đŽđť Cressida Dick (who picked up her Damehood from Prince Charles earlier this week) is expected to try and stay on as Met Commissioner when her five-year term ends next April. Earlier this week Dick was criticised for âalleged police failures that allowed people to storm Wembley stadium,â and two police watchdogs are also âconsidering the launching of a formal investigationâ into the Commissioner over the Daniel Morgan case. Yesterday The Spectator published a handy guide to the seven scandals that have occurred under Cressida Dickâs watch.
đ¨ The investigation into the disappearance of Richard Okorogheye doesnât make that list, but it was one of the cases that inspired the BBC to take an in-depth look at how the Met deals with missing persons reports.
đ The 25-metre Esperance Bridge has opened at Kingâs Cross, spanning Regentâs Canal and linking Pancras Square with Coal Drops Yard. The name âwas chosen by local children from Kingâs Cross Academyâ and means âhopeâ in French,
đ TfLâs review into bus service demand (which was part of the ÂŁ1.08 billion emergency funding deal agreed last month) has been postponed until autumn, âfollowing warnings from business and transport groups that potential cuts would risk âchoking the recoveryâ from the pandemicâ.
đş A six-part TV series called Secrets of the London Underground starts on the Yesterday channel from Monday. According to IanVisits, âthe series explores areas of Londonâs Tube network that â despite being just feet away from where millions of people regularly travel â hardly anyone knows about.â And while youâre at IanVisits why not check out the new Piccadilly line moquette? What do you mean you donât know what a moquette is?
đ The ten winners of the Resilience Fund (the Mayorâs ÂŁ1 million challenge âto incentivise innovators to address socially impactful issues facing Londonâ) have been announced. They include a journey planner app that âempowers people to travel confidently when using public transportâ and floating solar panels at Royal Docks âthat will provide clean renewable energy directly to Londonâs City Airportâ.
đ° An ex-employee of Crown London Aspinalls is suing the âexclusive London casinoâ for race and sex discrimination. Semhar Tesfagiorgis alleged that wealthy patrons were allowed âto racially abuse staff with impunityâ and that black employees were âsegregated from gamblers who insisted on white dealers.â
đ A new report has revealed that Iranian hackers impersonated two academics at University of London âin an attempt to hack journalists, think tank analysts, and other academics.â According to Vice, the academics found the whole thing stressful, but they also saw the upside, with one of them saying, âI had conversations with a lot of interesting people that I would probably not have had interaction with otherwise.â
đŞ That torrential rain we had last week wasnât great for a lot of reasons, but it did lead to a âonce-in-a-lifetime findâ of a hoard of more than 300 coins dated to the first century B.C., over in Hillingdon.
đ´ Westminster council has confirmed that you will be able to hire e-scooters in the West End from August 2. But you wonât be able to hire or park them in Oxford Street or Regent Street.
đ The Elizabeth Line could open next February, three months earlier than planned. Or it could open in June, a couple of months late. Or it could open in April. This is the almost entirely useless information from the most recent Project Status Update which Crossrail are very satisfied with, as those dates are all within the âpreviously declared opening window of the first half of 2022.â What do you want Crossrail, a medal?
đââď¸ A study from St Maryâs University, Twickenham has revealed the thoroughly depressing, but somehow not unsurprising, statistic that 84% of female runners have experienced street harassment in London.
đ´ A report from a new data analysis tool that ranks world cities for cyclability, suggests London âcould be on the precipice of âexponential growthâ in cyclingâ thanks to good scores for the âquality of the cycling networkâ in the city and âcommunity perceptions of cyclingâ.
Art and culture bits
đď¸ The Royal Academyâs Young Artistsâ Summer Show opened this week. The exhibition features work from people aged between 5 and 19 and, yes, weâre mainly telling you about it so we can show you this amazing picture of a pig, painted by five-year-old Vincent, from Hull.
đĽ The free music festival, the Cubitt Sessions returns to Coal Drops Yard next month. This year the festival features âclassical, world music, jazz, street culture, and operaâ including singer songwriter (and Elton Johnâs drummer) Jake Isaac and Brightonâs answer to Fleetwood Mac, MarthaGunn.
