Russell Tovey as Adam and Jaime Winstone as Grace sink to new depths of inane chat at the bus stop

If you’re currently feeling glooming, staring down at a date-free Valentine’s Day, we reckon there are worse options than booking to see Sex With A Stranger at the Trafalgar Studios this month.

Despite its somewhat crass title (“The theatre? Nice. What are you going to see?”… “Err…”), Sex With A Stranger holds an incredibly sharp mirror up to the relationships of twenty-somethings. While it’s certainly not the first play to dwell on these themes, SWAS captures something unique in its unsettling quality, and in the quiet pathos of its female victim. See this, and you might feel pleased you’re single.

Stefan Golaszewski’s non-linear story opens at a bus stop; Adam’s got lucky, persuading Grace to leave a club with him, and the pair are headed bedwards, via the kabab shop. Best-known for BBC3′s Him & Her, Golaszewski’s dialogue is a delight. Almost every line has been freshly picked from the box marked “mundane”, dusted with a sprinkling of fatuous, and, in the mouths of Russell Tovey and Jaime Winstone, made to sound even more inane. Initially, it’s hilarious. But you can’t help thinking: if this is “getting lucky”, it kinda sucks.

Running at just 90 minutes, SWAS zips along: some scenes are over in less than 30 seconds, creating snapshots of a hazily remembered night out perfectly.

So we rewind jerkily through the rest of Adam’s day. After the repetitive mirthless giggling and the strained dialogue of the one night stand, it’s almost a relief to watch a wordless scene: a second girl, simply ironing a shirt. But the tension in the Trafalgar Studios’ tiny second space builds with each silent, resentful(?) movement — it’s clearly the shirt Adam’s wearing later that evening. And so the life Adam’s left to go clubbing with his mates unfolds. And it’s one of the most phenomenally stale relationships we’ve ever seen played out on stage.

Is there anything worse than arguing about salad in a supermarket?

Naomi Sheldon’s Ruth is an excruciating portrayal of an unhappy girlfriend. Despite occasional sly references to weddings and marriage, she’s clearly stopped trusting (and maybe even liking) her idiot boyfriend. Sheldon’s vulnerability and unease are breathtaking. And still Golaszewski’s script is unrelentingly funny: a moment of quiet supermarket rage (“It clearly says six items. Six! Items!”) expressing all the anger Ruth feels about her day/bloke/life in one static, hushed outburst.

All three of the cast are superb, enriching what might sound like a flimsy plot and sparse dialogue with oodles of tell-tale glances, and pin-point accurate mannerisms. And while SWAS is frequently laugh-out-loud funny, the overwhelming sadness underpinning the final betrayal is incredibly intense. Spilling out onto the street afterwards, we had to admit: Sex With A Stranger is incredibly cathartic. (No sniggering at the back – Ed.) Single, dating, attached, married; at least our lives aren’t that bad.

Sex With A Stranger plays at Trafalgar Studios 2 until 25 February. Tickets cost between £25-£27. Visit www.atgtickets.com/Sex-With-a-Stranger-Tickets to book. 

Photos by Noel McLaughlin

Can you recommend a good pub near Angel station?

We’d like to try a simple but intoxicating experiment of the boozy kind. Here’s how it works.

1. Let us know (in the comments or on Facebook) your favourite pub(s) in the Angel area.
2. After a few days, we’ll tally up the votes.
3. We’ll then arrange a pub crawl around the three or four most popular choices. You’re welcome to join us.
4. If it’s a success, we’ll do monthly sequels in other parts of town, moving through the alphabet each time. So March could be in Borough or Bermondsey or Bloomsbury, for example.

But we’re starting with A for ‘Angel’. You can nominate anywhere in reasonable walking distance of the Tube station. So a pub in Barnsbury, for example, would still be OK, so long as Angel would be a sensible Tube station to use. Oh, and by ‘pubs’, we’re using a shorthand — you can also vote for bars. And you can nominate more than one place.

So, where shall we go?

The Angel, Islington by Gaz-zee-boh in the Londonist Flickr pool.

Book, poetry and spoken word events in London this week

Wednesday: Alice Oswald has created a new version of The Iliad and will be talking about it at the Southbank Centre (7.45pm, £10).

