This year, when Zippos Circus came to Richmond -- its 20th annual stop -- it was forced to make a rather unseemly exit that apparently "caused traffic chaos and left behind a trail of destruction" that left Richmond "a muddy disgrace." Now that reporting, while true in many ways, doesn't exactly give the circus a fair break. True, it took them 12 hours instead of the typical 2 to move off Twickenham Green, but the......

With 2008 racing from winter to summer with nary a hint of spring to be scented, mid-May finds us enjoying glorious weather and turning our thoughts to happy days at the local lido. Despite dozens of closures over the years since the lido's post-war heyday - inspiring such evocative imagery of lost sites in books like Paul Talling's Derelict London - many of London's lidos are still going strong, and some, like London Fields,......

Crime - how much does it cost? About £400 per Londoner, apparently. This is the claim made by the TaxPayers' Alliance. The group, dedicated to "campaigning for lower taxes and better government", has divined this sum by taking Home Office and police data on the economic and social costs of crime, then factoring in criminal justice system bills and adding "security measures, physical and emotional costs." Dividing this total - some £3bn - by......