Doesn't sunshine make everything seem better? Alright, it's been brass monkeys but nothing lifts the winter blues like bright skies, crisp air and early daffodils. It's half term for most kids this week so your commute might even be more pleasant. In which case, perhaps you'll be more inclined to get out after work and try something different that's light on your wallet and heavy on aceness. After all, we really can't afford good......

Earlier this week we told you about Galaxy Zoo, where ordinary web users help astronomers by classifying the galaxies they capture in their telescopes. But Londoners are an exploratory bunch, and after sorting a few dozen of the Milky Way’s neighbours you might ask what you could see if you went outside and looked up at the sky yourself. We’ve got good news and bad news for you on that front. The bad news......

As always, there are a million things to do in London this week. If you fancy a night in though, here are a few things to keep you occupied. On TV, Londonist likes: Monday, 16 July Building Britain (BBC1, 19:30-20:00) The first in the series, Peter Ackroyd's back to take us through the changes in London's skyline and how money and power are influencing how our city will look. Olympic Backlash: Tonight (ITV1, 20:00-20:30)......

The Bank of England have raised interest rates for the third time in five months. This time to 5.25%. After yesterday's confusing news from Real Madrid, it's been confirmed that David Beckham will leave the Spanish squad for LA Galaxy at the end of the season. It's Simon Amstell vs Preston. We know which side we're on. A police investigation has started after a mother and her two children were found dead in a......

If you were wondering why a certain Timelord's recent travels through time and space didn't clock up much mileage, its all down to cash flow : Budget constraints mean the new series of Doctor Who is largely earthbound, says writer Russell T Davies. What bollocks. Part of the charm of the last twenty odd years of Doctor Who was the wobbly sets and cardboard monsters. Of course back in the day the emphasis was......

He's only been in his job for little over a year, but Richard Bacon is already leaving Capital FM's drivetime slot to head back to his former home, XFM. While X and Capital are both owned by Gcap and even housed in the same building on Leicester Square, it seems former programme director Keith Pringle's plans for the 'winning combination' of Vaughn in the morning and Bacon in the evening, just haven't worked out......

Cybercandy in Covent Garden is one of Londonist's favourites. We used to buy stuff from the website all the time, so imagine how pleased we were when they set up their first 'real world' candy store a couple of years ago. Now, whenever we return to the office, our pockets bulging with strange looking Japanese confectionary, cans of raspberry favoured coke and lots and lots of cinnamony things (oh, how we love the cinnamony......

These listings appear every Wednesday. If you want to let us know about any upcoming science or technology events, you can contact us on LondonistSciTech@Gmail.com Event of the Week Pure Iceland at the Science Museum Given the cheesy promotional video and the long list of sponsoring Icelandic companies, it’s easy to view this new exhibition as one big advert for the Icelandic tourist industry. And it’s certainly that. But there is an important message......

The BlogAndMagosphere is currently replete with shoddily written articles about Christmas shopping. That these articles quote ‘starting budgets of £10 per gift’, makes us burn with festive brandy rage. At this time of year, most Londoners are either a Scrooge or a Bob Cratchit: that is, tight as a nat’s chuff or stone cold broke. And London is very expensive. How can we skimp a bit and still complete our gift buying at just £2......

You may have noticed that we skipped this week's mid week listings post. That's because we've decided to roll them into one bumper Friday post combining new tour announcements and a randomly bizarre recommendation of gigs for the week ahead. There's a bumper crop of shows to mention this week, but not until we've stopped laughing at the news that Justin Hawkins of The Darkness bought back a copy of their forthcoming album off......

The Londonist Literary List appears every Tuesday. If you’d like to bring an event to our attention, please email londonistlit@gmail.com. All the big releases came out last week (Zadie Smith, Rushdie, Coetzee, etc). This week, there's little in the way of new stuff to read, but there are a ton of authors talking all the same, in the form of readings and discussions. Last week was good for the homebodies. This week, all of......

Another Wednesday, and another salvo fired in the war between those who say 'Midweek' is one word and those who say 'Mid Week' is two words. (Don't even get us started on the 'it's hyphenated' brigade.) In this week's round up: Grass, Death, Folk and Scandinavians. Pick of the gigs in the not-quite spam we received in our inbox is next Monday's gig at Koko: Supergrass, supported by Thirteen Senses, are playing as part of......

We covered the Hitchhikers Guide To the Galaxy a bit in last week's Friday Film news, but it's worth revisiting briefly this week if only because it seems to be dividng the critics a little. Over in the Independent the adaptation receives just the one star from Anthony Quinn, who complains, "Seldom have I sat through a high-profile comedy that has generated so little laughter - even nervous laughter." Oh dear - so what......

The Science Museum is once again playing host to an exhibition based on a movie following the success of its Lord of the Rings fan fest. No life size replicas of Sean Bean dead in a boat this time round, but you will get to see a certain paranoid android. Yep, props and sets from the big screen adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy are due to go on display from the......

The big movie release this week is the much-anticipated Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy, but it seems that only the Guardian have got round to reviewing it. We're assuming this is because the film's got a London-only release for now and goes nationwide next week. To be honest, we're going to see it no matter what the critics say...but for the sake of consistency: Peter Bradshaw give the sci-fi adaptation three stars, calling it......

The last time Londonist saw Ewan McGregor on stage was during his run in Little Malcolm And His Struggle Against The Eunuchs and damn good he was too. He's due back on the London stage this time in Guys and Dolls, but has set down a couple of ground rules for any Star Wars fans who may start hanging around the stage door with overpriced crap in hand: he won't be signing any memorabilia.......

We spent the weekend watching old Quatermass movies on DVD, all giddy with the news that the prof was heading back to our screens (as posted here). Now we hear that the new Doctor Who will bypass American audiences as it's "too damned English" which has got to be good news for those of us afraid it would return as a shadow of its former self. Not so according to writer Warren Ellis who......

Getting the remake treatment this week is the fondly remembered Magic Roundabout, recreated in a very European computer generated style, with the added draw of celebrity voices, such as Kylie Minogue, Joanna Lumley, Bill Nighy, Jim Broadbent and Robbie Williams. This doesn't save the film from taking a critical kicking as both Bradshaw in The Guardian (two stars) and James Christopher in The Times (two stars also) aren't exactly engaged in a nostalgia fest,......