It’s a night for women writers of all genres at the Poetry Cafe with Agnes Meadow and Loose Muse (8pm, £5 / £3).

Templar Poets Christopher James, Matt Bryden and Jane Weir welcome you to The Compass in Islington (7.30pm, free).

Thursday: Share your crappest date at the Big Green Bookshop with Crap Dates author Rhodri Marsden (7pm, free).

Come Rhyme With Me takes over London Liming at Rich Mix (8pm, £7 / £5), as hosts Dean Atta, Deanna Rodger and Melanie Abrahams ask round Inua Ellams, FLOetic Lara, Jasmine Cooray, James Massiah and Dougie Hastings.

Neil Roberts and James Byrne discuss poet Peter Redgrove at the London Review Bookshop (7pm, £7), joined by his widow Penelope Shuttle.

Nathan Penlington and Christian Watson are the Bang Said the Gun guests at The Roebuck (8pm, £5).

Poet Lavinia Greenlaw is in conversation with Granta Magazine’s Ted Hodgkinson at Lutyens & Rubinstein (7pm, £5).

Deborah Levy and Rosalind Harvey talk about writing and translating at Dulwich Books (7pm, free).

Be in the audience for Kate Tempest’s new spoken word album as it’s recorded at Battersea Arts Centre (8.30pm, £10 / £6). Scroobius Pip and Hollie McNish guest.

Sean Bonney, Jennifer Cooke, Emily Critchley, Angharad Davies, Andrew Spragg and Jonty Tiplady are the writers, performers and musicians appearing at POLYply 16 near Kings Cross (7pm, free).

Friday: Toppermost poet Elvis McGonagall has put together a night of love with Apples and Snakes: joining him in Southfields are Ardella Jones and Mia Jerome (7.30pm, £5 / £4).

The stories of the Royal Libraries are told at the British Library, by Kathleen Doyle, John Goldfinch and Jane Roberts (6.30pm, £7.50 / £5).

Linda Black reads from Root, her collection of prose poems, at Friday Night Writers (6.30pm, free).

Peter Hayhoe’s the featured poet at open mic night Poetry Jam at Richmond’s Tea Box (8pm, free).

John Paul O’Neill hosts a loving Farrago SLAM at the Poetry Cafe with Hamza Beg, Francis Labiran, Amy McAllister, Kemi Taiwo, Stephanie Dogfoot Chan, Cecilia Knapp and Katrina Quinn (7.30pm).

Saturday: Revel in the romance of the handwritten love letter, with Anne Sebba and Andrea Clarke at the British Library (2.30pm, £7.50 / £5).

24 poets pair up at Rich Mix for Maintenant Camarade (7pm, free) to examine the limits of what poetry can achieve. Performers include Chris McCabe, Sam Riviere, Sean Bonney, Carrie Etter and Todd Swift.

Sunday: Daljit Nagra heads to Selfridges for their Words Words Words season, to show you how to write a poem (1-3pm, free).

There are funny tales of love from Storytellers’ Club at the Pleasance (8pm, £8 / £6). Robin & Partridge, Meryl O’Rourke, Danielle Ward, Chris Coltrane and Sarah Bennetto are your romantic souls.

Anthony Joseph, G.R.E.E.Ds, Indigo Williams, Keith Jarrett and Kersha Bailey are hip to Jumoke Fashola’s Jazz Verse Jukebox at Ronnie Scott’s (7.30pm, £8).

Take a Chill Pill with Mr Gee, Raymond Antrobus, Deanna Rodger and Simon Mole at the Arcola Theatre (6pm, £5).

Monday: The Southbank Centre has put together a fantastic programme of children’s events for half term: today, Young Samurai author Chris Bradford launches his new book Ring of Wind (and does some martial arts) at 11am (£8 / £4) and wonderful performance poet Laura Dockrill delves into Roald Dahl’s rhymes in a free event at 11am, 1pm and 3pm (you’ll need to reserve a place).

Daljit Nagra is back at Selfridges for another Faber poetry workshop (4-7pm, free). Get there early and check out the Living Paintings tactile storytelling sessions.

The Book Stops Here welcomes Katy Darby, Olivia Laing and Elizabeth Day for some readings and fun at this free party night (8pm).

