts of houseproud folk across London, the hoodie is nothing if not an adaptable form of clothing. In the wake of the bulletproof edition sold by a Romford firm, another variant ready for urban warfare has arrived: gas mask hoodies are now available at Walthamstow Market. Costing twenty quid, the nylon jacket is available in brown and grey camoflauge, and......

On the same day that a gunman was shot dead in the King's Road, the story of Magda Pniewska's senseless death in a skirmish between armed teenagers last October was relayed by prosecutors at the Old Bailey. Ms. Pniewska was caught in a "Wild West"-style shootout, the jury heard yesterday. Upon finishing her shift at Manley Court nursing home in New Cross, the 26 year old care worker walked home. She was mere yards......

Last night's shoot out in Markham Square, near the Kings Road, ended with the police taking out the gunman. The BBC reports the 32 year old gunman (or gun maniac if you're reading the Sun) firing at police between 17.00 and 21.30 with the police returning fire on each occasion. Once the gunman was pronounced dead, the incident was reported to the Independent Police Complaints Commission for investigation at 21.50. There's no news on what......

Reassured by the omnipresent CCTV cameras that train their Cyclops vision on London's populace as they go about their business? Neither are we, particularly now that a senior police officer has claimed they don't cut crime Back in January we reported that London now boasts some 10,000 cameras, and Britain as a whole ranks first in the EU for "endemic surveillance". Yet Detective Chief Inspector Mike Neville says that barely 3% of robberies on......

Okay, confession time: Londonist hasn't always been particularly supportive toward London's police community support officers. In fact, judging by our generally disdainful tone, you might imagine that we think they're nothing more than well-meaning but ineffectual quota-fillers with nary a backbone nor a shred of common sense among them. Well, we've issued ourselves a stern ticking off and decided to right that wrong by bringing you the news that three PCSOs have been recommended......

In an attempt to wheeze a bit of life into his flagging mayoral campaign, Liberal Democrat candidate Brian Paddick has called for bus drivers to become 'have-a-go heroes' and tackle crime and anti-social tomfoolery on their double-deckers. The former cop inveigled bus drivers to take action against criminal activities on their rides. He cautioned that they should pick their fights carefully, and "choose which crowd to take on", before (rather like the playground bully)......

If you're a highly recognisable global statesman, whose successor's pathetic performance is making the country remember why they fell in love with you in the first place, it can be tempting to think that you're above the laws of the land. That's the only explanation we can find for the damning news that Tony Blair was apprehended by a ticket inspector as he travelled on the Heathrow Express on Wednesday. Upon asked for a......

Colour us surprised: those original 2012 Olympic costs were totally unrealistic Hounslow residents, consider yourselves warned: a teachers strike this Thursday means the yoof will be on the loose Arrests have been made in a 21-year old murder case Here comes the bat cab! That's, um, a battery-powered cab, not the kind of motor Bruce Wayne would be seen in. Pubs are closing at frightening rate. Do your bit, people - get plastered in......

Police accused of massaging figures. Crime figures, that is. Notice a dodgy smell? Blame our continental cousins LSE to build climate change research centre thanks to generous donation That Lords revamp we mentioned in February now has a shortlist of architects. The oft-mooted tube strike? It's on again, folks. Blackjack the cat missing on the Olympic site. He's got less than a week to reappear. Image courtesy of Simon Crubellier via the Londonist flickr......

Harrow Council are letting their young offenders loose on local pensioners. In a scheme matching one "neglected and vulnerable group of people with another" apologetic youngsters are attempting to make up for their misdemeanors by serving community sentences teaching computing basics to older people and introducing them to the wonders of the big bad web. But Harrow should watch out. Seems those possessed of a Freedom Pass are no longer content to be put......

So you've had your fun day out in Croydon. You've visited the Whitgift Centre, rode the tram, watched the Palace game, and before you know it, 4.20's rolled round. Got a buzz for the sticky icky? Well, the Croydon Guardian has published an article telling you just what to do. Masquerading under the rubric of "investigative journalism", the newspaper sent a reporter to see how easy drugs are to come by on the mean......

In the relentless battle against anti-social behaviour and juvenile crime on our public transport we've reported on 999 text hotlines and genuine gansters brought in to educate the kids. We've had local heroes, PCSOs, poster campaigns and overzealous bus drivers. Now, apparently, we need God. The Ascension Trust have been deploying Street Pastors over large parts of South and North East London since 2003. Their mission "engaging with people on the streets to care,......

Crime - how much does it cost? About £400 per Londoner, apparently. This is the claim made by the TaxPayers' Alliance. The group, dedicated to "campaigning for lower taxes and better government", has divined this sum by taking Home Office and police data on the economic and social costs of crime, then factoring in criminal justice system bills and adding "security measures, physical and emotional costs." Dividing this total - some £3bn - by......

Apparently, Her Majesty's prisons are so full of inmates that some convicted of terrorism offences have been let out early to make space. Now Babyshambles bad boy Pete Doherty has been sent to fill the gap: he'll be serving a 14-week sentence on parole violations, following last October's suspended sentence for drugs and illegal driving. It's hardly a surprise, seeing as he's been flirting with incarceration for some months. But this time it looks......

Not only can blogging wage war on your health, but public figures are getting in trouble for their online opinions. The BNP’s Nick Eriksen learnt this the hard way last week, after he was sacked as the party's London Assembly candidate for publishing jaw-droppingly obtuse views on rape on his blog. The post has since been removed, but luckily journalists were quick to spot the following: "Rape is simply sex (I am talking about......

