Liverpool Street is back to normal. (Whatever that is.) Mysterious blazing stunt truck puzzles Kent police. Electric cars are moving ahead in London. If you see what we mean. Boris claims Muslim ancestry…but Muslims still back Ken. The airport strikes are off. Will it/won’t it snow? Piccie courtesy of angleocesare’s flickr photo stream.......

Londonist is pleased to learn that after yesterday’s dramatic scenes when fire broke out at the Royal Marsden Hospital, the damage is nothing like as severe than one might have imagined. In spite of Brown’s best efforts to take credit for the sterling efforts of the emergency services, all praise really is due to the staff of the hospital for what seems to have been a thoroughly calm and competent evacuation. Not that Londonist was......

In all our post new year haze, we almost forgot to wish you a very happy 2008! Whether you danced, drank, watched tv or slept through the whole damn thing, these are some of our favourite New Year Celebration photos. Fireworks as seen from Vauxhall Bridge......

Well, the first day back at work for many of us, and we've all probably not been the most productive ever. So in spite of our shambolic return to regular posting, here's a quick recap of all the stories we would have covered if we didn't just want to crawl back into bed. A week too late for a white Xmas, snow is expected to fall in London tomorrow! That would be all types......

Breakfast DJ Kevin Greening dies. Always seems that much sadder at this time of year. The New Year Honours List has been around for a few days now. When Londonist gets time, we’ll go through and pick out all the London noteworthies. There’s a surprise. Police think it might get a bit busy in London tonight. There’s hope yet that the airport strikes can be averted. New Year’s resolution? Let TfL show you the......

We're still wondering whether civil servant, Trushar Patel, is either a clever sod, just another thieving crook, or a bit of both. Either way he's spending the next 18 months on the tax payers board and lodging for: conspiring to procure the execution of a valuable security. Or, in the long-lasting Queen's English, he swindled London Underground out of twenty two grand by getting his family to fill in bogus fare refund forms. Now......

There are plans afootie to make clubs pay for match policing…. …the funds reaped from which will no doubt be a help when the police do really silly things like stealing someone’s wheelchair. Either the BNP is going soft, or ballet is showing its harder side - an unlikely liaison is announced. There are doubts about a lot of Russian things at the mo – the latest being a will they/won’t they situation over......

Trying to end the year on a positive, if unglamorous note: Olympic demolition complete and Games declared on track West Ham United get behind campaign to stop young people killing each other, Home Office campaign criticised for not being strategic enough Winehouse arrested, bailed and declared biggest selling artist of the year while Dad slags off Doherty in the press Look out for Lily blooming in the spring Sobering image of Plaistow Fire Station......

First it's our music venues, now it seems even our police stations are up for grabs. With a potential value of £1.5 billion, the Metropolitan Police property protfolio is quite a cash-cow. No wonder then, that they're going to be reviewing the number of nicks. This asset Management strategy predicts that some stations may close to be replaced with smaller facilities across the (32) boroughs. Unsurprisingly, there are a few concerns. Mike Green, councillor......

Straight out of Steptoe and Son - bogus bin men bag bonuses. Straight out of a Whitehall farce - illegal immigrant home office worker to be deported. Straight out of a Bond movie - driverless people shuttles at Heathrow. Straight out of real life - the bit-too-much-booze bus. Straight out of a Dickensian novel - immigrant detention at Heathrow is getting worse. Reminds-us-of-the-end-of-the-world piccie courtesy of paniek’s flickr photo stream.......

While pigeons are getting a bit of stick today, heartwarming news of sparrows getting new homes at London Zoo courtesy of prisoners in Spring Hill prison balances the scale somewhat. After a long absence, sparrows have come back to London and are being housed in ten brand new bird boxes built by prisoners at Spring Hill prison in Buckinghamshire. The question "Where have all the sparrows gone?" crops up again and again in nostalgia-tinged......

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......

While the turkeys are getting nervous and the butchers are doing a roaring trade in this crucial last week before Christmas, a very unwelcome slaughter has taken place in Letchmore Heath, Herts. Gangotri was a sacred cow at the Bhaktivedanta Manor Hindu temple; she had been injured in what the report calls 'a mating injury' last September and had been unable to stand since then. She was given a fatal dose of barbiturate by......

Bomb scare hoax caller convicted Met mutiny over backdating payrise Pigeon flypast for pet heroes £14m of fake pound coins land counterfeiter in jail Dobbey the Enfield reindeer goes to the pub Image courtesy of Ian Muttoo via the Londonist flickr group.......