Richard Tyrone Jones, Katrina Naomi and Paul Taylor with his trombone poetry are Talking Rhythm! at The Amersham Arms at the behest of Bernadette Reed and Jazzman John Clarke (7.30pm, free).

Tuesday: It’s a literary date night at Liar’s League – as well as hearing new writing performed by actors, email them by Sunday and they’ll set you up with a fellow attendee… (7.30pm, £5).

Storyteller Nell Phoenix describes ways to find your perfect partner, at Selfridges (6pm, free).

It’s open mic night at the Poetry Cafe with Niall O’Sullivan and Poetry Unplugged (7.30pm, £5 / £4).

Follow @LondonistLit for our pick of that day’s literary events

Production photo by Johan Persson

Hard on the round heels of her Cagney and Lacey co-star Sharon Gless impersonating a woman you almost certainly won’t have heard of, comes Tyne Daly in the stage personification of someone you couldn’t possibly have escaped hearing about unless you’d slept through the 20th century, its most famous operatic diva Maria Callas.

It’s also an occasion at Londonist Towers when the box of forbidden review clichés is momentarily unlocked and an editorial permit issued to sanction the usage of ‘tour de force’ and ‘bravura performance’ because this is an opportunity to savour an actress whose abilities were not so stretched by her television work demonstrate power and subtlety and pathos to rank alongside Tracie Bennett’s five-star portrayal of Judy Garland in last year’s barnstorming End of the Rainbow.

This is the second time a big-name American actress has essayed the role in London – in 1997 Patti LuPone gave us her Callas, but with her own reputation as a demanding and dominant stage presence not to mention already having played the ultimate diva Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, hers was more of a caricature whereas Daly’s engagement is both instantly credible and more sympathetic.

The format of the piece is simple – attended by a pianist and a stagehand, Daly recreates the master classes Callas gave at the Julliard School in New York at the end of her 20-year domination of the operatic stage, tutoring ordinary students.

Through the barbs and imperious asides she casts at them, we learn the truths of her own harsh wartime upbringing, hard-fought career path and painful love affair with the world’s richest man, Aristotle Onassis. In a cutaway scene where she plays both sides of the couple, and grunts Onassis’s claim that in return for her glamour and fame he gives her his “thick uncircumcised Greek dick” you can believe she actually has one dangling in her beautifully cut Martin Pakledinaz trouser suit.

A triumph of temperament over privilege, with points scored over rivals with more cushioned lives, it culminates in a magnificent moment at La Scala when she has the glitterati and the crowned heads of Europe where she wants them – standing in ovation to her achievements.

It could be static, and Terrence McNally’s script is undeniably patchy, but Daly’s performance drives the piece continuously, especially when she’s explaining the meaning and the music of an aria to her students – the passion and vigour with which she visualises each piece makes everything so clear and alive, you could wish ENO or Covent Garden would dispense with surtitles and just have Daly explain it all to you.

Master Class continues at the Vaudeville Theatre on an indefinite run, with tickets from £12.50 to £40 until 24 February (excluding half-term 11-18 Feb) then rising on 24 February to £25 to £52.50 plus assorted fees for all but personal and postal bookings with the theatre. Performances are Monday-Saturday at 7.30pm with matinees on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 2.30pm.  Tickets online here or by phoning 0844 811 0059 (24 hours).

Fernando Espi gives a guitar masterclass

The death of the guitar has been tiresomely proclaimed by rock-centric commentators recently, but as the London Guitar Festival proves, the axe is thriving, especially in the world of classical guitars and finger picking.

The three day festival at Kings Place hosts the inaugural International Guitar Competition featuring the worlds best classical guitarists under the age of 30, as well as bringing the genre’s most distinguished guitarists to London for exclusive performances and workshops.

Performances include a rare UK show by the elegantly refined Spanish guitar and piano duo Duo Hermanos Cuenca, and the UK’s Vida Guitar Quartet. The award winning Fernando Espi will also be holding a unique workshop for solo classical guitarists — a perfect excuse to head to London’s guitar quarter on Denmark Street and treat yourself.

The mesmerising variety of the guitar is at the core of the festival, which shows that the instrument is much more than an emotional outlet for teenage boys. It is steeped in history, spanning from folk compositions to cigar box diddley bows.

