Despite the slow waterwheel turn of time and the thickening of cataracts, Londonist remembers school well. Oh what fun we had; and did it really turn out bad? All we learned at school was how to bend not break the rules. Yup, school did by us alright, and we could bore the chalk off a blackboard with tales of how we loved it. We won't, but pupils at an east London primary school have......

The government today accepted recommendations from a report about improving public-military relations which included the appointment of a "cadet ambassador" for London to do "everything possible" to urge schools to start Combined Cadet Forces and get their pupils to join them and enjoy "a taste of the military". Currently, there are 253 CCFs in England and Wales but only about 60 are in state schools. They provide extra-curricular "military-orientated and adventurous training" with the......

By not taking responsibility for the violent crime and anti-social behaviour of their pupils, teachers are merely ignoring their own mistakes, according to London’s new Deputy Mayor, Ray Lewis. In a statement guaranteed to rile the National Union of Teachers, Mr Lewis told a meeting on street violence that "schools are the only businesses which blame their customers for their own failings". Having been appointed by Boris Johnson to help cut violent conduct on......

Colour us surprised: those original 2012 Olympic costs were totally unrealistic Hounslow residents, consider yourselves warned: a teachers strike this Thursday means the yoof will be on the loose Arrests have been made in a 21-year old murder case Here comes the bat cab! That's, um, a battery-powered cab, not the kind of motor Bruce Wayne would be seen in. Pubs are closing at frightening rate. Do your bit, people - get plastered in......

Seems that a fastidious south London council took last week's severe weather warnings just a little bit too seriously. Lollipop men and ladies in Merton were ordered to stay away from their regular crossings as the storms hit on Monday, lest they found themselves in a spot of bother. Council officials hauled the team of 'school crossing patrollers' (as they're drably known) off the streets following concerns that, as high winds whipped around the......

A school in east London has hit upon a novel way to reign in the young'uns and keep them from that common bugbear, anti-social behaviour: get them pondering philosophical questions about life, the universe and everything. Gallions Primary School in Warsall, Beckton, introduced a course called Philosophy for Children in 2004, and in just a few years it has reaped great rewards. Behaviour at the school has dramatically improved so much that they've launched......

The Greyhound Liberation Front (actually ‘Greyhound Action’) pickets the British Greyhound Racing Board at a London hotel. In Barking, perhaps? Oh, no, Bayswater…well, dogs bay as well. Metal detectors for schools plan is to be announced for problem establishments. Global Day of Prayer to be held in Millwall football stadium: wonder if it will help their league status? Lonely male readers should try to get themselves a girl with plenty of add-ons - ladies......

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.......

Another faith school is ruffling feathers, following on from yesterday's news about the JFS - and this one hasn't even opened yet. The Hindu Krishna-Avanti school is due to open next year in Harrow, north-west London and is causing a certain amount of concern in stipulating that at this point, the school authorities will prioritise applications from Hindu families practicing the religion regularly, mainly needing proof of regular worship at home and at temples,......

Jewish Free School (JFS) in North London, Britain’s top Jewish state school and indeed one of Britain’s largest schools overall, was yesterday charged with breaking anti-discrimination laws and ordered to remove a section of its admissions criteria that gives preference to ethnically Jewish children over religious Jewish children. The decision comes in light of a series of controversies in which the off-spring of Jewish converts have been rejected from a place at JFS on the......

Amidst calls for their boss' resignation, it's reassuring to know that some London cops haven't lost sight of the big issues facing modern policing - namely, getting "ethnically diverse" mascots on our streets. "PCSO Steve", whose beat covers primary schools in and around Sutton, has spent the past couple of years attending community events and glad-handing celebrities and politicians. Now before you get all high-horsey about the money wasted on PCSOs, we should point......

Close to 300 cases of measles have been reported to City and Hackney Primary Care Trust over the last 5 months. It is thought that the outbreak is directly linked to increasing numbers of parents deciding against the MMR vaccination for their darlings in the light of the well publicised but now discredited research which linked it to autism. With hundreds of spotty kids sickening in East London direct action is being taken by......

This weekend, Rowan Walker wrote in the Observer of her torturous but strangely addictive experience of training at the Islington Boxing Gym to raise awareness of the fierce campaign to get female boxing recognised as an Olympic Sport for the 2012 Games in London. According to the International Olympic Committee, "Boxing ranks among the Olympic Games' most illustrious sports" yet only for men, to date. As Walker's article indicates, the number and calibre of......

Hands up who remembers Kriss Akabusi running though Greenwich with the torch a few years back? Us too. We also remember thinking it would have been great fun to have a go. It appears that if we were still at school, me might have just got that chance. Secondary schools from all over the city can nominate pupils to carry the torch through London for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The torch makes its way......

The judicial system never ceases to astonish us. We learned this week of the tale of a South London boy of twelve who has been slapped with a rap for Grievous Bodily Harm following improper use of an elastic band during some class-time high jinx. This follows another recent episode when a Lancashire lass was fined £40 and threatened with an ASBO for crayoning a single letter on a neighbour’s wall. Anyway, the poor little......

