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......

That's right. As from today, King's Cross Thameslink is no more. The outmoded station on Pentonville Road closed for business yesterday. Services now stop beneath St Pancras International on new platforms (pictured). It seems to be the law these days that anything recently opened must be trumpeted as 'shiny new'. Not so with these platforms. IanVisits describes a 'clinical grey feel', but with much widened access. Diamond Geezer, meanwhile, gives a fitting eulogy to......

One of the greatest Roman hoards ever found in the city is revealed today. Archaeologists working on a site near Moorgate have unearthed 1100 objects of 'international importance'. The haul includes copper tableware, the 'large-scale remains of an entire Roman streetscape' plus 'the most complete timber door to have survived anywhere in the Roman Empire'. If they'd had kitchen sinks back then, one would no doubt have been discovered. The treasures were found on......

The trains have been re-routed, the signage amended, the tube announcements re-recorded (completed, luckily, before the woman behind them was given the heave-ho). The re-opening of St Pancras means that Waterloo's reign as Britain's main international train station, a duty it fulfilled without complaint for thirteen years, is well and truly over. But what to do with those elegant Eurostar platforms, so admired in their mid-Nineties infancy? The plan in the short term is......

And so, for the next instalment of the Mayor's Indian Adventure. Day 4: Ken takes the train. Yes, our man of the people took a train from one side of Mumbai to the other and was captured smiling winsomely by a camera phone. As the local paper mused: Perhaps he had business on his mind or perhaps he was marvelling at Mumbai's suburban railway system built and operated by the British in the days......

Time Out recently presented St Pancras Station as their inaugural 'Wonder of London'. Profile Books goes a couple of stages further by including the terminus in its 'wonders of the world' series - buildings and monuments, such as the Colosseum, Stonehenge and the Forbidden City, whose 'names will be familiar to almost everyone'. We're not sure if the station is quite in that category yet. It's doubtful it has anything like the global and......

Having visited the new-look station at lunch time, we can confirm: that's one bastard of a roof. Such is the scale and magnificence of St Pancras International, the cleaners will be sweeping up a fine collection of dropped mandibles this evening. We've compiled a few images of the opening, for those of you who couldn't get there. This place really has to be seen to be believed. But first a video. Qype visits St......

Unless there were leaves on the line, not enough station staff, delays at Paris holding everything up or industrial action on either side of the Channel, the first Eurostar train should be pulling into its new station at St Pancras this morning. We've had a sneak preview of what it's like and have been terribly excited about it so far, and at last, today, we get to see it in its full glory. We......

A week after opening for the Queen, St Pancras International is finally ready for the likes of us. The station has been restored beyond its former glory. Britain's answer to Central Station is ready for business. Everyone knows by now that the sumptious Euston Road frontage to the station was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott. But what else in London did the Great Scott design? Time to dust off our old 'Stalks' series,......

This weekend, Rowan Walker wrote in the Observer of her torturous but strangely addictive experience of training at the Islington Boxing Gym to raise awareness of the fierce campaign to get female boxing recognised as an Olympic Sport for the 2012 Games in London. According to the International Olympic Committee, "Boxing ranks among the Olympic Games' most illustrious sports" yet only for men, to date. As Walker's article indicates, the number and calibre of......

Whenever Londonist is feeling a tad glum, we have but to turn to Matt Harding and his amazingly silly website to get all cheered up again. Matt Harding is one big internet sensation, albeit a very unlikely one. The former games programmer has made a new career out of dancing badly in front of some of the world’s most recognisable and iconic buildings, and in some of the planet’s remotest terrains. But Londonist has been......

Updates from a Londonista at today's Integrated Volume Testing at St Pancras International, the new Eurostar terminal. (A sneak preview of the new station before it opens on 14th November, with Eurostar moving from Waterloo overnight.) 7.15am. Early start, ugh. 8.00. It's quite a privilege to be here and get a sneak preview of the place. But they'd better have coffee. 8.30. The first queue of many - most of the participants (300 of......

The world’s busiest international airport is also the world’s least favourite. Delays on the tarmac and in the terminals have led a survey of 2,500 travellers to vote Heathrow as their least favourite airport. The airport, currently operating beyond its intended capacity, has been slowed down by increased security checks and had kept passengers waiting for their baggage, and passengers have also complained that their luggage frequently goes missing. The BAA, who own Heathrow,......

The London International Comics Festival is halfway over, so if you haven’t seen any of it yet you owe it to yourself to investigate some sweet action with paper, ink and speech bubbles. The festival continues to tackle a nicely wide range of topics, so this week the highlights we’ve chosen offer Halloween horror, an indie invasion and germane geopolitics. If the festival were a comic book itself, it would be coming to the......

You may or may not have noticed that this week is Amnesty International's Protect The Human week. Protect The Human week is a snazzy name for the week formerly known as Amnesty Week - a time when people all over Britain celebrate and raise awareness about Human Rights. Up and down the country people have been holding events in aid of the charity and this Friday the week closes in style with a bash......

Those bloody Victorians could never build anything properly. The House of Commons chamber is leaking, and may have to be closed down for three years while the roof is repaired. This means one of four things: 1) The Lower House moves to a temporary venue suitable for debating matters of international importance. 2) Rather than closing the chamber, repair-work could be extended over a longer period, taking place during summer recess - this could......