Wrap your head around this one, folks. A sergeant from Cray Valley West Safer Neighbourhood Team in Bromley has stumbled upon a novel way to combat teen boozing - branded packaging. Eight off-licenses in the area have been issued with distinctive (not to mention biodegradable) plastic bags, the shop name and address plastered on them. The idea is that, should cops find the tell-tale signs of addled adolescents in the wild, with a bit......

Just as concern about our disaffected youth seems to be getting absurdly out of control and becoming a despairingly permanent fixture on our news radar, along comes a media friendly academic to reassure us that it has ever been thus. Yes, yootful human nature has always inclined to disturbing the peace with covered heads according to Professor Robert Bartlett of St Andrews whose expertise in Medieval history confirms that the teenage apprentice boys of London......

A Jewish graveyard in East London was vandalised yesterday with 30-40 tombs damaged. Headstones were smashed, railings trashed and a small fire was started up against a wall in Plashet Cemetery, East Ham. However, this latest incident is small fry compared to the major attack that left 386 gravestones damaged in the very same cemetery, back in 2003. The desecration of burial grounds is an affront to people of any, or indeed, no faith......

Londonist eye witnesses were alarmed yesterday when their quiet lunchtime pint in Camden (alright for some, eh?) was disrupted by "more than 30 police vans and unmarked police cars driving past with their lights flashing. It was quite surreal." Turns out the Met were on their way to an all out rout of Blackstock Road. An incredible 600 officers in riot gear targetted 19 premises on the busy shopping street near Finsbury Park, apparently......

Those pesky OAPs just keep getting into trouble. This time it's drug smuggling Artists take stand against Shoreditch high rises Tube film upsets train drivers. Well it doesn't take much Bozza waves treehugging card While TfL send Congestion Charge payer 3000 receipts "Urban Chameleon" image courtesy of urban:zoo by [windscreen fly] via the Londonist flickr group.......

Bad news for Haringey residents: a crime survey this week revealed that three of London's four worst burglary hotspots are in the borough. Figures for 2007 show that, despite a borough-wide reduction in crime, parts of Haringey are ridden by burglary. Tottenham Green, St Ann's and Harringay are the spots to avoid if you're partial to your possessions. A one percent year on year increase in home burglaries has been recorded, and the main......

A surprisingly sympathetic judge spared jail sentences for two young men who wrapped five cars in cling film before setting them on fire last September, causing nearly £8,000 in damage. Then men, who plead guilty to arson and were expecting a jail sentence -- they'd even packed their bags -- were surprised and delighted to learn that the judge bought their "we were drunk and stupid and had a lapse in judgement" defence. Seriously. The......

Seriously, what's up with old folk these days? Content no more to stretch out the final decades on a diet of interminal war-stories and home baking, pensioners are increasingly to be found dabbling in dubious diversions. Bernard Davies, 73, was this week charged with hacking into a Japanese bank's computer in an attempt to steal millions of pounds. The septuagenarian Walton resident appeared in court accused of a host of modern white-collar crimes: conspiracy......

2012 "Friend-ship" scheme shelved before it sets sail. Is the sun setting on the Square Mile? Grape of wrath: Man slips on squashed fruit and sues M&S for "loss of confidence". We think he's got more chance of turning a profit by sending the video in to You've Been Framed. Stingy NHS won't cough up money for grandmother's sight-saving operation. Costs for parking a plane at Heathrow set to rise. Naturally, passengers will be......

Residents vs. architects: Those who live in Robin Hood Gardens want the estate demolished, whilst architects fight to save “seminal” modernist buildings. Your daily crime round-up: “Osama bin London” jailed indefinitely; cleaner who killed 94-year-old widow jailed for life; financial trader denies involvement in murder of wealthy writer. We’re sensing a pattern here: Man scales Japanese embassy in London to protest Japanese whaling. Met to build firearms training centre near Heathrow; increased security concerns......

Carving your beloved's name on the trunk of a tree, or doodling it on the school desk, is so 20th century. For the modern urban dweller, the only way to really impress your betrothed is to spread your love in three-foot high letters on the side of a train. That was Raymond Agbegahs's plan. The graffiti vandal has spent the past decade spraying messages for his girlfriend on train carriages and railway stations in......

What's this city coming to when burglars threaten to kill an infant for a few credit cards and cell phones? Recently, two burglars armed with hammers broke the front door window of a young Penge couple's home in Oakfield Road and made their way inside. The baddies demanded the scared couple turn over credit cards and pin numbers, and threatened to kill their 2-month-old if they didn't comply. We don't want to think about what......

It's not just the hooded-up and combat-fatigued "yoof" who are responsible for anti-social behaviour. Southall resident Catharine Roberts, 71, has had an ASBO confirmed by Isleworth Crown Court. Ms. Roberts is now banned from causing "harassment, alarm or distress" to anybody within the M25. And what harassment! The saturnine septuagenarian has racked up a string of griefs that a sulking teen a fraction her age could barely hope to beat. Beginning in the spring......

He attacked someone at Waterloo Underground station taking pictures. The photographer in question, though, was quick thinking and snappy and took this very clear mugshot of his assailant. British Transport Police are now seeking to find and question him. PC Ben Dawson said: It would appear the victim, an amateur photographer, who enjoys taking snaps of London street scenes, was taking shots on the escalators when a member of the public took exception to......

It’s been another bruising week in the London mayoral election campaign. Eccentric Tory contender Boris Johnson may have had the best of it. On Tuesday Ken Livingstone announced that drivers of gas-guzzlers will be charged £25 to enter the Congestion Zone from October – assuming he’s re-elected. The Greens support the move, but the Lib Dems’ Brian Paddick – he’s the gay, “cannabis cop” from Brixton, you’ll recall – was critical, notably of the same......