𤳠It was only a matter of time before we had to write the word âTikTok pop-upâ wasnât it? And, thanks to Westfield, that time is now. Theyâve just opened âthe UKâs first TikTok pop-upâ so fans can âinteract with influencers who have found success via the social media app and try to create their own mini-films.â
đŽ Are there stamp-collecting TikTokers? If so theyâll want to get themselves down to Stanley Gibbons on the Strand as âthe Holy Grail of philatelyâ is going on display there. The British Guiana 1c Magenta is worth ÂŁ6.2m and itâs back in the UK for the first time in 143 years, after it was sold to a British rare stamp dealer. According to the BBC âOn arriving at Heathrow Airport, it will be met by an armoured truck and will go on display in a specially commissioned, zero-oxygen frame.â
âš Time Out published a really nice photo essay this week, looking at South London's basketball scene.
đ§đś Four artists, all of Caribbean descent, have been shortlisted to design the Windrush Monument that will be installed at Waterloo station next year. You can watch each of the artists talk about their designs here then share your thoughts thoughts through an online questionnaire.
đ¨ After an artist was asked to move on from Carnaby Street by a security guard after setting up his easel, Apollo magazine asks Why are painters getting pushed out of public spaces?
đď¸ Also from Apollo: Will Wembleyâs art trail make it any more welcoming? Weâre not sure, but we do know that we kind of love design studio HagenHinderdaelâs Meadows of Change (above).
đ Yesterday saw people getting their Covid vaccine at Tate Modern. We told you about this the other week, but we had to link to this Art Newspaper article because they used the pun âTate Modernaâ and weâre just really annoyed we didnât think of that.
Food and drink bits
đł Egg restaurants seem to be having a moment. After Eggslutâs move to Shoreditch, now itâs the turn of âpro boxer and personal trainerâ (and Afghan refugee) Sohail Ahmad to open Eggoland in Fitzrovia. The menu will mainly consist of âa range of different egg buns,â including combos like âfried egg, maple beef bacon and cheddar cheese,â and âspiced lamb, fried egg, feta, mint yoghurt & harissa butterâ.
đŽđł If the art doesnât tempt you to Wembley, then maybe an Indian restaurant from a twice Michelin-starred chef will do the job. Youâve probably seen Atul Kochhar on Masterchef or Great British Menu (or you might have read about him in the papers back in 2018 after he sent a series of anti-Islamic tweets to the actress Priyanka Chopra). Kochharâs Wembley restaurant will be called Masalchi (which means âThe spice masterâ) and will have a menu âbased on street food that the chef has encountered on his trips across India.â
𼧠For reasons we canât quite work out, the Electric Ballroom in Camden is going to be offering a âpie and mash brunchâ from September. As well as Robins pie and mash there will also be â60 minutes of bottomless Sex on Southend Beach cocktailsâ and a âChas ânâ Dave Tribute Bandâ. And all for ÂŁ30. Wow?
đˇ Weâve done the maths and we can exclusively reveal that, if things continue as they are, then East London will soon be nothing but wine bars. The latest addition to the vino tsunami opened yesterday and is called Hackney Coterie. There is (of course) plenty of âbiodynamic, low-intervention and organic wines on the listâ but, more unusually, you will also be able to sample from a range of sake, as one of the owners is a âbona fide Master of Sakeâ.
đ˝ď¸ Staying in Hackney: âSocial fine diningâ concept, The Water House Project, which began inside chef Gabriel Waterhouseâs Bethnal Green flat a few years ago, has got itself a 40-cover permanent location on Corbridge Crescent, right next to the Regentâs Canal. Theyâll be offering a nine-course tasting menu that changes each month, priced at ÂŁ99 per person.
đť Opening next week, the Bermondsey Bierkeller is exactly what it sounds like; a massive beer hall in Bermondsey. As well as plenty of pilsners and Paulaner thereâs some frightening-looking purple cocktails, as well as currywurst, schnitzel and frankfurters and a âGerman Games Vault,â which includes fussball and those other famous German pastimes: beer pong and pool.
đ This weekâs âBest ofâ list comes from Conde Nast Traveller and features some of Londonâs best pizza. There are 16 restaurants on the list so itâs not exactly discerning, but they do cover a wide area (including south of the river!), so itâs a handy list if you need to find a decent slice near you.
Long read of the week
It might be a little rich for a publication called Luxury London to moan about the kind of people who go to âtrendy barsâ just to take photos for their Instagram, but their article Has Covid-19 snuffed out Sohoâs indie spirit for good? is pretty interesting nonetheless.