Aside from the memories of umpteen Ashes losses, the turf at Lord's Cricket ground rests above a series of disused railway tunnels. While we'd love to see them opened up for nighttime jaunts, smarter heads have proposed they be turned into a subterranean hospital. The £100m care centre would be attached to nearby Wellington Hospital, and include a suite of operating theatres and intensive care units. We'll leave the question of recuperating from serious injury......

Lambeth is traditionally famous for its walk and its palace but here's a new claim to fame for the borough - its residents are rubbish at keeping medical appointments. Last week, it was revealed that patients in Lambeth missed 69,886 primary care appointments last year. In fact, what is it about South London? Southwark came a close second with 65,630 no shows, followed by Lewisham with 63,709. A missed appointment is estimated to cost......

The DCMS finally launched a 2012 Legacy Action Plan today. State sponsored swimming is the central thrust, the headline catching whiz of an idea that's made the news. By 2012, it's planned that all local authority swimming baths will be free to use, starting soon with the over 60s, then the under 16s and rolling out to all comers by the time the Games begin. £140m is going to local authorities to scrap swimming......

London cancer patients and their families have one more resource at the ready to help them cope -- the Maggie's cancer care centre at Charing Cross Hospital in Hammersmith. Designed to fill in where traditional hospitals fall short, the Maggie's centre will give free information and support to those affected by cancer -- specifically much-needed psychological help for patients and their families. They're able to offer help for free through partnerships with local NHS Trusts.......

Welcome to Versus, where Londonist takes like for like and decides which one is more likeable We believe in a healthy, balanced diet at Londonist and so to correct the greasy but essential kebab research of the last Versus investigation, we now turn to the two juice bars on Leather Lane market. Walking north from the High Holborn end of the market, you encounter the juice stall - and it looks the business. Cheerful......

In the fall, Hackney had a measles problem. Now, the spots have spread to Lewisham, with 19 cases in January -- a third of the 67 cases reported in south-east London. The Health Protection Agency are warning that we'll be seeing even more sick spotty kiddies in the coming months if more tots aren't vaccinated, so they're making a new push to inform parents. In Lewisham, MMR vaccine uptake is currently 64.3%, while the experts......

Sugary sperm might help us escape the threat of cancer and HIV Women escape fondling: guilty groper bailed on the understanding he steers clear of busy tubes and DLR trains Real life prison break: man escapes secure unit at Bedlam A happy escape in sight for Egham Foot and Mouth farmers, hopefully Escape rubbish news on your commute, Notes from the Underground bi-monthly lit freesheet launched Image of window display at Hamleys Regent Street......

Before the demolition of Old London Bridge, whose narrow arches restricted the flow, the Thames used to freeze over in the coldest winters. In such years, the denizens of London would gather on the ice for a frost fair. Here's how it might look today. Although we suspect that icing over the Thames would be easier than freezing modern health and safety rules. As a yuletide bonus, we'll be doing a seasonally themed Touch......

Damien Hirst has made the Tate's Christmas by gifting them 4 of his art works. The infamous cow and calf bisected and suspended in formaldehyde, "Mother and Child Divided" is the Turner Prize winning crowning glory. This is a high profile donation, timed for maximum festivity and goodwill but Hirst's generosity is not spontaneous or even his own idea. He pledged works to the Tate back in 2004 as part of the Building the......

Four years, countless consultancy fees, umpteen broken promises and many millions of pounds later, Clissold Leisure Centre in Stoke Newington is finally re-opening this weekend. For those who've not followed the saga, here's the story in brief. In 2000 the Centre opened amidst a brass band's worth of pomp and publicity, the very model of a modern, major, New Labour endorsed Lottery-funded Millennium project. Come early 2004, the facility was closed, having accumulated a......

OK, so maybe not kills, although it might, but it is bad for you. Details to follow. A new report shows that shopping in an area with a high volume of traffic has a worse affect on your lungs than walking around a park. For a moment this looks like one of those no shit Sherlock stories; however, the study is specifically related to people with asthma and the effect that diesel engines have......

Londonist was rapped on the nose the other week for cocking a snooty snook at the unending, Tube-clogging newspaper coverage of the travails of Ms. Winehouse, while - yes - covering the story ourselves. Cowed and humbled, we bring you the latest from Chez Amy without any further editorial pawmarks. With her hubby incarcerated and her private life a whorl of drug-taking and rumours of ill health, Amy has wisely decided a change of......

Alternative Christmas tipple: hospital patients booze on alcoholic hand rub Seasonal crackdown on unlicensed minicabs Unseasonal cuts on funding for tackling homelessness Desperately seeking new jobs: Blondie musical cast unemployed for Christmas Tate tree decked out with festive fighter planes Image courtesy of Simone ver.β via the Londonist flickr group.......

It may be 40 years since the Abortion Act legalised terminations but a BBC Radio 5 Live investigation suggests that modern day "back street abortions" are easily found in London. Thankfully, we're not talking struck off doctors and knitting needles but Chinese herbal remedies from shops in Dalston and illegally obtained abortion drugs: an undercover investigator was able to get their hands on 14 abortion pills for £30 from an entirely unqualified bloke in......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 19th November 1558: Queen Elizabeth I travels to Highgate on her accession to the throne. She is met by the bishops and escorted through London. Tuesday – 20th November 1992: Fire sweeps through Windsor Castle, causing £40 million worth of damage to over 100 rooms. Wednesday – 21st November 1695: The great composer Henry Purcell dies at his home in Westminster. The cause of his death in......

