Whistleblowing teacher gets £70k for unfair dismissal from smeared Saudi school Islington's courting doggy favour Time for eccentric Hackney "moleman" to cough up for repairs T5 scapegoats selected Frisky Epping Forest woodpeckers get aroused and peckish on fragile church roof Image of Chinatown in layers courtesy of Martin...H via the Londonist flickr group.......

With a title like "Attractive Repulsion", we were looking forward to this group show tucked away behind Angel tube. Sadly the work on the ground floor didn't seem to be as exciting as the title. From the kitsch pictures of wildlife painted in a style that wouldn't have been out of place in a B&B to big abstracts using bits of product logos and the like, it was a bit underwhelming. Upstairs, thankfully the......

Let Londonist help you celebrate one of Britain’s most cherished traditions, the Sunday Lunch. The Snooty Fox 75 Grosvenor Avenue, London N5 2NN Nearest Tube/Overground: Highbury & Islington/Canonbury (so close!) 020 7354 0094 Expect to Pay: £7.95 to £10.95 and £12.95 for the legendary "Full Bifter" Rating: 8 out of 10 The Snooty Fox is a perfect lazy, lounging Sunday afternoon boozer. Tucked away by Canonbury Station away from the hustle of Islington the kitchen......

“Erm… hello. So this is… erm… a dress rehearsal. If anything untoward happens, we may stop.” Some might think that Alison Goldfrapp’s introduction to the ‘friends only warm up show’ at the Union Chapel last night was a little bit insipid. And, to be fair, they would be right. The crowd looked mostly bemused as the large group of performers that is Goldfrapp traipsed onto the stage in the amazing Victorian gothic church in......

There’s nothing like an outing to Hackney to start the mind whirring about gentrification. And we can think of no surer way to start an argument than to wander into an unreformed East End boozer enthusing about all the new construction and upscale shops popping up in the neighbourhood. The term gentrification was actually born in Islington. It was coined in the 60s by sociologist Ruth Glass, who noticed the phenomenon of middle-class people......

This week saw Londonist get incredibly excited about a few live music events. First up, was French pop sensation Yelle, who played an intimate show at the Old Blue Last. Then, we had the Camden Crawl line up which, as ever, is pretty amazing for those of us who value music over sleep. Finally, Sally got (understandably) excited about The King Blues @ the 100 Club. Once we've come down from our excitement of last......

Where's your sense of humour, blokes? Can't a fat, hairy-chested guy fake being crucified while wearing pink boxers anymore? Well, he can't in the tube. London Underground censors just banned posters for Fat Christ, a play showing this week at Islington's King's Head Theatre. They fear the ads in Angel station, showing the mock crucifixion of the play's writer, Gavin Davis, are "likely to offend ethnic, religious or other major groups." The author, though, apologizes......

Photography courtesy of Tiki Chris via the Londonist pool on Flickr. Interested in your foodie photos appearing on Londonist? Click here.......

This week, Londonist caught two bands at either end of the musical scale - American metal stars Wolves in the Throne Room @ Underworld and the ever great Elbow at an intimate Porchester Hall show. We also started offering you the chance to win tickets to see Late of the Pier on February 28th. We also previewed the forthcoming second iTunes festival, which starts this coming Thursday. Looking forward to this week however, Monday night......

The Germaniaxx Isn't the weather glorious? Stand in the sunshine and it's definitely spring. This makes us happy! This means that we can walk in the park and get about town and not feel miserably wintry and therefore desperate to waste our hard earned on firelit pubs and woolly accessory buying. Well, not quite so much. We are, however, saving up our cash to spend on Creme Eggs and the rebuild Camden Market fund so......

On a cold winter night in North London, we meet with hotly tipped indie pop beat combo The Wave Pictures before their gig at the Islington Bar Academy. Counting Jeffrey Lewis, Dean Wareham, Darren Hayman and Herman Düne as fans David Tattersall (vocals, guitar), Franic Rozycki (bass) and Jonny 'Huddersfield' Helm talk to us about their inspirations and what it's like to be finally getting recognition after years of obscurity. How would you describe......

Londonist brings it on home. Basilico 26 Penton St N1 9PS Delivery Area: Islington 0800 093 4224 5pm-wee hours (Monday-Thursday) 11am-wee hours (Friday-Sunday) Expect to Pay: Around £10 for a 13” pie or £15 for an 18” Rating: 7 out of 10 On a handful of occasions, Londonist has ordered pizza from the Basilico franchise in Islington, a takeaway and delivery pizzeria with five locations. We were pleased with the Americana (Italian spicy pepperoni,......

Philadelphia experimental indie stars Enon play the Luminaire on Monday night, with around 17 tickets left (at time of writing) on We Got Tickets. Support comes in the shape of Ill Ease, which features "Elizabeth Sharp playing guitar, bass, drums, tambourine, shaker, car horn and anything else that rattles, buzzes, shakes or hums in a riff-o-matic racket" apparently. Should be good. Meanwhile over at 93 Feet East, Seattle singer-songwriter David Bazan plays his folk-rock. Tickets......

Welcome to Versus, where Londonist takes like for like and decides which one is more likeable. This, our first, VERSUS post pits two Upper Street bean slingers against each other in a no holds barred Lucha Libre fight to the death. In one corner, we have Mucho Mas (27 Upper Street N1 N1 9LQ). In the other, Tortilla (13 Upper Street N1 0PN). Both serve short and incredibly identical lists of efficiently assembled burritos......

Nu-metal stars Linkin Park are the main draw on Monday night, with support coming from the mighty Biffy Clyro as they play the first of two consecutive nights at the O2, and whilst tickets are all sold out, there are a few floating around on Scarlet Mist and such like. Stephen Fretwell plays a sold out show at The Troubadour, and reggae star Finley Quaye plays the first of a three night stay at the......

