Category Archives: London

Family of student murdered in London 10 years ago make fresh appeal for help

Posted on by

Ola Raji’s sisters ask public for support in finding killers of 21-year-old, who was shot and stabbed in Peckham

The family of a 21-year-old student who was shot and stabbed while cycling home after watching a football match 10 years ago has renewed an appeal for the public’s help to find those responsible.

Ola Raji had spent the evening at a friend’s house watching a Champions League match between Bayern Munich and Porto before he was killed in Peckham, south London on the night of Tuesday 21 April 2015.

Continue reading...

‘One hell of a turnout’: trans activists rally in London against gender ruling

Posted on by

Thousands gather in Parliament Square in a show of unity after supreme court judgment

After last week’s supreme court decision, activists had been worried that trans people might become fearful of going out in public in case they were abused.

They weren’t afraid in London on Saturday. Thousands of trans and non-binary people thronged Parliament Square, alongside families and supporters waving baby blue, white and pink flags to demonstrate their anger at the judges’ ruling.

Continue reading...

Trump’s second state visit to UK to be disrupted by ‘even bigger’ protests

Posted on by

Stop Trump coalition to dust off blimp, hoping demonstrations will surpass those during US president’s 2019 visit

Donald Trump’s second visit to the UK later this year will be disrupted by “even bigger” protests than those that coincided with his state visit in his first term, campaigners have vowed.

On Thursday Trump let slip that he expects to visit the UK in September, after Keir Starmer handed him a personal invitation from King Charles III during his visit to the White House in February.

Continue reading...

Spurs contractors judged felled Enfield oak to be ‘fine specimen’

Posted on by

Toby Carvery owner apologises over tree’s felling as football club faces questions about whether it knew of decision

An ancient London oak controversially felled earlier this month was assessed to be a “fine specimen” last year by tree experts working for Tottenham Hotspur as part of the football club’s plans to redevelop parkland next to the site.

Mitchells & Butlers Retail (MBR), which owns the Toby Carvery in Whitewebbs Park, Enfield, apologised on Thursday for the “upset” caused by the felling of the tree.

Continue reading...

‘People love being here’: London development shows harmony between nature and housing

Posted on by

Five thousand new homes alongside a paradise for newts appears to fly in face of government’s ‘false wedge’

Arriving at the Kidbrooke Village housing development in Greenwich on a morning in early spring, the first thing you notice is the sound of birdsong and the scent of blossom. Geese are gently honking in the distance.

This was once the Ferrier estate, a postwar housing estate that was demolished in 2009 to regenerate the area.

Continue reading...

Price of parking rises steeply due to English councils’ clean-air surcharges

Posted on by

AA says ‘cash-guzzling’ councils are adding clean-air levies to parking tariffs and resident parking permits

Drivers are being caught out by hefty price rises to park their cars, as councils across England impose parking surcharges on petrol and diesel vehicles.

An estimated one in five councils now add clean-air levies to parking tariffs and resident parking permits to deter polluting vehicles.

Continue reading...

Campaigners find sewage pollution and E coli in Boat Race water

Posted on by

Tests ahead of Sunday’s race revealed E coli levels three times above the threshold for poor bathing water

Water quality along the stretch of the River Thames which will host the iconic Oxford v Cambridge Boat Race has been classified as poor by clean water campaigners, as a result of E coli from sewage pollution.

Testing carried out along the four-mile route, which the university rowing teams will tackle on Sunday, has revealed E coli levels which are three times above the threshold for poor bathing water status.

Continue reading...

London mural by key postwar artist saved from demolition

Posted on by

William Mitchell artwork saved but Blackheath community centre in which it was housed will be torn down

A rare piece of postwar art that was under threat of being demolished along with the south London building it was housed in has been saved.

The work, a mural by William Mitchell, was created for a community centre in Blackheath that is to be torn down to make way for social housing. The mural will now be preserved by Heritage of London Trust (Holt).

Continue reading...

Ten Britons accused of committing war crimes while fighting for Israel in Gaza

Posted on by

Exclusive: Met to be handed dossier of evidence alleging crimes including killings of civilians and aid workers

A war crimes complaint against 10 Britons who served with the Israeli military in Gaza is to be submitted to the Met police by one of the UK’s leading human rights lawyers.

Michael Mansfield KC is one of a group of lawyers who will on Monday hand in a 240-page dossier to Scotland Yard’s war crimes unit alleging targeted killing of civilians and aid workers, including by sniper fire, and indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas, including hospitals.

Continue reading...

Youth Demand pro-Palestinian protest blocks traffic in London

Posted on by

Group plans to hold demonstrations in London against UK arms sales to Israel every Tuesday and Saturday in April

About 40 Youth Demand protesters were told to move on by the police during a pro-Palestinian rally in central London on Saturday.

The campaigners began gathering at Lincoln’s Inn Fields on Saturday morning and made their way to King’s Cross station.

Continue reading...