Depending on how much Internet reading you do, you may or may not be aware that today is Blog Action Day – a day on which bloggers around the web unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind. This year it’s the environment. And in honour of this, Londonist could think of nothing more appropriate than to suggest ideas for a greener day in this fair city of ours. 1. Get on......

The breathlessly international Bicycle Film Festival is seven years old this year and it is rolling into London with a string of cool films and even cooler parties and exhibitions, from Wednesday 17 October to Sunday 21 October. Films about two-wheel transport range from modern-day radicalism in Canada to gruelling fundraising cycle hikes over the Alps, from the factory floor in America to changing lives in Ghana, a helmet-camera tour of several international cities......

As we noted yesterday, art fair season is upon us in full force this weekend. With so many events happening around the capital, it would be hard work to take it all in, and the best advice one can offer is to try to see as much as you can without making it all a rushed annoyance of cab rides. Possibly even better advice, however, would be to make a point to check out......

(Actually, they’re not. We’re feeling all pretentious this morning and wish to demonstrate our superior education in the Classics.) Turns out the 2012 Olympic venue for canoe slalom, Spitalbrook in Hertfordshire, is tainted with muck. Heavy pollution has forced the Olympic Delivery Authority to seek a new location six miles further south. The proposed move has yet to be approved by the International Olympic Committee. We think shifting the event to cleaner waters is......

If our enthusiastic dance previews didn't inspire you to go as far as actually parting with cash for contemporary dance then perhaps you could cut your teeth on free events happening as part of London's International Festival of Contemporary Dance: Dance Umbrella. If you work near Liverpool Street then, this lunchtime or any lunchtime in the next 29 days, you can stumble across Paul-Andre Fortier performing "Solo 30x30" whilst you nip out for a......

London Street Art 2 is the sequel to, well, erm, London Street Art. The pocket sized book chronicles some of the more interesting graffiti from the past year. We asked photographer Alex MacNaughton about his latest collection of images - many, like the shot above, show street art that has since vanished. Warning: Some readers may find his comments about Flickr disturbing. There's no 'about the author' on the book, so tell us a......

Just out the Van: Autumn is definitely upon us - time to start wrapping up at home with a good book. Or you could throw caution to the (nippy) wind and head to Book Slam next Thursday to bask in the warm glow of literati (gliterati?) including Sarfraz Manzoor (reading from his memoir "Greetings from Bury Park"), Zimbabwean singer-songwriter Netsayi, and poet Polar Bear... Next Thursday at Neighbourhood, £5/£6, 12 Acklam Road, W10 5QZ,......

If you have ever longed to exorcise yourself of those dreary afternoons in chilly church halls and torturous tinned food stockpiling that seemed to be the sole remit of Harvest Festivals at primary schools two decades ago, then your chance to experience a very different kind of Harvest Festival is taking place in Camberwell this Sunday. Inspirational art organisations motiroti and home are both jumbles of creative, international, artistic energy and will be combining......

The sixth in our series of interviews with potential candidates for next year's Mayoral election. Previously: Victoria Borwick (Tory), Andrew Boff (Tory) and Warwick Lightfoot (Tory), Sian Berry (Green), Fiyaz Mughal (Lib Dem). Chris Prior is an independent mayoral candidate standing on a very firm 'Stop Congestion Charging' ticket. We asked him why, and, as with all the other candidates, we also enquired whether he'd ever been sick on the Tube. Chris is the......

As befits a truly global capital, London has established itself as a hub in the important international trade of tourist-attracting human reproductions, importing Chinese warriors and exporting waxwork celebrities. While the first crowds were taking a gander at 20 members of the Emperor Ying’s terracotta court at the British Museum, 51 waxworks produced by Madame Tussauds arrived in Washington DC, naked and apparently ready to party. The likes of Beyonce, George Clooney, Tom Cruise......

If Londonist were really rich we'd be out every night doing LOADS of fun stuff. We'd be going to see all of the cool things at London Design Festival. We'd be drinking beer out of plastic cups and dancing at the Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly gig. But we're not. Instead all our money goes on rubbish stupid bills and... actually not much else. So here's what we're going to do instead. Here's a......

This weekend column is brought to you by the founders of Niceties Tokens, Liz and Pete of Team Nice. 16. Massaker Not meaning to be grim, but this week I attended a showing of a documentary by Monika Borgmann called Massaker, and having done so it is difficult not to reflect upon it. The subject of the film is a violent massacre that took place in two Palestinian refugee camps in 1982 at Sabra......

The International Workshop Festival has been rumbling away in the city since 28 August, allowing the bold and brave to take part in workshops and experiments in performing arts with specially invited artists and practitioners. As the festival draws to a close, a curious couple of performers and experiments have cropped up on our radar. Anyone willing to take part is definitely a friend of ours, and we want to hear from you what......

The fifth in our series of interviews with potential candidates for next year's Mayoral election. Previously: Victoria Borwick (Tory), Andrew Boff (Tory) and Warwick Lightfoot (Tory), Sian Berry (Green). Today: Liberal Democrat candidate Fiyaz Mughal. He's competing with fellow LDs Brian Paddick and Chamali Fernando to represent his party in next year's elections. Would you vote for him? Read his ideas below. Where do you live in London and what do you like best......