Dead fish in London's river Lea caused by pollution after a storm

Artists impression of a fatberg on the 4th plinth

London home owners, private renters and social renters 1961-2011

Lilo Evans and Tristan Stocks in the Mikado

Chart showing how Londoners get to work across inner and outer London

Chart showing how Londoners get to work by mode, 2011 data

Chart showing how the way Londoners get to work is changing over time

Map of empty homes or second homes in London

London borough population changes 2011-2012

Map of red kite sightings in London, May 2014

Artists impression of the "Teardrop", as seen from Ridley Rd, Dalston

Poster against Chatsworth Rd market in London

Tim Cresswell's poetry collection Soil, published by Penned in the Margins

Embarrassing! 1000 sign petition against non-existent Starbucks on Broadway Market

The roll call of people who signed a petition opposing a Starbucks on Broadway Market before checking whether there were any plans for a Starbucks on Broadway Market can be read here.

The rumours:

The refutation:

Good for East London Lines for getting the confirmation. They had more luck with the Starbucks press office than I did.*

And there are more details and discussion at yeahhackney.

UPDATE: Starbucks have been in touch with the following statement:

“…there are no plans to open a Starbucks in Broadway Market, Hackney. I have checked with our property department and no building has been purchased and there are no plans for a Starbucks in this area.”

Come on guys! Petitions are good. Independent coffee shops are good. But don’t just sign and retweet any old stuff because it’s really confusing.

09 May 2012

New gallery alert: The Quadriga at Wellington Arch

English Heritage’s Quadriga Gallery opens to the public today. Entry is £4, and includes the chance to walk to the top of Wellington Arch and enjoy what BBC London News last night called “some of the best views of the capital.” A little optimistic, perhaps, seeing as it’s slap bang in the middle of Hyde Park Roundabout.

Make up your own mind by feasting your eyes on a picture of that view here.

The first exhibition is about Stonehenge, and takes in hippies, druggy solstices, and this gorgeous JMW Turner.

British Pathe’s 1948 footage of the arch in use as a police station, complete with a lovely post-war cat, can be watched here.

Painting of Stonehenge by JMW Turner from Wikimedia Commons

09 May 2012

Fullfact beg for better stats from Mayor Johnson's second term. Good luck with that

Oh I know. There’s boring, damn boring, and local government statistics. But independent factcheckers Fullfact make an excellent point in their open letter* to Boris Johnson upon his re-election:

“…during the recent campaign candidates from the major parties were criticised – most often by one another – for their inaccurate use of statistics. The public was given contradictory information on crime levels, transport fares and house building in the capital, with few channels to sort the accurate claims from the inaccurate.”

They are absolutely right. The current situation is risible. Here’s the Guardian’s Dave Hill’s intro to a post trying to make sense of competing claims about the number of policemen in the Met:

“I’d sooner watch a Hadrian’s Wall’s worth of emulsion dry and a layer of moss form on top than join the interminable City Hall “police numbers” trench war. It is, nonetheless, my grim responsibility to salvage a few respectable facts from the fog of rhetoric and spin.”

Amen to that. Without accurate data, it’s impossible to make fair judgements.

The Mayor should want accurate statistics so that he can measure the success of his policies. But then this is a Mayor who gave misleading crime statistics to a Commons committee and then accused the scrupulously independent public servant Sir Michael Scholar of being a “Labour stooge” when he was called out on it.

Fullfact make the following heartfelt plea:

“It is within your power to provide Londoners with trustworthy statistics.”

The problem is, it’s not in his interests.

*Quoting from this open letter does not mean I am relenting in my continuing war against open letters. But this one at least makes a good point.

Fullfact – Londoners deserve better data: an open letter to Boris Johnson
Dave Hill at the Guardian – Boris Johnson and his falling police numbers
The Guardian – Boris Johnson says UK Statistics Authority chair is ‘Labour stooge’
Snipe – An open letter to the writers of open letters

09 May 2012

Great pictures of London in puddles

When he’s not making music with Sweet Tooth, Gavin Hammond takes pictures of London landmarks reflected in puddles.