Henman Hill to get shelter under fresh Wimbledon expansion plans

Posted on by

Multimillion-pound project will also boost capacity by 20% and improve wheelchair accessibility

Different generations of tennis fans may disagree on its name – to traditionalists it will always be Henman Hill, millennials probably plump for Murray Mound and gen Z may know it as Raducanu Rise or even, regrettably, Jack’s Stack – but all ages can agree that bringing a little shelter to Wimbledon’s most famous viewing area can only be a good thing.

Wimbledon’s Hill – which since 1997 has allowed tennis fans with a grounds pass to watch the action on No 1 Court live atop its grassy knoll – is getting a makeover, the All England Lawn and Tennis Club (AELTC) has announced.

Continue reading...

Search under way for girl, 11, who fell into Thames in east London

Posted on by

‘Large-scale’ emergency response launched but later scaled down, while girl’s next of kin given support

A search is under way to find an 11-year-old girl after she fell into the River Thames in east London, police have said.

Metropolitan police officers were called to reports that the child had entered the river close to Bargehouse Causeway, near London City airport, at about 1.15pm on Monday. Emergency services launched a “large-scale response” to the incident, the force said, but the search was later scaled down.

Continue reading...

Tenants win £260,000 of rent back in legal fight with London ‘rogue landlord’

Posted on by

Residents took firms owned by billionaire to tribunal for operating unlicensed houses in multiple occupation

Tenants of two buildings in east London have been awarded a six-figure sum in rent repayments by a tribunal after challenging a billionaire described by a judge as a “rogue landlord”.

The group of current and former residents of Olympic House and Simpson House in Hackney took companies owned by John Christodoulou to tribunal for operating unlicensed houses in multiple occupation (HMOs), which meant the buildings were not subject to the safety and quality standards required by law.

Continue reading...

Scotland Yard protesters demand justice for drag artist found dead in Soho in 2023

Posted on by

Friends and fans of Heklina denounce Met’s investigation of unsolved death in her London flat

Nearly two years after the American drag artist Heklina was found dead in London, her friends and fans gathered outside Scotland Yard’s headquarters to protest against the force’s handling of the case.

Heklina, whose real name was Steven Grygelko, was found at a flat in Soho, central London, on 3 April 2023, by a friend and fellow drag performer, Peaches Christ, real name Joshua Grannell.

Continue reading...

Police offer £10,000 reward for information on boy who disappeared in London in 2008

Posted on by

Alexander Sloley was a 16-year-old college student when he went missing from Islington

Police seeking information about a 33-year-old man who disappeared 17 years ago have offered a £10,000 reward.

Alexander Sloley was 16 and studying accountancy at college when he disappeared from Islington, north London, in August 2008. His family and friends have not heard from him since, despite issuing an efit of what he might look like in his late 20s when the police investigation was reopened in 2019.

Continue reading...

Minister attacks expenses rules after Labour MP’s claim for ‘pet rent’

Posted on by

Watchdog accepted Taiwo Owatemi’s claim for landlord’s surcharge to let her keep dog in London flat

Ministers will ask the Commons authorities to consider changing rules that allowed a Labour whip to claim £900 in expenses to rent a pet-friendly flat in London.

The government will lobby the independent expenses regulator to look at allowance rules after Taiwo Owatemi claimed for a pet surcharge demanded by her landlord to allow her to keep her dog in the property.

Continue reading...

Actor Reece Richards condemns police watchdog over race decision on arrest

Posted on by

Sex Education actor criticises IOPC for refusing to consider race in investigation of officers who pepper-sprayed him

The Hairspray and Sex Education actor Reece Richards has condemned the police watchdog for refusing to consider race in its investigation of Met officers who arrested and pepper-sprayed him.

The 34-year-old was walking home in west London last September after performing in Hairspray when a car crashed into a lamp-post nearby. Two white men fled the scene. When Metropolitan police officers arrived seconds later, Richards pointed out the suspects’ directions. He said that, instead of pursuing them, an officer began shouting at him to get the ground and pointed a pepper spray at him.

Continue reading...

Skygazers gather across northern hemisphere to glimpse partial solar eclipse

Posted on by

Eclipse peaked in London at about 11am on Saturday and was visible in parts of UK between about 10am and noon

People across the northern hemisphere have gathered to catch a glimpse of the partial solar eclipse.

The eclipse peaked in London at about 11am on Saturday and was visible in parts of the UK between about 10am and noon.

Continue reading...

Heathrow boss: better power supply to avoid outage repeat could cost £1bn

Posted on by

Airlines could face higher charges to help fund new system at airport, which was shut down by substation fire

The chief executive of Heathrow has said it could cost about £1bn to install a more resilient power supply system to prevent a repeat of the outage that shut Europe’s busiest airport last week, and that airlines could pay higher charges to help fund it.

Thomas Woldbye, who has been criticised for going to bed on the night of the crisis so he could be “better rested” to handle the fallout the following day, has said he was frustrated the incident occurred and would like to have handled it better.

Continue reading...