New Scotland Yard sold: Met police HQ building goes for estimated £250m November 13, 2014 New Scotland Yard, the home of the Metropolitan Police in the heart of London, has been sold for an estimated £250m. The buyer of the 1.7 acre, 600,000 sq ft site in Victoria will be named once contracts have been exchanged, City Hall said today. Details of the deal, including the purchase price, will be [...]
Manchester is taking control of its own destiny: Other northern cities should follow November 4, 2014 THE NORTH is the flavour of the month. Wrangles over HS2 persist, and opposition to the scheme in the affluent Home Counties grows, but George Osborne is trumping this. His plans for High Speed 3, directly linking the Northern conurbations, have strong support. He has also announced that Greater Manchester will get its own directly-elected [...]
Islamic State terror plot: Four London men accused of swearing allegiance to IS and using Google Street View for “hostile reconnaissance” October 17, 2014 Scotland Yard has announced that four London men have been charged with intention to commit acts of terrorism. The men have been of accused of swearing an oath to the terror group Islamic State. Furthermore, it is alleged the men were attempting to buy a pistol furnished with silencer. Scotland Yard said the men are [...]
Tourist trapped in Trafalgar Square Waterstones for two hours October 17, 2014 A tourist ended up being trapped in a London branch of the book chain Waterstones for more than two hours yesterday, after it closed while he was still inside. Staff did not realise that Texan tourist David Willis was stilll browsing books in the Trafalgar Square store on Thursday (October 16) when they shut [...]
Lib Dems are right to push for decriminalisation of prostitution October 10, 2014 The Liberal Democrats overwhelmingly reaffirmed their call to decriminalise prostitution at their Autumn Conference in Glasglow this week. While sex work is technically legal across the UK, strict prohibitions on soliciting and brothel ownership remain on the books with sporadic enforcement — such as a major raid conducted in SoHo last December by the London [...]
Owner of Lamborghini abandoned on Tower Bridge arrested for harassment October 9, 2014 Anyone missing a Lamborghini? Because one has been parked up on Tower Bridge for nearly 24 hours… People commuting home over Tower Bridge last night – and coming into the City again this morning – were greeted with the unusual sight of a white Lambourghini Countach parked up on the Tower side of the [...]
“DIY” policing – how do the London forces fare? September 4, 2014 You would probably expect London-based police forces to be the main culprits when it comes to the "emerging trend" of asking victims of crime to carry out their own investigations – but you'd be wrong. Sort of. Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary admitted this morning that high-volume crimes are "on the verge of being [...]
Hello, hello, hello. Who will buy London’s New Scotland Yard for £250m? September 2, 2014 New Scotland Yard has been put up for sale with a price tag of £250m in the biggest shake up of the Metropolitan Police’s estate in more than 50 years. The 1960s office block in Victoria is being sold by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) as part of a strategy to sell [...]
170,000 seats left empty at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium last season August 14, 2014 A total of 170,000 seats were left empty at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium during last season, an average of 6,550 empty seats per game. Arsenal announced an average attendance last season of 59,786. However data released by the Metropolitan Police Service states that the actual attendance was 5,998 lower at 53,788. As is [...]
Karren Brady among 22 new peers as David Cameron fields accusations of cronyism August 8, 2014 West Ham vice-chairman Karren Brady is among 22 new peers announced by the government today. The former Apprentice TV show judge is one of 12 new Tory peers, along with former chief executive of Marks and Spencer Sir Stuart Rose. Three new Labour peers, six from the Liberal Democrats and a Democratic Unionist [...]