Close to 300 cases of measles have been reported to City and Hackney Primary Care Trust over the last 5 months. It is thought that the outbreak is directly linked to increasing numbers of parents deciding against the MMR vaccination for their darlings in the light of the well publicised but now discredited research which linked it to autism. With hundreds of spotty kids sickening in East London direct action is being taken by......

Maybe it’s because we are Londoners, but Londonist is mightily proud of London in nearly every sense. Even when things get muxed up, or bad stuff happens, the capital shoulders the problem and just gets on with its largely tickety-boo urban grind. Take bugs and rodents for example. They are pretty much part of life in any old-ish city, and it is a well known urban-not-so-mythical-myth that we are never more than a few feet......

London Overground (LO) begins operations today. The new service takes over where Silverlink left off (we'll leave you to decide which particular circle of Hell that is). The stations and trains are now owned by Transport for London, with services operated by London Overground Rail Operations Limited. Practically speaking, this translates as follows: - Oyster cards now work on the benighted routes. - The Tube map has a new look. - All stations staffed......

With the opening of St Pancras and its high-speed line to the continent, the approval of Crossrail, and glimpses of the futuristic bullet trains that will soon call London home, there are plenty of encouraging signs that Britain's rail network is in good health. They don't come much more inspiring than the former railway man who has set up his own rail service. Grand Central Rail was established in 2000 by former British Rail......

Anyone looking at this case for the first time would be dumbfounded. Were the Metropolitan Police Force in breach of health and safety laws when they shot an innocent man seven times in the head? Health and safety laws? Isn't that like prosecuting Genghis Khan for illegal immigration? Terminology aside, the Met were yesterday found guilty of endangering the public when, on 22 July 2005, they misidentified Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes as a......

St George’s Hospital has reported over 100 deaths from hospital superbugs. 116 people have died from MRSA and Clostridium difficile at the Tooting hospital in the last four years. The report comes on the coattails of St George’s clinical rating being lowered from 'good' to 'fair'; an adjustment influenced largely by the hospital’s failure to combat the superbugs. These figures were released the same day that the NHS reported a 10% decrease in MRSA......

The name of the band Korpiklaani means 'forest clan' in Finnish, so perhaps it isn't so surprising that the band started their set at Camden Underground an hour or so late. Our theory is that they got lost on the Tube, distracted by the leafy promise in such place-names as Oakwood or Wood Green or Green Park, only to be met with bitter disappointment upon venturing aboveground. What really matters is that Korpiklaani eventually......

On weekend nights it’s a long wait for a drink in our local. That and all the news lately about how this tiny island might soon be home to millions more people has got us thinking about Thomas Malthus. Malthus was the chief curmudgeon of the early 19th century, the person responsible for establishing the reputation of economics as the ‘dismal science'. Improvements in agriculture, he predicted, would never keep up with expanding population,......

Hmm. Londonist hasn’t always had happy bouncy things to say about the 2012 Olympics. And it is rather likely that we will come up with some more searing satirical observations before too long. That is what Londonist does. But just for today, it is with vague approbation that we report on one of the side effects of the whole proceedings – the Personal Best scheme. It is true that the idea behind it is a......

The fortieth anniversary of the Abortion Act this week meant that the abortion debate has been all over the news, culminating in demonstrations in Westminster this weekend. In a dramatic gesture, pro-lifers projected the statistic of 6.7 million aborted foetuses since 1967 onto the Houses of Parliament last night as part of the Alive and Kicking campaign to "make abortion rare" by reducing the upper time limit and prohibiting abortion "for social convenience". Today,......

Children, children, Londonist wants to play a little game with you: it’s called “How to make you cry in one single snapshot.” The rules are pretty simple: you come equipped with your best smiles for the next school piccie and we’ll wipe them off your face instantly: black kids over there please ... yes, you ... Oh and you look a little dark of skin – over there as well please. Still smiling? Alright, Jewish......

You can jog there, or swim, or speed walk - but you really shouldn't drive to the Olympics. But that may be a better option for travelling criminals, as 180 are rounded up after a special operation on public transport. It may be a Banksy, but it's still vandalism. And now there's even health and safety for hedgehogs. Awfully artistic photo courtesy of sunshine today's flickr stream.......

Despite the odd recent mishap, London's lidos take their rightful alongside our parks as great places to go around the capital. 70 years ago lidos were people's cathedrals, masterful municipal palaces to promote community health and wellbeing. Over the years since then they have been left derelict or sold off. But now, they are having their renaissance. Blame global warming for warmer temperatures or the Olympics for increased interest in health - but outdoor pools......

Phosphatic rock. A radium-luminised gauge dial face. Radium paint. It sounds like an amateur nuclear hobbyist's shopping list, but these are just some of the scary-sounding radioactive materials found recently at the Olympic Park site in east London. Contractors uncovered the objects whilst clearing a 100-year old waste tip near Stratford last month. A subsequent survey, ordered by the Olympic Delivery Authority, revealed "low level" contamination and hotspots of the highly poisonous heavy metal......

So please raise a toast to our good health. For a more orthodox numerology, hold your horses (and champagne flutes) for just one more week. Then, we are three. To help us celebrate our birthday in something loosely approaching style, head over to the Grafton Arms next Thursday, from 6.30. We're in the upstairs bar and beer terrace. Full details on our Facebook page. Note that we won't be laying on any free beer.......