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......

Fancy getting sporty next summer? Two day athletics beano planned. Thames Gateway staff turnaround. Don't suppose it will be the last. Peckham's Universal Church of the Kingdom of God is praying for a financial revelation. Daffy immigration rules hit football. 2012 budget in the news again: this time it's security issues. Image taken in St James' Park yesterday courtesy of daveograve@ via the Londonist flickr group.......

Alexis Lemaire saw to it that 'mathlete' irrevocably entered our vernacular when he broke the record he set for mental calculation at London's Science Museum. He correctly determined the 13th root of a randomly generated two hundred-digit number to the 13th root (now consider that your average calculator can't even determine things to 13 decimal places, never mind trying to calculate anything with a two hundred digit number). As the calculation only took Lemaire......

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.......

Olympic budget continues to be a source of confusion if not merriment. The RMT plays about with figures: fly to the Caribbean or train it from London to Scotland – you tell us which is cheaper?! Kilburn’s Tricycle Theatre sees a charity screening of a film in aid of 7/7 memorial fund. The Met has appointed a new counter terrorism chief. 2012 building piccie courtesy of diamond geezer’s flickr photo stream.......

You may have noticed the streets were very crowded in central London on Saturday but this wasn't a pre-emptive swipe at the shops for early Christmas shopping - it was London's participation in a global rally on climate change. Coinciding with the climate change summit in Bali, there were demonstrations, marches and general activity around the world to put pressure on governments to prioritise climate change measures. Targets for lowering greenhouse emissions as set......

What we learned this weekend whilst you were enjoying all the fun of the fair: Weird statistic of the week: Emmas from Sutton and Evas from Kingston should not be allowed behind the wheel. How on earth do they get these stats? Two arrests have been made following Saturday’s night bus murder. Londonist would so like to like night buses, but it is hard. Find out what north-of-the-borderers make of us. Mummy gets a......

A group of men robbed a St Pancras telecommunications firm on Thursday evening by dressing up as policemen, in a plot bearing a touch of Alanis Morissette about it. The thieves were let into the building by one of the firm’s employees, after claiming to be investigating reports of people on the roof. Once inside, they ditched their pretensions to law and order and tied up five members of staff. They then made off......

As Londoners we pootle around our fair city doing Londonish things: pretending to read anything off the Orange shortlist, pretending not to read the free newspapers, pretending not to notice how bad the man sitting next to us on the bus smells, rush-rush-rush with our minds usually elsewhere. And then once in a while we focus and spot something unusual, something that hasn’t happened before, or that wasn’t there yesterday. Thus it is with spaces......

The Brixton Academy rocks, but Brixton doesn’t. The buzz of yet another film premiere. Bad weather forecast for tomorrow’s climate march. TPT BMW AWOL Now immigration is an issue in footie too. Aren't tourists fun? Piccie courtesy of Adam Tinworth’s flickr photo stream.......

London is getting more dangerous by the day ladies and gentlemen. It's not enough that a quick trip down Oxford Street is going to leave you gasping like a floundering flounder on the deck of a homeward bound fishing trawler, now you can't even grab the number of your local brass from that phone booth down the road in safety. Well, not if you live in Camden, so breath easy SE London for the......

Or is it? Samina Malik, self-described “lyrical terrorist”, yesterday became the first women sentenced under the Terrorism Act. Found guilty last month of collecting materials “useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism”, including original poetry with titles such as How to Behead and The Living Martyrs, the 23-year-old West Londoner was given a suspended jail sentence, during which time she will be required to undertake supervised community service for 18......

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......

Bitterness aside (yes, we too were not on the pulse fast enough to bag tickets before their price sky-rocketed), we are rather enjoying the bitch fight that is ‘should Ewan McGregor have been cast as Iago in the Donmar Warehouse’s production of Othello?’ Bloomberg, while slightly disappointed by McGregor’s under-emphasis of evil intent, are definitely the most complimentary of his performance: Fortunately, Ewan McGregor gives a very creditable performance -- codpiece and all ... The......

Hackney bringing up the rear in schools table Independent athletics anti doping body to be set up for 2012 Dubai considering selling up in London The story of the Sats results Image of the Regent Street Christmas lights courtesy of ADevlin-Photographer via the Londonist flickr group.......

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......