Our beloved Routemaster's retirement has taken on a melancholy air. Seeing those "heritage" routes trundle along the Strand with nary a passenger on them, a bored conductor with his ticket machine noosed forlornly around his neck, is a sad sight to behold, and a humiliating end for these once-proud beasts. The Japanese, however, aren't nearly so disrespectful to their elders. Since April a Routemaster with the number 190 displayed on its destination board has......

The all-new, caring, sharing, environmentally sound Tory party wants us to live with the same spirit as their very own bumptious leader, all biking to work and wind turbines and eco-harmony. To that end they've announced households could be paid for recycling their rubbish under a Conservative government. Rightfully castigating Labour's predictably stentorian plan to fine non-recyclers, the Tories have been inspired by a US scheme in which households are paid $50 a month......

Londonist asks that most pressing of daily concerns: where to go on your lunch break? Edokko 50 Red Lion Street WC1R 4PF Nearest Tube: Holborn 0207 242 3490 12pm-2pm, 6pm-10pm (Monday-Saturday) Expect to Pay: £10+ for mains/set lunches (under £5 for ala carte items) Rating: 8 out of 10 We really wanted to give this Japanese restaurant an even higher rating than a solid “8” and perhaps if our expectations had been a little......

You may remember that we're not exactly lukewarm about this place. We were even up for finding love here. I guess you could say we're fans. Nothing has changed with a change in exhibition: Sleeping and Dreaming is marvellous and you must go. For a start, it's free. Nought pee. You can just swan through the doors, turn left and there you are. But that's where it gets dark and you immediately start watching......

About 18 months ago a band called Cazals had one spiky indie hit that we loved playing dancing to in the indie discos. It was called Poor Innocent Boy and then we never heard anything about them again. Friends with Doherty (boo) and Bloc Party (woo), we forgot about them entirely until an email appeared telling us they were supporting the mighty Daft Punk in Japan this week. Rather than just wallowing in indie obscurity......

A glimpse of the future for London rail travel was unveiled today at Hitachi’s depot in Ashford. (And this dumb-broad Londonista thought they just made tellies and stuff). We are to get a bullet train (which some droll spark has named the ‘javelin’ in honour of the Olympics – geddit?) as of 2009. The aim is not only to whisk sports spectators from downtown St. Pancras over to the main-goings-on at the Olympic stadium in......

And so to our final rugby watching venue post with just 4 teams remaining to accommodate. Italy play Portugal tonight in Paris, 7pm Bar Italia - where else? Japan crunch with Wales tomorrow in Cardiff at 8pm. We didn't think Japan would be the hardest nut to crack but our badgering and internetting and random contacting of Japanese people hasn't turned up a definitive option. So, we'll give you a unconfirmed one. Sirocco London......

Experimental hardcore stars The Locust play The Underworld on Monday night. Tickets are £12 each, and still available for box office collection. Emo favourites Circa Survive play the Barfly, though tickets are long gone. The Ravonettes play Bush Hall for a sold out show, former Japan frontman David Sylvian plays Royal Festival Hall, with a smattering of tickets available at £37.50 each. John Mayer plays the first of two sold out nights at the Royal......

We all know that London property prices are shockingly expensive. But just in case you were in any doubt about it, Halifax, Britain's biggest mortgage lender, has released new figures that leave little room for debate. The average price of a home in London is now £313,122. In the rest of the South East, that figure drops slightly to a mere £259,904. That means that the average home is now above the level at......

Londonist asks that most pressing of daily concerns: where to go on your lunch break. Toku Restaurant (at the Japan Culture Centre) 212 Piccadilly W1J 9HG Map Average Lunch Price: £10 Rating: 8 out of 10 Consistently ranked among the best Japanese restaurants in London (usually noted for its authenticity as in this ItchyLondon listing and this LondonTown.com review), bustling Toku is indeed a noteworthy Piccadilly Circus landmark to keep in mind. And it’s......

London's live comedy scene is the best in the world. That's a fact! Admittedly, it's not a fact that I can back up with evidence, because I've only ever been to one other country. And to be honest, it's not so much a fact, as something I often hear other people saying, and that I have copied. But doesn't it feel like it should be true? After all, last Monday alone there was over......

The epitome of mythical, mysterious, magical, Blonde Redhead are back with their seventh album "23" and played Koko this week at the end of a UK tour before jetting off to perform in Europe, Israel, Australia, Japan and the US. The subdued lighting, ornate backdrop and intimacy of Koko suited them perfectly, the venue packing their hordes of worshipping fans together tightly. The set kicked off with "Dr Strangelove", a track from the new......

Coming up is the UBS Openings: The Long Weekend, which we loved last year and this year there is an even more impressive programme of film, music, performance and visual art. Get out your diaries, set your watch, take a deep breath and get a bit excited... Friday 25 May To kick off the Long Weekend, French artist Mathieu Briand will create a massive sound installation in the Turbine Hall; basically, a huge recording......

Although largely un-reported by the mainstream press, Arsenal Ladies Football Club have this week have put the cherry on top of a feat which is a minor miracle in football terms. This accomplishment has never been bettered or equalled by their English counterparts, male or female, and unlikely to occur again. By securing the Premier League title, The UEFA Cup, the League Cup and the FA Cup they have powered their way to an......

Fresh Next Week John Lanchester's third novel Family Romance is the story of an extraordinary family - from his grandparents’ beginnings in rural Ireland and colonial Rhodesia, through his father’s wartime separation from his parents and his mother’s tragic first love, her decision to become a nun and her adoption of a new identity. Next Wednesday, 7pm, £6, The London Review Bookshop, 14 Bury Place, WC1A 2JL, 020 7269 9030. Givin’ ‘em away: Tomorrow......

