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October
Boris v Jingjing 24th October 2008
The search for a mascot begins
Remember ‘Goliath the Lion’? No, me neither. Apparently he was our mascot for Euro ’96, but even Google struggled to find him, an image search eventually revealing an overweight pound-shop cuddly toy of quite astonishing charmlessness – a perfect match for our excruciating medieval-themed opening ceremony, and indeed for a couple of the players on that England team.

For London 2012’s mascot, we have one option that would match Beijing’s Jingjing the Panda for cuteness, but it might reduce our Capital’s gravitas to admit that 3 million of us voted Boris the Floppy-Haired Spaniel into City Hall. Instead, the Olympic committee have launched a nationwide search for a new mascot, challenging design agencies to come up with a ‘new concept’.

We’re not helped, of course, by the fact that the only animals people really associate with London are pigeons and rats. An urban fox is a possibility, I suppose: a scrawny animal with a half-eaten kebab dangling out of its mouth would certainly be an honest animal to associate with Londoners, but it might not sell a huge number of soft toys.

There have been some poor mascots in the past – notably the appropriately named ‘Whatizit’ from Atlanta 1996, described by NBC sports anchor Bob Costas as ‘a genetic experiment gone horribly, horribly wrong’. If the farce of London 2012’s spiky pink logo is anything to go by, we could be in for a torrid time.
Banksy ‘act of vandalism’ graffiti to be removed
When is graffiti no longer an unwanted eyesore? Answer: when it’s a Banksy original worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. Still, that doesn’t stop Westminster City Council from taking a scrubbing brush to the art work daubed on the side of the post office building on Newman Street. The reasoning behind the removal? “If you condone this then you condone graffiti all over London” is the rather lamentable justification.
New networking site for Londoners
Forget MySpace and Facebook, now Londoners can meet up online at the networking site ‘Together for London’ dot org www.togetherforlondon.org to share their thoughts and ideas about the city. Launched by Transport for London the featured campaigns are largely to do with travel – and being considerate towards fellow commuters on the Central Line. But there’s ample message board space to have a rant about common irritants: people who play their music too loudly, shout into their mobile phones and, let’s not forget, the free newspapers left lying about. ‘Together for London’ or ‘Rant About City Living’?
Lots of entries for new Routemaster design
For those who didn’t follow the London mayoral elections closely you could be forgiven for thinking that Boris got voted in on one issue alone: the promised return of the much loved Routemaster bus. In fact, the old open-platform buses aren’t just being brought back, they’re being built to a new design. Ideas put forward for the new design have flooded in with a competition offering £25,000 for the winner. There’s an electronically-powered version, one with SatNav (let’s hope it doesn’t automatically divert to avoid traffic hotspots) and one with a ‘smile’, ah, say ‘cheese’.
October 2009
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Posties Strike a Chord
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Frieze Still Pleases
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A River Runs Through It
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26th August
When Saturday comes
22nd August
Bring on the Bikes
July 2009
27th July
Against the Clock
20th July
View for a thrill
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
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18th February
New Photography Laws
12th February
Glitz and the Pitts
January 2009
27th January
Setting the Standard
21st January
Too Much for Posh Nosh?
December 2008
23rd December
January is on the Horizon
20th December
Merry Christmas
November 2008
26th November
All The World's A Stage
20th November
Surviving the Crunch
October 2008
24th October
Boris v Jingjing
17th October
Soaps in Pole Position
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
23rd April
By George
11th April
Back to the 80s
March 2008
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20th February
Dark, Satanic Turnmills
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A Diamond in the Drink
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21st January
People Wanted for Plinth
14th January
Boo! Hiss!
December 2007
28th December
Tate That - A Hirst for Art
20th December
Christmas Shopping
November 2007
27th November
Mind the Gap
26th November
London On A Tray
October 2007
26th October
Leaving the Station
14th October
The Sky's the Limit
September 2007
August 2007
24th August
Heathrow under Siege
17th August
Gormless
10th August
Losing Face
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June 2007
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23rd March
So, Another Magazine
16th March
Avoiding iContact
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26th May
Curvaceous Border
12th May
Vegging Out
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February Sales
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Moby Sick
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Glass Half Full
3rd January
Three Cheers for the Tube Station Workers
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A Remarkable Year
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Moving On From 7/7
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Get loaded in the park
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Victoire!!
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Party Pooper
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The Second Battle of Trafalgar
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Sadie's Year
November 2004
28th November
Ripper-Watch
21st November
Kinky Boots
14th November
Smoked out
October 2004
22nd October
Yuppie Meal
15th October
Fines of Fury
8th October
No Twist in the Turner
September 2004
17th September
Battleships, bloodsports and Batman
10th September
Clique Week
3rd September
Return of the Bard
August 2004
July 2004
 
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