If you have ever longed to exorcise yourself of those dreary afternoons in chilly church halls and torturous tinned food stockpiling that seemed to be the sole remit of Harvest Festivals at primary schools two decades ago, then your chance to experience a very different kind of Harvest Festival is taking place in Camberwell this Sunday. Inspirational art organisations motiroti and home are both jumbles of creative, international, artistic energy and will be combining......

Londonist was rather pleased to note that in one London borough at least, the public is fighting back against the difficulties faced in finding secondary school places. Urban legends abound as to the number of embryos currently signed up for good secondary schools, such is the state of educational play in London today. Parents in Lambeth haven’t exactly taken matters into their own hands – we’re not talking underground education cells or guerilla schooling here......

The Treatment Rooms is a privately owned three-story house in the West London suburb of Chiswick, which over the past several years has had its exterior walls transformed into an ongoing self-contained conceptual piece of mosaic art. The vibrant and well executed mosaics, which cover the front wall of the house and the back garden wall are well worth paying a visit to see. Recently, Londonist took an opportunity to visit the Treatment Rooms......

If you’re looking for a new place to live, and want to live more greenly at the same time, Londonist has discovered the perfect tool to help you: Walk Score. A cunning twist on Google Maps, give it a postcode and it’ll calculate how many useful things, such as shops, restaurants, cinemas, schools and parks, are within a mile of your house. Meaning you can use your car less, get fitter, save money and......

The Health Professions Council is a statutory body set up to regulate 13 health professions including dieticians, radiographers, paramedics and arts therapists. As they say, when you need one of these people, You need to know that they meet professional standards. You also need to know that someone will take action if things go wrong. Unfortunately, the farcical nature of such regulation has been highlighted today by the case of Derek Gale, working out......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 9th July 1968: The Hayward art gallery on the South Bank is opened by the Queen. Tuesday – 10th July 1958: Britain’s first parking meters are installed in Mayfair. Soon there would be 625 of them in the district, charging 6 pence per hour. Wednesday – 11th July 1848: Waterloo Station is opened. The original station would survive just 52 years until 1900, when it would be......

Whether they are singing the praises of greasy spoon cafés in Kentish Town or lazy afternoon walks down Parkway, London certainly belongs to Saint Etienne. Formalising their status as our indie poet laureates, they've spent the year as Artists in Residence at Southbank Centre. Tonight they unveil the fruits of their creative labour, a 75 minute film entitled "This Is Tomorrow". Directed by Paul Kelly and produced by Andrew Hinton, the film presents a......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 4th June 1762: A newly installed peal of ten bells at St Mary-le-Bow church in the City is rung for the first time to mark the 25th birthday of George III. Tuesday – 5th June 1734: The Bank of England’s current premises on Threadneedle Street are opened for business. Wednesday – 6th June 1997: Another anniversary for the Bank of England, which uses its newly granted independence......

Describe an urban ‘Street Pastor’ with his or her distinctive blue jacket and you may well bring to mind a God-bothering New-York-style Guardian Angel, or some fresh development in the Jesus Army. However, Pastor Les Isaac, took time out from his crusade for peace to explain to Londonist that his multi-denominational Street Pastors are nothing like either. "We come as peaceful people to try and maintain peace," he said, adding that, "if your approach......

If people want something to look at while they are in hospital, ask them what they would rather see: a qualified nurse approaching with a fresh bedpan or a dramatic black and white photo of the local area. Neither are particularly appealing especially if you're recovering from surgery but it's an urgent interior decoration dilemma that Kingston Hospital is facing at the moment. In an email leaked last Friday to the London Health Emergency......

This is our favourite assault on police story ever. The headline: Woman accused of spraying cop with breast milk The details: It is alleged she was detained for trying to steal shoes from Lizard, in Hill Street, Richmond. After being arrested for theft she sprayed an officer with milk from her right breast. There's a 'right tit' joke in there somewhere... We expect the Standard to start an anti-breast campaign later today. The Sun......

Life on Mars sequel to be set in London in 1981. Gene Hunt returns. Oxford St reopens after electrical explosion. Welsh chap to run 262 miles to start of London Marathon. Ken wants knife detectors in schools. And a mural depicting murdered teen Billy Cox is at the centre of a row in Clapham. Image courtesy of mirrorgirl via the Londonist flickr group.......

The phrase "it's PC gone mad!" usually comes from the mouths of those such as Bernard Manning, taxi drivers and the hairdresser who just cut this Londonista's hair who used the phrase with regard to immigrant children being allowed to go to 'our' schools. Yikes. However, perhaps it applies with regard to an incident last week which left a Barnet councillor facing calls to resign after he 'blacked up' as part of his Nelson......

Tessa 'Watch me keep a straight face' Jowell finally gave in and announced that yes, the 2012 Olympics will cost in excess of £9 billion. Thats a lot of zeros. Can't we just buy everyone a copy of Escape to Victory instead? Everyone's a winner in that except the Nazis. Central government will pay 4.93 billion pounds - in addition to 1 billion pounds already committed - to pay for the games and regeneration......

No, seriously. We NEED them: A shortage of donor bodies is putting medical teaching at risk, the Royal College of Surgeons has warned. About 1,000 bodies are needed every year to teach anatomy to medical students, it is estimated. But the college predicted a 30% national shortfall in the number of bodies needed by medics in the current academic year. And our city is the worst with an expected 40% shortfall expected. London, what......