Random - Latest news and reviews

I missed a train today. I allowed an extra 20 minutes to get to the train, but I still missed it. A train that was to take me to visit a train station.

This will be a controversial blog post - touching on a topic which is more political than practical - the future of airports in the South-East of the UK.

I am not actually a huge "oh, the calendar is changing - lets have a party" sort of chap, and only stay up for the fireworks, and even then only because the bed is 10 seconds from the balcony.

I deem that it is time for a dose of omphaloskepsis, and to find out which of my miserable scrawlings captured your attention the most during the past year.

As noted by Diamond Geezer yesterday and by myself today, the Greenway next to the Olympic Park has reopened, as has the View Tube at one end.

Over at CERN, scientists collide atomic nuclei together to split them into fundamental particles and study them. Here in London, a number of scientists from the bizarre world of quantum physics recently collided with the equally bizarre world of modern…

Now that we have all gushed over the various Olympic venues, it might be worth sparing a moment to consider the planning and effort that went into building them. Fortunately, the usually subscription only Institute of Civil Engineering have put…

In just a few weeks, the famously ugly green shed that has been despoiling the frontage of King’s Cross station since the 1970s will start to be swept away in the final stage of the upgrades to the area. The…

Yesterday glorious news as it turned out that the Fighting Fantasy range of books were 30 years old (ouch!) and new titles would be released. However, it turned out that the new format will be a second attempt to turn…

And so it is over. Today, the athletes. the trainers, the sponsors and their assorted lackeys pack up their bags and leave the party. Years of expectation and effort concentrated into a single moment. Would people turn up, would they…

The hideously overpriced canal boat service taking people from Limehouse to nearish to the Olympic Park seems to have finally bowed the inevitability of their reportedly near-empty boats… …a few days after revamping their website, they have today finally slashed…

Sitting inside the Olympic Park is a “megastore” packed with Olympic branded goodies. Some garish, some surprisingly tasteful, including the canvas bags with 1948 posters on them – alas, a plastic style print transfer that wouldn’t last very long, and…

A number of countries in addition to sending athletes to London for the Olympics, have also chosen to set up cultural hubs in the city as well. Showcasing their national stereotypes, and also acting as a useful base for their…

Today marks the 95th anniversary of the decision by the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to change its name to the House of Windsor. Responding to general anti-german sentiment, King George V issued a Proclamation dissolving any association and rights…

Of the several towers extant within Westminster, one of the more overlooked, literally as well as figuratively has to be the Jewel Tower that sits in a little corner opposite Parliament. A small stone built building, just three stories high,…