May's mayoral election was criticised by psephological purists for being all style over substance: much of Boris' appeal lay in his ebullient media persona, honed by regular appearances on Have I Got News For You. If certain rumours are to be believed, then BBC television shows could be the new proving ground for mayoral candidates - Labour insiders are apparently considering Sir Alan Sugar as their man for the 2012 election. Labour want a......

Ken's race advisor Lee Jasper steps down Al fresco boozers in Harrow - you're no longer welcome Tessa Jowell unveils Olympic legacy action plan London is Eighties pop star territory: Whitney Houston to follow Prince and Jacko with comeback gig Al Sugar meets Ann Summers: sex shop boss to enter charity Apprentice Cinematic Spitalfields courtesy of Homemade via the Londonist flickr group.......

Reality TV: Not quite the white-hot topic it maybe was a few months ago at the height of Shilpagate but still newsworthy, if you're a lazy newspaper editor with a comment space to be filled, anyway. What can there possibly be new to say on the subject? Well, a debate being held next Tuesday (3rd April) in the Southbank Centre aims to explore the shifting interface between "watcher" and "watched" embodied by Big Brother,......

TV Troll has been dilatory of late. We missed the return of our favourite Aussies on Monday (Kath & Kim, Mon 10pm BBC2), we didn't warn you about the return of X Factor (Fri 8.30pm ITV1), and, most damningly, we didn't even cover the Big Brother final. Apologies – but we reckon the blanket coverage of BB absolves us a bit, and we'd given up by the last fortnight anyway as it was becoming......

Two dark and disturbing despatches from the depths of D-list celebrity today. First up: central London is now a Pete Burns free zone. The ex-Celeb Big Brother 'star' was conditionally bailed for harrassing ex-boyfriend Jason Peters but has been ordered to wear an electronic tag and keep a 10pm to 6am curfew, and told to stay out of the congestion charge zone "unless he has a pre arranged appointment." Apparently when Pete turned up......

Who do you think will win then, Badger or Michelle? We'll find out who Sir Alan Sugar will be poking his digit at for the last time tonight at 9pm on BBC 2, as the second series of The Apprentice reaches it's conclusion. London's representative in the series (Ansell grew up sarf of the rivah, but has since decamped to 'London-on-sea') crashed out in episode 4, after a nasty experience with chickens, pizza and......

After getting thoroughly soaked this morning on the way to work (TV Troll's tolerance for H2O is somewhere around the level of the Wicked Witch of the West's) , we are in need of a nice night at home in front of the telly - and what a night it will be, oh yes. The problem is going to be deciding which channel to watch. For those who fancy a lot of back-slapping, a......

... As the Vengaboys once 'sang'. "Back to the island" for the viewer, at any rate - the characters in Lost (Tue 9pm/10pm C4) never left. And oh, what delights await us down the hatch? For the dedicated fan who has managed to avoid the billions of spoilers floating around in the web ether, the wait to find out what Locke's dynamite antics have uncovered is almost over - and about bloody time, too.......

The world of literary/artistic criticism can be wonderfully/infuriatingly obscure. Trying to read books that demand an hour per page (hello, The Order Of Mimesis!) can get a bit wearisome at times; trying to read books dedicated to ”werewolves, shamen, witches, demons and murderers” (hello, Nick Land on Bataille!) can be a real mindfuck. It’s a good thing that we have people like Slavoj Žižek around to make crits, if not a walk in the......

This evening we're being lazy and staying in and catching up on The Apprentice. Tomorrow though, is a completely different matter. One of our favourite new bands The Modern are playing at Duckie. Set to chart in the top twenty, the band have just released their new single Industry full of 80s flavours and synth sounds. Duckie is a stalwart of the Vauxhall gay scene, and a far cry away from the dark rooms......

TV Troll is hyperventilating right about now. Footballers Wive$ (Thur 9pm ITV1) is back on for a fifth series!!! YESSS!!!!!!!!!!!! (We know, we know, multiple exclamation marks are a sure sign of a diseased mind, but ... FOOTBALLERS WIVE$!!!! Oops, there we go again.) For snobs, the criminally insane, and people who live under rocks, all of whom may not appreciate the pure genius of this programme, we offer you the following episode synopsis,......

Have you been watching The Apprentice on BBC2? We have...in fact we might even go as far to say we're slightly addicted to it. When we heard they were going to import the Donald Trump-fronted version over from the States, and plonk Amstrad supremo Alan Sugar in the big boardroom chair we'll admit we were a bit cynical. But, contrary to expectations, the Beeb have made a decent job of the whole thing by......