_{Albert embankment in a puddle}

_{The Cenotaph in a puddle}

_{St Pauls in a puddle}

_{Oxford St in a puddle}

See more here.

08 May 2012

Disappearing High St history: five evocative photos of London's empty shop fronts

These shops are gone, and they’re not coming back. Not even House of Pies.

They’re from a Flickr group called Empty Shops, which chronicles disappearing High St history and town centre decay. The photos were taken over the last 4 years, so some of these shop fronts have doubtless already disappeared.

House of Pies, W12. By Emily Webber (@ewebber).

Antiques, Prince of Wales Rd NW5. By Alex_Pink

Free Off Licence, Brixton. By Alex_Pink.

Quint Fashion, Chamberlayne Rd NW10. By Emily Webber.

Empty Shop, London. By Dan Thompson (@artistsmakers).

All photos reproduced from the Empty Shops Flickr group under Creative Commons.

Were Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson gay? Let's go back to the original text

Was Sherlock Holmes gay? is a question that has plagued mid-market newspapers and demented internet fansites for the best part of half a decade.

Both the Sherlock Holmes film franchise starring Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law, and the BBC1 series Sherlock starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, have been interpreted as hinting at bromance between the leads.

But what of Arthur Conan Doyle’s text itself? What can the original stories tell us about this vital litero-historical question?

The following quotes are taken verbatim from Dr Watson’s narrations.

The merely suggestive

One day in early spring he (Holmes) had so far relaxed as to go for a walk with me in the Park, where the first faint shoots of green were breaking out upon the elms, and the sticky spearheads of the chestnuts were just beginning to burst into their fivefold leaves. For two hours we rambled about together, in silence for the most part, as befits two men who know each other intimately.

_{The Yellow Face, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes}

Is it just me, or does “the sticky spearheads of the chestnuts” give this passage a unmistakable sexual frisson?

The implicit

I moved my head to look at the cabinet behind me. When I turned again, Sherlock Holmes was standing smiling at me across my study table. I rose to my feet, stared at him for some seconds in utter amazement, and then it appears that I must have fainted for the first and the last time in my life. Certainly a grey mist swirled before my eyes, and when it cleared I found my collar-ends undone and the tingling after-taste of brandy upon my lips. Holmes was bending over my chair, his flask in his hand.

_{The Empty House, The Return of Sherlock Holmes}

In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of shag which I had seen upon the previous night.

_{The Man with the Twisted Lip, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes}

The symbolism here is overwhelming.

The explicit

“What on earth does this mean?” I ejaculated after I had twice read over the extraordinary announcement. Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when in high spirits.

_{The Red Headed League, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes}

No comment.

The elementary

“This gentleman,” said he, with a wave in my direction. “Is it discreet? Is it right?
“Dr Watson is my friend and partner.” [said Holmes].

_{Charles Augustus Milverton, The Return of Sherlock Holmes}

So there you go.

Image – Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson, Smolensk Embankment, Moscow, from Wikipedia

Further reading:
Telegraph – Robert Downey Jr hints Sherlock Holmes was gay
Pink News – BBC drama hints Sherlock Holmes is gay
Londonist – Map of Sherlock Holmes locations

03 May 2012

Annoying habits of Londoners #9: Crossing the road

There isn’t a single person in this city who can honestly claim to be good at crossing the road.

Oh, there are some roads that you find easy to cross, I’m sure. Perhaps you’ve got a little favourite near to where you live. A nice, quiet, tree-lined road where you feel comfortable and safe, whose traffic rhythms you know you can trust. It’s a road you feel you can really express yourself with. You cross it with a confident glance and a masterful stride.

But don’t let this feeling trick you into thinking that you are good at crossing other roads. You’re not. Most of the time, you’re awful.

