Museum agrees to care for stelae dating from second half of first millennium BC until it is safe to return them
The V&A is to look after four ancient carved funerary stones that were found by police in a shop in east London in a historic agreement with Yemen.
The stelae, which date from the second half of the first millennium BC, come from necropoli that have been looted in recent years.
Continue reading...Former soldier, who escaped Wandsworth prison on Wednesday, recaptured in west London
Like much of the prison estate, there is no question that Wandsworth is a troubled institution.
Independent inspections have also made the point that conditions improved when prisoner numbers were reduced.
Continue reading...London Wildlife Trust asks volunteers to seek out endangered beetles’ strongholds
They were celebrated as “ye country comets” by the poet Andrew Marvell but glowworms are defying light pollution to still shine their lights in the city of London.
Now volunteers and enthusiasts are being sought to count and save the much-celebrated but declining beetles, whose females emit a remarkable bright green bioluminescent beam to attract males.
Continue reading...IOPC apologises ‘unreservedly’ to Marcia Rigg, whose brother Sean died after being restrained in Brixton
The police watchdog has apologised “unreservedly” to the sister of a black man who died in police custody in London 15 years ago.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct apologised to Marcia Rigg, whose brother Sean died after losing consciousness at Brixton police station, for delays and police failings. She said she hoped that no other family would have to endure her family’s “never-ending trauma”.
Continue reading...The suspect, 19, has been held on suspicion of two counts of grievous bodily harm after two men were stabbed in Clapham on 13 August
A 19-year-old man has been arrested in connection with a homophobic attack outside a nightclub in south London in which two men were stabbed, police have said.
Two men were taken to hospital after the incident in Clapham on 13 August. They have since been discharged.
Continue reading...Damp and mould so bad one cancer patient had to sleep on floor after ceiling collapsed, say residents
Hundreds of residents on a south London housing estate are demanding action from their council landlord, which they claim is ignoring urgent repairs needed on their homes.
Residents of the Tulse Hill estate say they have been left dealing with widespread issues of damp and mould that are so bad that in one case a cancer patient had to sleep on the floor for months after his ceiling collapsed twice.
Continue reading...Nathan Gilbert, of Enfield, changed the account details of customers and fraudulently issued passbooks
A former teller at a London branch of Nationwide has been jailed for more than two years for his part in a £130,000 bank fraud.
Nathan Gilbert, 26, of Enfield, north London, who was said to have abused his position of trust at the bank, pleaded guilty at Southwark crown court to committing fraud and was sentenced earlier this year.
Continue reading...Analysis of official data has revealed the system for drawing constituencies is ‘warping’ democracy by omitting eligible voters
British democracy is being “warped” by an unfair system for drawing constituency boundaries that ignores millions of “missing voters” and hugely benefits the Tories, according to a new study of official data.
Analysis by the political commentator and pollster Peter Kellner shows that if constituencies were determined according to the size of their populations rather than the number of registered voters – as happens in most other advanced democracies – then the number of extra Labour seats created would cut the Tories’ Commons majority by 22.
Continue reading...Fans in costumes gathered at the London station to watch a train for ‘Hogsmeade’ on platform 9¾ appear on the departure board
Thousands of Harry Potter fans braved the rail strikes on Friday to gather at King’s Cross station in London for “back to Hogwarts day”.
Many wearing wizard robes and carrying wands, fans of the franchise travelled to the station to hear the magical loudspeaker call for the Hogwarts Express at 11am, inviting witches and wizards to board the train to Hogsmeade on platform 9¾.
Continue reading...The 23-year-old was stabbed in broad daylight in Islington on Wednesday morning
A murder inquiry has been launched after a 23-year-old man was stabbed to death in broad daylight in north London.
Officers and London ambulance service were called to reports of a stabbing on a street in Islington on Wednesday morning and found a man with knife injuries. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Continue reading...Employee, who was stuck in walk-in freezer for more than two hours, was treated in hospital for hypothermia
Pret a Manger has been fined £800,000 after an employee was trapped in one of its freezers for more than two hours, where she tried to use croissant boxes to stave off hypothermia.
