Westminster Bridge leading to parliament in central London closed to traffic
Police have been called to a security incident at St Thomas’ hospital in central London, with nearby Westminster Bridge leading to parliament closed to traffic.
The alert was being stood down, police said, and road closures in the area were being lifted.
Continue reading...RBKC used ‘decisive influence’ to remove original contractor over budget concerns
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) used “decisive influence” to remove the original contractor on Grenfell Tower despite its claims to have delegated responsibility for the works, the public inquiry into the disaster has heard.
In evidence that places the Conservative-controlled council at the heart of a key decision in the run up to the June 2017 fire, the inquiry was told that Laura Johnson, RBKC’s director of housing, lost patience with Leadbitter when it said the project was going to cost £1.2m more than the budget.
Continue reading...Met chief pays tribute to Matiu Ratana as suspected culprit remains in hospital in critical condition
The suspect in the fatal shooting of a custody sergeant at Croydon police station on Friday is 23-year-old Louis de Zoysa, sources have told the Guardian. He remains in hospital in a critical condition, the Metropolitan police said on Sunday, after the force’s chief commissioner, Cressida Dick, paid tribute to the fallen officer.
A second man has been arrested on suspicion of supplying the revolver used in the fatal incident, and is being held in a south London police station, the force added.
Continue reading...Scrutiny of procedures urged following fatal shooting of officer in Croydon police station
Police officers believe there needs to be an urgent review of the stop and search protocols used when arresting suspects, following the fatal shooting of Sgt Matiu Ratana.
As the Metropolitan police and the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) launch investigations into the death of the popular 54-year-old custody sergeant, questions remain as to how it happened.
Continue reading...Demonstrators gathered in Trafalgar Square in central London to protest against the government's recently toughened Covid-19 restrictions. Protesters waved placards and flouted government guidelines on social distancing, opting not to wear masks. The police moved in and attempted to disperse them
Continue reading...The Garrick Club was founded in 1831 – a place where ‘actors and men of refinement and education might meet on equal terms’. Women were not allowed to be members and, almost 200 years on, that is still the case. Emily Bendell on why she is taking legal action against the Garrick and Amy Milne-Smith on the history of London’s clubland
Last year, businesswoman Emily Bendell was looking for a private members’ club where she could meet people after work and was surprised to discover that a number of clubs in central London still exclude women. She tells Mythili Rao why she has launched legal action against one of London’s last remaining gentlemen’s clubs, the Garrick, arguing that its men-only membership rules are a breach of equality legislation.
Mythili also talks to historian Amy Milne-Smith, author of London Clubland: A Cultural History of Gender and Class in late-Victorian Britain, about how these clubs first came into existence. She looks at the type of men who wanted to be members and why there has been a resurgence in popularity of these clubs. Is it escapism and nostalgia that is driving this?
Continue reading...Mixed feelings as icon of working-class London and Europe’s first ever large indoor retail centre makes way for development
After 55 years the final few traders were packing up their shops and stalls at the Elephant and Castle shopping centre in south London with mixed feelings about what the future might hold.
“It’s time for a change, because really everything has to be different,” Luz Villamizar, a “60-something” trader said with tears in her eyes. “It’s time because this is not a nice building now, anymore.”
Continue reading...St Martin-in-the-Fields jettisons ensembles to focus on in-house provision at a time when freelance performers ‘on their knees’
Ten London musical ensembles claim they have been “summarily dismissed” by one of the capital’s most prestigious churches in an “act of callous and unchristian behaviour”.
The orchestras and choirs have put on concerts regularly at St Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square for 30 years, paying a hire fee for the venue and commission on ticket sales.
Continue reading...Mayor says that action is needed before a second Covid-19 wave hits London
It is “increasingly likely” that lockdown restrictions will soon be needed to slow the spread of coronavirus in London, the capital’s mayor has warned.
London mayor Sadiq Khan said he was of the “firm view” that action should be taken before the virus spirals out of control, and leaders were considering measures already imposed in other parts of the UK.
Continue reading...The London mayor, Sadiq Khan, has confirmed that the annual firework display on New Year's Eve will not go ahead because of concerns about large numbers of people gathering in the capital's centre. 'We simply can't afford to have [those] numbers of people congregating,' Khan told LBC's James O'Brien. About 100,000 people usually attend the display
Continue reading...Martin Hairer takes $3m Breakthrough prize for work a colleague said must have been done by aliens
A mathematician who tamed a nightmarish family of equations that behave so badly they make no sense has won the most lucrative prize in academia.
Martin Hairer, an Austrian-British researcher at Imperial College London, is the winner of the 2021 Breakthrough prize for mathematics, an annual $3m (£2.3m) award that has come to rival the Nobels in terms of kudos and prestige.