Are the pessimists wrong? Is the guitar alive and well, with more brilliant players from all over the world than ever before, and with more composers writing for the instrument than at any time is the past? Well this is what the London Guitar Festival will address, and judging by the quality of performers they have booked, it’s all looking pretty good.

The London Guitar Festival , 8-10 March, Kings Place, 90 York Way  London N1 9AG. Prices for workshops and performances vary, so check www.igf.org.uk for details.

Shopping or art exhibition… Exhibition or shopping? If, like us, you often ponder these two options at the start of a weekend, you’ll be pleased to hear you can do both this month, at the Westfield in Stratford.

The exhibition, called East, is being held at the Getty Images Gallery at Westfield Stratford City from this Friday. The pop-up gallery on The Street (where do they come up with these names?) will be showing Getty Images’ archive collections of great photos of the East End and its residents.

East features candid photos from the past 100 years, including some classic Pearlies from 1955; a real King and Queen’s visit to east London during the Blitz; and lots of children seemingly auditioning for roles as either cherubs or urchins. It’s quite a collection.

Images from the show will be available to buy throughout the exhibition: prices start from £65.

Getty Images East Exhibition is at the Getty Images Gallery, Unit 1119, The Street, Westfield Stratford City, Great Eastern Road, E20 from 10 February until 18 March. Entrance is free. The subsequent shopping spree may not be.

A city-wide operation today will see raids designed to track down and arrest people suspected of gang membership and those believed to be involved in crime. The diversification of Trident to target gangs as well as its original remit of preventing gun crime in black communities was revealed by the Guardian in January this year, though not everyone thinks organising extra raids is the way forward. Met Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe said:

“This is a step-change in how we tackle gang crime in London. It will allow us to identify and relentlessly pursue the most harmful gangs and gang members. It will help us identify young people on the periphery of gangs and work with partners to divert them away.”

Boris Johnson also acknowledges the need to go beyond arrests and work with the community, charities and local authorities, although he’s obviously keen to demonstrate his determination to tackle crime ahead of the mayoral elections in May:

“We’ve been attacking gangs from all angles. Now the Met has a concerted and determined push to take out the ring-leaders and tempt impressionable youngsters away from this destructive life.”

The crackdown will focus on 19 ‘key boroughs’; Brent, Croydon, Ealing, Enfield, Greenwich, Hackney, Haringey, Islington, Lambeth, Lewisham, Newham, Southwark, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Wandsworth, Merton, Camden, Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham. The Met estimates that there are around 4,800 people involved in 435 gangs, with 250 gangs criminally active and responsible for two thirds of gang-related offences. Stats around those offences include approximately 17% of all personal robbery, 40% of ‘cash in transit’ and commercial robbery, 12% of residential burglary, 26% of aggravated burglary, 14% of rape, 22% of serious violence, 20% of stabbings and 50% of shootings.

The Met’s announcement comes in a timely fashion — the trial of three men accused of a gang-related shooting in Stockwell last year is currently underway. Tragically, five-year old Thusha Kamaleswaran was left paralysed when rival gang members clashed in a south London convenience store.

The mayor also seems keen to get stuck in, so we wonder if he will be joining the Met on any of their raids today.

Photo by yorkshire stacked

Click for the morphing version.

Watch a modern Tube map gradually morph, T1000-style, into a geographically accurate version. Then, agog, click another button and behold as the map regresses/progresses (delete according to opinion) to something like the original Harry Beck Tube map of 1933. The modern map also allows you to overlay a street pattern — not a new trick, but it’s good to have this all-in-one package.

This one’s an oldie. In fact, Sam Rich first put a version live in 2002. It then found its way onto Transport For London’s website in 2004, from which it was dropped in 2008 during a web shuffle. TfL allowed Sam to continue hosting the map on his own site, and you can now enjoy warping the Tube map here.

See our comprehensive list of  Alternative Tube Maps

The Standard, 2007 - The Times, 2012

When Simon Jenkins reached for his keyboard yesterday (we presume, perhaps he dictates?) to disparage The Times’ Cities Fit for Cycling campaign, it stirred a memory. Oh yes, that’s it — the Evening Standard once had a Cycling campaign of its own. Join us on a journey back in time…

In April 2007 the Standard launched a “major campaign…encouraging Londoners to take to two wheels”. Andrew Gilligan declared: “Cycling is a simply matchless way to travel. It has all the flexibility of the car, with none of the flaws. It will change your view of London, and renew your affection for the capital.” He wrote on: “What would do more than anything to capture would-be cyclists’ imagination, and quell their fears, would be a proper cycle network, a network with complete, continuous, flagship routes at all main points of the compass.”