Having treated audiences at the May 2007 All Tomorrow's Parties' "ATP vs. The Fans" festival to her gentle brand of Northern Californian folk, Mariee Sioux returns to the UK this week to play a series of London gigs. A childhood friend of Rough Trade favourite Alela Diane, Sioux also grew up in the mountainous, artist-friendly town of Nevada City, a landscape which can be heard speaking through both singer's works. With a languid step......

Need a way to get rid of January ennui? Screw vitamins and detoxing, we're flinging ourselves headfirst at a fiery folky mid week fling with Paprika Balkanicus at Magpie's Nest, an eclectic folk/acoustic/experimental evening at the the Old Queen's Head on Wednesday. Nothing sounds quite as effective at banishing January blues than some in your face, Eastern European, gypsy riot delivered by 3 cool geezers in ties. Expect fiddles, accordians, stamping, whooping and smiling......

The London Art Fair opened to the public today in Islington. It's a massive art trade fair with modern and contemporary art to buy. There were many smart, be-scarved or brightly tie-d artsy types manning stalls looking bored or eating sandwiches and lots and lots of interesting art to ponder, point at and take photos of, which is apparently acceptable (I'm taking a photo to see if Flavia likes it, yah....). This is a......

Every month, the folks at Fancyapint? get together to vote for their top ten favourite pubs. These are recently visited pubs that for one reason or another (the ambience, the booze, the company) stuck in their collective memory. Kindly, these booze-savvy Fancyapinters have decided to share their latest picks with Londonist and all our readers. Cheers! Here’s the current list from Fancyapint? in no particular order of merit. They assure us that all ten......

New Years Eve is a funny one. Some people think it's the best night ever, and those who don't are kind of forced into thinking maybe they should be thinking that and invariably end up having a rubbish night. But how about you just think about it as an excuse to go dancing - that's never a bad idea. Here's our favourite dancefloor happenings tomorrow night. If it's dance music you want, then absolutely......

Hello Jeff! Ho ho ho and a bottle of rum - it's Christmas time! Happy Saint Jesus Day, to almost all of you! And what an event it is - a time for giving, sharing, and taking; a time for thinking about the past, as well as looking forward to the future, all the while contemplating the here and now; a time of remembrance and joy, coupled with inebriation, rage, and light misogyny. And......

Heads up people: the East London Line closes this Saturday. It will undergo a magical transformation that will take rather a long time but the line will reemerge from a 3 year chrysalis as a beautiful section of the newly tangerine London Overground network, linking the North and East London railways. You'll eventually be able to travel from Richmond in the West all the way round in a massive arterial horseshoe via the existing......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 17th December 1983: An IRA car bomb explodes near Harrods in Knightsbridge, killing six people (including three police officers) and injuring a further 85 Christmas shoppers. Tuesday – 18th December 1890: The world’s first ‘deep-level’ electric tube line opens, connecting Stockwell and King William Street. As we mentioned last year, the City & South London Railway would later become a part of the Northern Line as we......

After a quick break travelling the US, this Londonista is back to normality bringing the weekly roundup of whats happening in London. Monday night sees Oakland metal stars High on Fire grace UL. Tickets are available for £12 each on the door or from See tickets. Reformed 90's Brit rockers Shed Seven grace Shepherds Bush Empire, with a few tickets left at £17.50 each, if you really must indulge your nostalgia. Finally, Scritti Politti plays......

More Olympic cost rumbling Get inside MI5 via radio4 Lottery winners in Ealing, Islington and Kensington & Chelsea are running out of time Good Ken: Green500 scheme gets big firms to commit to reducing emissions Bad Ken: pigeons are starving in Trafalgar Square Image courtesy of Orhan via the Londonist flickr group.......

Langdon Park DLR station opened yesterday, to initially no fanfare, until Ken turned up with some free Oyster cards. Diamond Geezer has blogged in heartfelt detail about the "shiny alien mothership" lighting up a neglected, marginalised area. Langdon Park now easily links up with Canary Wharf and Stratford, where a second platform was also officially opened yesterday, possibly anticipating the immediate influx of people escaping Tower Hamlets for a day. TFL are consulting about......

So last Thursday we went to see Londonist-favourites Mitch (whom we interviewed a couple of months ago) play at the rather ambitiously-named Pleasure Unit in Bethnal Green. Here’s what we took away from the gig: A high-pitched ringing in the ears. Two guitars plus one bass plus one drummer plus forceful vocals plus small venue equals a very loud gig. The venue is OK, but not great. Sure, the bar staff are nice. But......

Londonist is a massive fan of two-wheeled transportation, especially when it comes with a gift voucher attached. Yes, the lucky residents of Islington can now give up the motor, get on the manual and be £100 richer. Or even £300 richer, for those who would otherwise fork out £200 annually on a parking permit. We were practically packing the bags and moving to the Borough upon reading this, but alas, the following recent government statistics......

The Londonist Music Minions have had a night off from their hectic gigging schedule tonight, and we hope that you have done the same. The party season is rapidly approaching, and you need at least one laid-back evening to conserve your energy for the rest of the week… If you can, start things off gently tomorrow (Tuesday) with one-time Zero 7 vocalist Sia at King’s College Student Union (tickets are officially sold out, but......

The dear old Evening Standard is all up in arms that people are being "forced" to shut their dustbin lids or risk not getting their rubbish collected. We're not quite sure why. Surely, putting your rubbish in a standard issue (240L, wheelie, locking) bin and keeping it shut helps keep our streets cleaner and safer? Foxes can't get at bin bags, things can't blow away, unsightly stacks of supermarket carrier bags and globs of spilled......