Continue reading...Experts suggest the capital’s previous exposure, and capacity to embrace home working, may now be inhibiting the virus
It is a question that puzzles both those on the front line fighting Covid 19 and the experts developing strategies to combat its next move: why has London not seen a second flare-up when other parts of the UK are now having to introduce new lockdown restrictions?
“It’s a bit of an enigma, given that London very definitely led during the initial peak,” said Professor David Alexander, who is based at the Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction at University College London.
Continue reading...Suits and takeaway coffees were back out in London’s financial district - but numbers are still lower than normal
The morning flow of commuters arriving at Canary Wharf, London’s financial district, was a trickle on Tuesday rather than the torrent traditionally associated with the end of summer return to work.
Sparse numbers of suited and smartly dressed workers emerged from the underground station, clutching their morning takeaway coffees, destined for the corporate headquarters of banks, financial services companies and law firms.
Continue reading...The visionary architect behind some of the world’s favourite landmarks – and some of its most expensive housing – is hanging up his pencil. Our critic assesses his impact
Richard Rogers has never been the retiring type. He made his name with buildings that exploded their inner workings on to their outsides, dressing galleries and offices with rainbow symphonies of ducts and pipes. He became known for an equally colourful neon wardrobe, along with his love of public debate and bon viveur lifestyle. Now it seems the time has come for the 87-year-old architect to hang up his pencil: he is formally stepping down from the practice he founded more than 40 years ago.
Not that the pencil was ever Rogers’ favoured tool. He has always been, by his own admission, a terrible draughtsman, and he is dyslexic. He prefers to talk, ideally over a glass of wine and good Italian food. A tutor’s report from 1958 concluded: “His designs will continue to suffer while his drawing is so bad, his method of work so chaotic and his critical judgment so inarticulate.” Yet in his four decades in practice, and as an advisor to government, Lord Rogers of Riverside has probably influenced the face of urban Britain more than any other architect of the late 20th century.
Continue reading...Arrest follows discovery of stabbing victim in Walthamstow on Monday
A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a stabbing in a north-east London park. Yassar Mustakim Moussa suffered a wound to his neck and was unresponsive when he was discovered in a brook at St James’s Park in Walthamstow on Monday.
Police were called at about 1.40pm, but the victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
Continue reading...Climate protests including ‘funeral march’ due to take place across UK, with focus on airports
Climate demonstrations are due to take place across the UK this weekend, as the environmental campaign group Extinction Rebellion launches its latest “uprising”.
This weekend’s events will include a “funeral march” in Lewes, East Sussex, to “mark the death and destruction wrought by humans on our natural world”. The march, described as a Procession for the Planet, will include mourners dressed in black and a jazz band.
Continue reading...A devoted mother and transport worker, Mujinga was confronted by an angry passenger as Covid-19 swept the UK in March. Her death made headlines and raised pressing questions about race, abuse and workers’ rights
It is maybe three metres from the concourse in Victoria station to the ticket office. As Belly Mujinga ran, she would have been scared. It was 21 March, a Saturday, late in the morning. Victoria was a ghost of its former self. Hardly anyone was around to see Belly as she dashed for the ticket office, her breath shaky and uncontrolled, her hand reaching out to wipe the spittle from her face.
There are facts in the story of Belly – and there is a version of events that is disputed. Then there is the symbol that Belly has become to so many people – people who never met her or heard the sound of her voice, but who know her name and the story of what happened to her in those fear-filled days at the start of the coronavirus outbreak in Britain.
Continue reading...Senior police official Mohamad Mat Yusop says he believes London teenager climbed out of hotel window herself
Malaysian police have insisted there is no indication the London teenager Nora Quoirin was abducted from the resort in which she was staying with her family, on the first day of an inquest into her death.
Nora’s body was found unclothed beside a stream last August, more than a mile away from the holiday resort she was staying at, following a 10-day search operation. She had been sharing a room with her brother and sister, but when the family awoke one morning she had disappeared and a large window in the hotel room was open.
Continue reading...Historic bridge’s arms stuck at different angles on Saturday following mechanical fault
Tower Bridge was stuck open for over an hour because of a mechanical fault, causing central London traffic to be gridlocked.
The historic bridge’s two arms were stuck at different angles after opening to allow ships to pass underneath on the River Thames on Saturday evening, with witnesses saying they failed to come down at the same time.
Continue reading...Charles Ehikioya, who has served for 22 years, says he was racially profiled
A black police inspector has complained to the Metropolitan police about racial harassment after two white officers stopped him while he was driving.
Insp Charles Ehikioya recorded the incident, which happened as he returned from work in south London on 23 May, the BBC reported.
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