Feminists. They don’t shave their armpits and they bathe in toad spit and the pubic hairs of young boys. Right? Well, you could try asking that question at the European Feminist Summit, but we would advise against it. Part of the London Festival of Europe, the summit, titled The Future of European Feminism will discuss feminism in the 21st century, in the context of Europe, politics, art and media. With feminist blog The F......

...get the hell out of Gordon Ramsay’s effing-and-blinding kitchen. Former restaurant manager Martin Hyde of Dillons, an Indian eatery in Manhattan, is suing the British chef in an attempt to stop footage of Ramsay’s “Kitchen Nightmares” being shown on television in the US. The show’s premise is for Ramsay to enter a failing restaurant and turn it around in one week. Accusations have been put forth that "Kitchen Nightmares" hired actors to patronize the......

We love BBC America's anglophenia because it's always interesting to see what the other side of the pond thinks about the happenings in our own little goldfish bowl. This post, however, tackled a more serious subject than the usual pop culture geography when anglophenia popped over here for a visit: The next 20 minutes or so I spent were both familiar and frustrating. I stood alongside Shaftesbury Avenue with my arm extended nearly vertically,......

The snow may have brought London to a halt, but the blogorash just keeps spreading. Here are a few of the things that caught our eye out there this week... Thankfully Onionbagblogger's new darts (yes, darts) didn't literally catch our eye, but we did it think it was nice in an age of game consoles that at least one Londoner was enjoying himself the old fashioned way: Ah yes - the darts... 23g of......

It's surprising how much Londonist skin ends up covered in ink - and we're not just talking about the days that M@ leaves his pocket protector at home and has a Bic explosion. We quite like having needles shoved into us (just not in the 'Hey look I'm a wanker' Pete Doherty way) so we're looking forward to this year's International London Tattoo Convention: The list of artists who will be setting up stall......

In debates about abortion, there is one voice that usually goes unheard - the women who have their pregnancies terminated. Tomorrow evening, Abortion Rights is hosting a screening of excerpts from a new documentary that tells the stories of women who've exercised their right to choose, and don't regret it in the slightest. Access to birth control and abortion is crucial for women's equality. But while most people in the UK identify themselves as......

... is pretty fugly. Judging by how it chooses to be presented on the small screen, at any rate. Take Gordon Ramsay's F Word (Wed 9pm C4): We're not denying that it's entertaining. It is hugely entertaining, especially when Gordon picks on twattish City trader boys from Essex and reduces them to tears, much as he reduces all sorts of delicious juices to make a lovely concentrated sauce. Mmm, we're hungry just thinking about......

Protest: Where do you stand on the great lads mags debate? This is a perfect week to take sides - or at least engage in some spirited argument, because back-bench MP Claire Curtis-Thomas is kicking off a debate in Parliament about whether lads mags and newspapers such as the Sport should be classed as pornography. Meanwhile, Object will be holding a protest outside Parliament on Tuesday 27th June, and distributing 'porn flakes' to passers-by......

We wanted to review Sarah Waters' The Night Watch as part of our fresh commitment to do a tad more reading on Londonist in 2006, but every time we picked up the book we kept having visions of girls in gasmasks asking us if we were their mummy and had to put it down and sit on our hands for a little while. A much safer bet was asking in a more level head......

Well, TV Troll was 50% right, which is better than nowt, as salt-o'-t'earth Strictly Come Dancing winner Darren might say. We're still kicking ourselves for not having put money on Shayne to win as we predicted aaaages ago; we could have bought new cushions for the dungeon or something with the winnings. Congrats to the winners and the runners-up; both finals were superb, although it was a pain in the arse having to swap......

Advertising on the Tube is as easy to ignore and forget about - the occasional piece of strategically placed chewing gum or BLAIR OUT sticker may catch the eye, but for the most part Londonist is happy to keep it's collective head down, listen to bad heavy metal and watch the occasional lost Northerner huddle into a ball and weep like a 16th century peasant suddenly dropped into the middle of Blade Runner. Thank......

Before we get onto the subject of this week's telly recommendations, let's remind ourselves of Saturday's miscarriage of justice, when Maria was voted off X Factor. Even Simon admits he made a mistake in choosing the Conway Sisters (for those who don't watch X Factor, the Conways are like standing knee-deep in the Irish Sea on a wet Tuesday in October while someone slaps you in the face with a rotting plaice, except rather......

Drag kings don't get half the press that their male to female counterparts do so it was interesting to see that The F Word ran a piece recently about a drag king workshop right here in London. Holly Combe spent an afternoon wandering the capital dressed as a man and reveals all in a lengthy article that first tackles the subject via recommended reads and simple observation: Just consider clothing. Traditionally "male" apparel such......

Another success story... Remember we mentioned the rather groovy PledgeBank a little while ago? Well we just found out that this pledge: I will help start the London Association of Chicken Keepers but only if 10 other people in Britain will say they're interested in joining... has resulted in the well named London Chicken Dot Com. This is very cool. It brings to mind Felicity Kendal and Richard Briers in The Good Life (although......

Speaking, as we were, of billboards and advertising*, we'd be interested to hear what Londonist readers think of the Dove ads that seem to be up everywhere at the moment. On one building near London Bridge they share space with an ad for the Lib Dems that has forever twinned (in our minds at least) Charles Kennedy's campaign for a real alternative with curvy women hanging around in their underwear. While trying to figure......