Your Sunday morning best-of-Londonist weekly round-up. If you like it, please share it and forward to a friend.
London News
- Opening a Star Wars experience, Madame Tussauds is.
- London's Air Ambulance has launched an appeal for a second helicopter, which would allow it to extend daylight flying hours.
- See five previously off-show rooms when revamped Eltham Palace opens in April.
- From September, lorries that don’t have safety measures to protect cyclists will be banned from London's roads.
- Bad news for the Save Soho Campaign: police evicted squatters occupying the former 12 Bar club.
- 'Revenge evictions' should be outlawed within the next few months.
- Shops in Brixton railway arch face eviction by Network Rail.
- Welfare reforms are driving London’s poor and vulnerable into deeper poverty and homelessness.
- All fish in Clissold Park will be poisoned later this month to eradicate a non-native species.
- Even developers think a move to let them contribute less towards affordable housing is stupid.
Must-read articles
- Nine reasons why Dippy the diplodocus should be removed from the Natural History Museum.
- TfL quietly made changes to DLR services, but forgot to provide a map for new routes — so we made one.
- Why is there an elephant at Waterloo station? Sensible question really. Here's the answer.
- Our short film series takes a trip to a little place in Gospel Oak.
- Show us your puns: we renamed Oscar movies to give them more London-y titles.
- Video: do you know about the devils of St Peter's, a site of architectural revenge?
- Brighten up your weekend with a gallery of London's mosaics.
- Take a look at where your team currently sits in the Londonist football league (unless you're a Millwall or QPR fan, in which case, maybe don't look).
- Love them or hate them, find out what pigeons do for London and how the city would be different without them.
- Miss World Nutella Day on Thursday? Find out where to get the good stuff (including Nutella pizza!) in London.
- Video: why is part of Kensington referred to as Hot and Cold Corner by cabbies?
- Embrace the macabre: where to dance with death in London.
Top reviews
- Tate Modern's Marlene Dumas retrospective: uninspiring and, dare we say, boring ★☆☆☆☆
- Art, music and onomatopoeia all blend in Christian Marclay's latest exhibition ★★★★☆
- The (After) Life of Cook & Moore had a good premise, but the plot all gets a bit much ★★☆☆☆
- Oh What A Lovely War still hits the target, 50 years on ★★★★☆
- Wild Worlds is a smorgasbord of interactive entertainment exploring our animal instincts ★★★☆☆
- Turkish pide at Alan Yau's new venture is good but lacking in veggie variety ★★★☆☆
- David Alymejd's Faces exhibition is grotesque and surreal ★★★☆☆
- Red Bastard: where comedy meets therapy led by someone who looks like what you’d get if a space-hopper mated with Kim Kardashian’s buttocks ★★★★★
Things to do
- Peckish? Get thee to one of these foodie pop-ups this month.
- Too much theatre choice? Step off the beaten track and try fringe theatre.
- Volunteers need: get involved with the Thames River Watch Big Count later this month.
- We're giving you the chance to get two-for-one advance tickets to Museum of London's Bohemian London Late.
- Pancake Day is coming. Better get practicing your tossing.
- Booze and culture sit side by side in London's artiest bars.
Coming up this month: Roundhouse Rising 2015
The Roundhouse’s annual festival of emerging music returns on 16 February with an exciting line-up of live music plus industry masterclasses, panels, workshops and creative projects too. Rising 2015 will see the Roundhouse team up with BBC Introducing, DIY Magazine, Coda and 13 Artists to bring some of their hottest music picks for 2015, including Beth Jean Houghton’s new incarnation Du Blonde, FTSE, Jagaara, Tim Exile, Shlomo and Reeps One.
The festival is also dedicated to showcasing their own emerging talent, with Roundhouse Resident Artists opening the show each night and young creative performances throughout. Roundhouse Rising takes place between 16-22 February at Camden's Roundhouse, with tickets costing just £3-£8. Visit the Roundhouse Rising 2015 website for more information.
This week’s Best of Londonist is sponsored by Roundhouse.
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