Nobody likes traffic, do they? Especially not Madonna, who is apparently taking as a personal affront to musicians trying to make their gigs in the congestion zone. In an interview with Q magazine, the Britified American said, "I would make it so that young musicians, aspiring musicians wouldn't have to pay the congestion charge or pay taxes." What a dream... no C-charge for carrying a guitar. And no taxes, too? Sign us up for piano......

We've not lately delved into what's been bubbling away in the run-up to London's elections next year. So Wilkommen, Bienvenu, Welcome to this new and possibly occasional feature to catch up with what's going on out there. Let's have a rummage and see who's up and who's down: Mayor Ken fights back in a hefty spat with Evening Standard over a hatchet-job on his race advisor. Standard's tactics are questionable, but the story went......

This weekend column is brought to you by the founders of Niceties Tokens, Liz and Pete of Team Nice. 14. The Right To Protest It seems to me that the government is particularly exposed whenever it is seen to block the right of its citizens to protest. Freedom of speech and the right to protest are two of the founding pillars of democracy, and that is what the government is fighting so many wars......

What we now know about the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes- * The stories that Jean Charles acted suspiciously by running away from the police and jumping the barriers at Stockwell tube are untrue. * He was not wearing a bulky jacket or a bomb belt with visible wires hanging out. * Members of the police force knew this (for instance, the ones that followed and shot him.) * Senior officers knew that......

After an amazing weekend for the capital, we were wondering how long it would be for some good old fashioned political bitching to start. The answer seems to be "about 8 seconds" as Mayor Ken Livingstone launched an attack on a "staggering" £10,000 taxi bill put in for last year by one single London Assembly Member, Brian Coleman. Coleman chaired the assembly and claimed the costs were not for taxis per se, but car......

Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, MP for Henley, journalist, historian, author and everyone’s favourite upper-class twit is being considered as the Conservative candidate for London’s mayor. After being questioned on whether he would like to run in 2008 against Mayor Ken, Boris enthusiastically harumphed, "Being Mayor of London would be a fantastic job and anyone who loves London would want to consider the possibility very carefully." He went on to state that he does......

New York and London have always had a bit of rivalry going on, about who's best. In recent times, London seems to have got the edge - New York's Mayor, for example, expressed worries that London was moving ahead as the world's financial centre. And frankly, we know that our chocolate's a hell of a lot better. But now Mayor Bloomberg has gone further. Announcing his new plans to combat climate change, he commended......

Mayor Ken has blockaded himself inside a safe house in the country. Why? To escape the hired goons that Shell and BP and Texaco are sending around to break his kneecaps. Ken has signed a deal with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to receive oil relief for the poor of London. Patterned after home heating oil agreements Chavez made with Boston and New York, Venezuela's nationalized oil industry will offer a 20 per cent reduction......

Everyone's talking about the C-charge today. Five days before the extended western zone comes into play, there are a few pre-launch jitters. Although the number of vehicles entering the original zone has fallen by 20%, congestion and travel tmes are almost back to pre-charge levels. If you're wondering how the deuce those two facts square up, there are three schools of thought: 1. Mayor Ken points his newt-bitten finger at the utility companies. Firms......

All Londonist Sport's Christmases have come at once. It is being reported that today the NFL, the world's premier professional league of football American-style, is about to announce that a game will be played between the Miami Dolphins and the New York Giants at the soon-to-be-completed Wembley Stadium some time in the autumn. "Oh yes," we hear you murmur. "We remember that sort of thing from the late eighties and early nineties." Well, yes......

We're getting a 10-minute firework display to see in 2007: A sound and light show, including giant building projections, will precede the pyrotechnics at the London Eye, the mayor's office said. There will be free travel on selected services and no congestion charge between Christmas and the New Year. Mayor Ken Livingstone said the free travel would make it "easier to get out and about and safely home". Cool. We're already warming to the......

Looks like Ken got an early Christmas present: London Mayor Ken Livingstone has said he is delighted by figures suggesting a slump in the sale of 4x4 vehicles... "I'm delighted to see [4x4s] withering on the vines," Mr Livingstone told BBC London 94.9. The Times has a little more detail on the slump. Is this the beginning of the end for the Chelsea Tractor? As A Dodo (The obituaries you'd like to see -......

A jumbo jet was forced into a series of steep dives over London earlier today due to instrument failure. The Standard screams: "The aircraft dropped to its minimum permitted altitude of 1,200 feet meaning it was seconds from a major disaster." Mayor Ken is being urged not to block the expansion of London City Airport after he claimed recently that there would be no need for the airstrip once Crossrail is built. Good reviews......

Seven men are currently in custody after a football-related pub brawl in at the Cutty Sark pub in Thamesmead over the weekend resulted in the death of a 52-year-old man. Diane Abbott and Mayor Ken have warned that London needs more black teachers in order to "to harness and develop the talents and skills of all the city’s diverse communities". If London's suburbs were apples, "many of them would be bruised and past their......

A man was arrested yesterday afternoon in south east London as part of a major investigation into 'alleged international terrorism'. On Monday three other men were arrested in Hackney as part of the same investigation. Mayor Ken has announced his plans for an architecture and urban design unit which will "support the delivery of world-class architecture and sustainable and inclusive design across London’s built environment." Talking of which: Colliers Wood Tower has been voted......