This Day In London’s History 1937: A Japanese aircraft lands at Croydon Airport, setting a world record for the fastest flight from Tokyo to London. In the 1930s there had been considerable interest in establishing records for long distance flights, and a prize had been offered for the first flight between Paris and Tokyo to take less than 100 hours. However nobody had yet won this prize, despite many attempts, including one that failed......

The Guardian has explained that Pricewaterhouse Coopers has explained that London has the highest incomes of any city outside the United States. The 11 cities with the highest average income in the world are all American with London coming in at number 12. In fact, the income generated by London is equivalent to the Gross Domestic Product of Sweden or Switzerland. London has an average GDP per capita of £27,600. When you crunch all......

As London Fashion Week struts onto the headlines catwalk, the debate over whether fashion models are too thin took another thrilling turn when Sasha Wilkins, fashion editor for The Observer Magazine, observed that, no, they weren't too thin. However, on Saturday, Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, said that, yes, they were too thin. Somebody somewhere tried to divert the discussion toward the national problem of life-threatening disorders like bulemia and anorexia, and how those afflictions......

Londonist likes pastries. Especially inexpensive, tasty international ones. Towards the very end of 2006, Japanese cream puff meisters Beard Papa's came to town and set up shop on Oxford Street. The profiterole-like creations have already taken Japan and parts of the U.S. by storm; (Gothamist covered them a while back). London marks the first European outpost of what's shaping up to be puffy pastry dynasty. We were the only non-Japanese customer in the store,......

Tonight is the night when the dreams of millions of video game fans come true - it's the long awaited launch of the interesting named Nintendo Wii. We've not been keeping as up to date as we should on the Wii, probably because we're surrounded by consoles we've used for ten minutes and then forgotten about, but if you're not a big gaming fan then you should know a little bit about this as......

We like quizzes here at Londonist, but we don't go to nearly enough of them hence this being only our 4th ever quiz review. We're rubbish. Have you been to any good ones recently? Name and location of pub The Three Kings is in fancy Clerkenwell, past Turnmills, down a fancy road opposite a fancy church. We're being bitter as we quite fancied living in the house next door. Your nearest tube is Farringdon......

Ok, try not to spit your breakfast everywhere, but London has been voted the best overall city for public transport in the world! According to a survey on Tripadvisor.com one in four respondents reckoned our Tube and bus systems were way better than those in New York (16% of the vote) and Paris (a crappy 12%). We've got to ask: have any of these people ever been to Japan, Singapore, Germany...anywhere? As much as......

This day in London’s History 1948 The last Olympics to be held in London draw to a close. With most of Europe still under ration and all the piggybanks long smashed to pieces, it wasn’t a universally popular decision to hold the XIV Olympiad on this side of the Atlantic, if at all. Still, London got the nod, with a slightly remoulded Wembley as the focus. We weren’t exactly the most magnanimous of hosts:......

A surprising headline, to be sure, but we shouldn’t be that shocked. After all, he was first considered for the job six years ago. Then he was said to be unhappy with administrators overseeing team affairs, but now Carlos Caetano Bledorn Verri, Dunga to his friends, captain of Brazil’s 1994 world cup winning side and member of the Queens Park Rangers board since Gianni Paladini’s arrival as majority shareholder in 2004, has succumbed to......

We get to see a lot of high quality performing arts in London, just by going outside and hanging around. The National Theatre is hosting another Watch This Space Festival with lots of free outdoor performances to stumble across as you wander along the Thameside walk. The plucky performers who risk the unpredictability of British summertime weather range from steel pan musicians, "anarchic silent comedy from Japan", pyrotechnics, and... three women on three enormous......

Well, once we've recovered from the excesses of the Chap Olympics, we shall be embarking on the next part of this week's Cultural Crawl. There's so much to see, so much to do, the sun is out and anyway, sleep is for the weak... get out and about and let us know what you got up to on Monday. Take your pick and plan your schedule around the following: Friday 14 July Waterloo Carnival......

"Some people are in the pie shop... they think it's all over... it is now! It's steak & onions in English ale!!!" Yes, while the rest of the world was distracted by some sporting festival or other Londoners knew that the real way to the world's heart was through its stomach. And so it was that the great, traditional pie making nations of England and Japan took to the counters of quality comestible purveyors......

It's time for another Londonist Culture Crawl though in the current hot weather, the temptation to slump into a sticky puddle of distinctly uncultured gloop is rather overwhelming. Nonetheless, for those armed with enough Friday 7 July Being the first Friday of the month, go along to Tate Britain for the July Friday Late. This Friday is the return of the South West Fest Party - an annual celebration of the SW1 community. Music......

Here we go, here we go, here we goooooo with the second half of our look at the second set of matches... Group E Our team ratings have correctly called two games in three so far and nailed both of these fixtures. Our hunches about the vulnerability of the Czechs and the Italians were sadly less well founded. Italy had to wait a long time for the killer goal against a forceful Ghana, but......

With no Glastonbury this year, and Reading not really offering anything inspired in the way of headliners the Londonist have shockingly been left feeling somewhat anti-UK for festivals this summer. Handily, as British music is still regarded as one of the coolest goddamn things out there, we can visit the world but still hear the sounds of London (and everywhere else!) resonating. We'll be going into these with more depth in the next few......