The employee was wearing jeans and T-shirt when she was stuck in a walk-in freezer, which typically had its temperature set at -18C, in July 2021, Westminster magistrates court was told.
Continue reading...Ministers have claimed Ulez is cash-raising ploy – but letter reveals Grant Shapps backed a separate charge for same reason
Ministers have been accused of hypocrisy in claiming Sadiq Khan expanded London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) to raise revenue after it emerged the Department for Transport urged the mayor to extend the city’s congestion charge for the same reason.
On the first day of Ulez covering every London borough there was renewed bickering between the Labour mayor and the government, with Khan castigating Mark Harper, the transport secretary, for what he called factual mistakes after the pair crossed paths at a TV studio.
Continue reading...Sadiq Khan defends expansion of ultra-low emission zone as government continues to criticise it
Clean air is “a right not a privilege”, the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has said as the ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) was expanded to include the outer boroughs of London.
People who drive in the zone in a vehicle that does not meet minimum emissions standards are required to pay a £12.50 daily fee or risk a £180 fine, reduced to £90 if paid within 14 days.
Continue reading...Ministers hope anti-green message will impress voters, as London mayor says he is ‘a doer, not a delayer’
The government is to use the expansion of London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) to go on the attack over what it has called “Labour’s war on motorists”, part of a wider battle against green policies it hopes could prove popular with voters.
With the extension of the clean air scheme to every London borough beginning at midnight on Monday, Sadiq Khan, the capital’s Labour mayor, said that while the decision was difficult, the devastating health effects of toxic exhausts trumped other considerations.
Continue reading...Rest of audience applauds after people causing ‘disturbance’ removed from Dominion theatre on Saturday
Theatregoers were escorted from a London performance of Grease the Musical by police on Saturday night, to cheers of approval from the rest of the audience.
Footage posted online shows eight police officers and staff from the Dominion theatre lining the stairway in the balcony as audience members chant “out, out, out!”.
Continue reading...Body of black man aged between 40 and 50 with beard and moustache was recovered near Bankside Pier
Police have renewed calls for information on a body found 10 years ago that is yet to be formally identified.
Metropolitan police were called to Bankside Pier in Southwark on 26 August 2013 after reports a member of the public had seen a man’s body in the River Thames.
Continue reading...Which? advises drivers paying London ultra-low emission zone fee to make sure they’re using official TfL website
Drivers are being ripped off by copycat websites that add extra fees to the ultra low emissions zone charges in London, consumer champion Which? has warned.
As Ulez expands across all boroughs in the capital from Tuesday, Which? has found a series of identical, unofficial websites targeting people trying to pay the charge. This has led to drivers paying more than the £12.50 daily fee.
Continue reading...Plume of smoke visible for miles as 15 fire engines attend site in Bow, where no casualties have yet been reported
Thick black smoke billowed into the sky on Friday evening when a huge fire broke out in east London. About 100 firefighters tackled the blaze at a business centre with flats in Fairfield Road in Bow.
The London fire brigade (LFB) described it as a “very visible fire” and said most of the roof of the six-storey building was alight. The cause of the fire is not yet known and there were no reports of injuries.
Continue reading...Couple assaulted in Brixton with one needing stitches six days after stabbing of two gay men in Clapham
Two men were injured last weekend after the second homophobic attack in south London in six days, prompting politicians and campaigners to blame a rise in anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric.
Michael Smith, 37, a teacher, and his partner, Nat Asabere, 41, a dancer and talent scout, were waiting for a bus on Saturday night in Brixton after attending Black Pride when they were punched repeatedly by a stranger. Smith was left needing stitches to his lower lip and Asabere has suffered headaches since.
Continue reading...North-east school leaders call for government to recognise challenges for pupils in different parts of England
The largest gap on record between top GCSE grades awarded to pupils in London and those in north-east England has prompted warnings of a “continuing widening” in the north-south education divide.
School leaders in the north-east accused the government of “London-centric” policies, while Labour said it showed that “levelling up is dead and buried” through the failure to help disadvantaged communities.
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