Saturday July 8th sees the 6th Rise Festival taking place at Finsbury Park, Mayor Ken's freebie anti-racism gig; so maybe the one day in the year when he'll have to be nice to the Americans. Lord Coxon of Camden is headlining along with The Buzzcocks, The Wailers, Sway and, erm, Roy Ayers. No doubt a few other acts to be announced, perhaps we could recommend some of the fine bands featured in our juke......

Oh dear, it's all going to end in tears. Mayor Ken has said that he's seriously thinking about unleasing his team of environmentally friendly lawyers on the U.S. government in order to force their diplomats to pay the congestion charge. At a press conference today he said: "Londoners have to pay it, I see no reason why American diplomats shouldn't. I stand by everything I said about the ambassador...If he can't take the heat,......

Next month ITV will be hosting their annual live, televised debate with Mayor Ken 'two coffees' Livingstone. Called, quite obviously, The London Debate, the idea is to sit Ken in front of a large studio audience who will fire questions at him until he says something slightly controversial and possibly misinformed (probably about Jews). Apparently public transport is going to be high on the agenda and they're looking for "people with views on, and......

Mayor Ken has not been known to keep quiet when he really should press his lips together and just walk away in dignified silence. Last week, he managed to get some comment space in The Guardian, the paper that loves to love itself for being as open-minded and diverse as a multiracial, multicultural, multifaith inner-London junior school non-denominational not-Christmas show. Of course they would invite Ken to say something on the eve of a......

A hosepipe ban starts in London today. The inevitable panic-buying of water butts has started. Mayor Ken is facing another investigation. This time he told two Iraqi businessmen to "go back to Iran." Oops! But it's not all bad news for Ken - the United Arab Emirates have agreed to cough up the GBP 99,950 they owe in congestion charge fees. We wonder whether Ken's "persuausive powers" will work as well on the Americans.......

The Environment. Not just a nice word for University professors with funny beards and elbow patches, but an entire ecosystem that keeps us all alive. One would think then, that it would be foolish to mess with it, and luckily we have environmentally concerned figures like Mayor Ken making sure our land grabbing developers don't go messing everything up. Not so according to a new report from the London Assembly's Environment Committee, entitled Dash......

Ah, Monopoly. Londonist owes you a pint. Many a staid Christmas evening has been enlivened by your magic. Everyone wants to be the dog, so large it can eat a battleship; nobody is sure of the rules to ‘Free parking’, or if indeed it has any; predictable jibes will ensue over the ‘beauty contest’ card. And, of course, if only this were real money. With Christmas out of the way, and sales of the......

Mayor Ken has been out and about in Camden today alongside ex-New York Police Commissioner and poster boy for 'zero tolerance' Bill Bratton. As the Beeb reports the couple "toured the St Pancras and Somers Town area," and Bill was shown how the Safer Neighbourhoods' scheme operates. Bill also shared a bit of his policing wisdom with us, opting for the relatively uncontroversial "police should have good relationships with the local communities" line as......

Just a quick reminder that the next of Ken's regular press conferences is due to take place this morning, and it will be available to view live online if you want to tune in. Mayor Ken will be talking to assembled journalists and making a few announcements around 10 this morning and you can click here to view the webcast. Be warned though the picture and sound quality on these things are pretty bloody awful......

Londonist's record at publishing end of year polls has been a little sketchy as of late, so we thought we'd redress the balance a little bit by giving you a sneak preview of Time Out's Top 100 Movers & Shakers list of 2005 which is published this week. The list is designed to rank the "most influential and dynamic individuals of the year, who have had a major impact on the capital in 2005," so......

On our way home on Friday, we did a silly thing. We bought the Evening Standard. As usual, we flicked through the 'ES' magazine and marvelled at how a publication that was once semi-decent, has been transfomed into a brochure for gormless vampire-like socialites and puff pieces on photogenic actresses/models/whatevers. Then we had a gander at the paper itself, looking for how many headlines including the word 'chaos' we could find. During this joy-free......

Those are the words of Mayor Ken Livingstone, one of the quotes etched into a plaque commemorating the victims of the July 7th bombings. It also reads: "Under this tree people of all faiths and nationalities, united in grief, laid wreaths in memory of those killed on 7th July 2005, following the attacks on London's public transport system." Along with Ken's quote is this from Simon Milton, the Westminster Council leader: "For all Londoners in......

After the weekend spurge of violence we take heart today in the fact that At least two high-powered bows and 50 arrows have been stolen from an outdoor activity centre in north-west London. Although police are worried that such weapons could be dangerous in untrained hands we're confident that bows and arrows are only ever the weapon of choice for justice wielding vigilantes. There was Robin Hood for a start, and although he never......

So it's hot. You may have noticed. London Underground certainly have as they've rolled out their annual "Beat the Heat" message, encouraging passengers to carry a bottle of water with them or not use the tube if they're feeling unwell. Sound advice, but certainly no substitution for a permanent cooling solution, the absence of which must fall squarely on the shoulders of us, Joe Public. In July 2003 London Mayor Ken Livingstone challenged the......

South Bank Centre rent for the London Eye for one year? £65,000. Proposed SBC rent for the London Eye for one year? £1 million. Lord Hollick? £fucking minted. Resulting scandal? £noisy and noisome. Mayor Ken's intervention, slapping down the French, displaying the usual tact bypass, and calling Lord Hollick a prat? PRICELESS. Yes, we make no apologies for returning to the Eye fuss, and the SBC is probably wishing it had stuck to mugging......