Observe any crossing on any street, at any hour of any day. You will see the following crimes against personal efficiency:

Sins of misjudgement

Ambling halfway across with insouciance, then running the remainder for your life.
Jogging halfway across in panic, then pretending for the remainder that you’re as casual as hell.
Not crossing because a bus is coming, when it’s actually pulling up short at a stop.
Being surprised by a cyclist.

Sins of motion

Jog-walking
Half-stepping
Hop-stepping
Forward-back bobbing
Left-right shuffling
Puddle-jumping
Being distracted by your blasted phone

Sins of button

Failing to press the button out of a misplaced confidence that a gap in traffic will soon arrive.
Standing next to an unpressed button so other crossers feel they can’t lean across you and press it.
Arriving at a crossing where someone is standing next to an unpressed button, and feeling like you can’t lean across them and press it.
Pressing a button which has already been pressed.

Why did the Londoner cross the road?

They can’t.

Photo of the crime scene – Wikipedia

Follow Mike
Twitter: @MikPollitt
Email: michael.pollitt@snipelondon.com

03 May 2012

New stop and search app could change the way we hold police to account

Wired reports:

“Users can upload information when they’re stopped by the police to the Stop and Search UK site, including the location of the stop, the badge numbers of the officers involved, and any feedback they’d like included. There’s also a guide to the law regarding being stopped and searched, to help educate people about their rights. The hope is that, over time, a wider picture of stop and search powers will emerge across the country, which will in turn increase accountability over a police power which has drawn controversy in the past.”

The app, which is initially available on Blackberry, with further versions promised, may or may not be any good.

But it’s a pioneer. Ten years down the line, you can imagine an app like this, having accrued several years of data, becoming a force for holding public bodies accountable. It empowers people to become engaged in their communities, and it takes data out of the hands of the authorities into the hands of the public. These are both good things.

Blackberry App – Stop and Search UK
Wired – ‘Stop and Search’ app aims to keep tabs on the police
Via – @jon_bartley

02 May 2012

Bad Men: Five offensive adverts from the ad industry's super-offensive Chip Shop Awards

The Chip Shop awards are held in London next month. They reward advertising creativity regardless of whether the adverts concerned were published, commissioned, or fall within the bounds of acceptable social discourse. As such, they are a repository for some of the baser instincts of the advertising world.

Here are five of this year’s finalists.

Considerate Suicide by Elvis Communications, theoretically for TFL (big image here)

Bucket by Big Communications, theoretically for KFC

No Jewish Passengers Allowed by Elvis, for the History Channel

The Face of JD by Marketecture, theoretically for JD Sports

Same Shit Different Day by Not News International, theoretically for the Sun on Sunday

See more here.
The winners will be announced on June 13 at a ceremony at Ministry of Sound.

01 May 2012

Reviewed: The London Burger App

London has a burger app. It’s been coming – meat may be murder but it’s also fashionable as hell. And let’s be honest most people find it delicious. So an app there must be.

The app (£1.49), is spin off of the witty Burgerac blog (anyone who calls country burger expeditions “Midsomer Burgers” gets a witty from me). It follows the traditional design: a map of selected burger dispensers, reviews thereof, and a superfluous TIPS section which advises you to cover the burger in ketchup or mayo.

But the map is what you’d pay for. Is it any good?

It’s kind of useful. There are 46 places listed at present, which obviously isn’t comprehensive, but nor is it insubstantial. And there are promises to add more.

But that number is less impressive when you realise that no fewer than 22 are Byron chain venues with identical reviews.

In short, if you’re the sort of person who owns an iPhone, loves burgers, and habitually finds yourself hungry in a strange part of town, £1.49 might just be worth it.

But the blog’s much better than the app. It’s sharp and funny and free.

Plus there’s a free burger map by a rival here which ain’t bad.

And seriously, think about your cholesterol, guys. That stuff kills.

30 Apr 2012

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