If anything, the Standard was ahead of the curve — there’s a feeling among some campaigners that lingering on the casualty rate will not help their goal of mass cycling, and a fear that cycle lanes could see the freedom of the road removed. Both have shifted in the past year as high profile deaths, notably two at Bow, and the Blackfriars bridge protests have shown that the limits of mass cycling in London are imposed by the TfL road network as much as anything else.

They, like The Times, had a manifesto — bolder than that proposed by the national:

The Standard’s charter for cyclists (2007)

1. A real cycle network across London
2. Better cycle lanes with proper segregation
3. Enforcement of special advanced stop lines for cyclists
4. HGVs to be fitted with special cyclist safety mirrors
5. Compulsory cyclist awareness training for all bus drivers and new HGV drivers
6. Cycle-friendly streets: fewer one-way systems that funnel cyclists into the middle of traffic
7. More cycle parking across London
8. Police crackdown on bike theft
9. Make safe the Thames bridges: some of the most dangerous places for cyclists
10. Campaign to alert the self-employed that they can claim a 20p-a-mile cycling allowance against tax
11. Better cycle-bus-rail co-ordination: adequate parking at stations
12. Cycle training for all children and any adult who wants it

They ran stories on the Safer Cycling Campaign for most of 2007, claiming credit for, among other things, the Cycle Superhighways and a promised lifting of the DLR bike ban (which sadly never happened).

Yesterday’s article couldn’t be further from that optimistic tone. Jenkins celebrates that “In 2010 the number killed fell from 13 to 10” — perhaps, but last year, as his paper reported, 16 people died. Nor is the premise that ‘more people having accidents is acceptable, because more people are cycling’ one that we’re willing to put up with. How many cyclists died in Paris last year? Zero, or — as the French say – Zero. And that’s despite faster roads, a larger cycle hire scheme, more tourists, French driving and much, much cheaper wine.

He moves on to sing the praises of the latest passion, the shared space — best (though not necessarily well) exemplified in London by the recently completed Exhibition Road scheme. Jenkins ignores the clear difference between a road such as this and the main routes of London’s traffic. He applauds the Dutch example inspired by Monderman, but ignores the fact that Holland has more than 19,000 km of segregated cycle lanes.

The Standard does some great reporting on cycling issues, Ross Lydall notably giving it good coverage, so it’s sad that after such a bold head start the Standard should find itself so far behind. It’d be great to see some of that old vision for a better city return to its editorial pages.

Finally, it is curious that Jenkins’ article should follow this one (from the above-quoted Mr Gilligan) so closely, if we were of a more suspicious disposition it would seem that someone is briefing certain journalists to downplay cycling casualties last year…

Write your own joke. Image by Geoff Caddick/PA

• Massive fake whale spotted in the Thames, part of a WWF campaign to save the last 130 western gray whales.
• Another alleged racist ranter on public transport is arrested.
• Dame Shirley, Sir Paul and Sir Elton headline the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee concert. There’s a ballot for tickets.
• TfL announce first 500 junctions to be reviewed for cycle safety.
• A scrap dealer financies replacement plaques for a vandalised war memorial.
• Olympics tickets to be printed in Arkansas of all places.

DANCE: The Flamenco Festival opens at Sadler’s Wells tonight. It’s a fortnight of top flight flamenco dancers, sultry singers and master musicians sure to raise your temperatures above the current icy lows. We’ll bring you a review of Flamenco guitarist Gerardo Núñez and gypsy dancer Carmen Cortés later in the week.

OPERA: From Friday, The Tales of Hoffman takes a trip into the memory of eponymous poet at the London Coliseum. Alternatively, catch Mozart’s classic comedy Le Nozze Di Figaro at the Royal Opera House from Saturday.

CLASSICAL: First up, part of the Cultural Olympiad comes to the Queen Elizabeth Hall on Friday. Spinal Chords by Sally Beamish was commissioned for the Olympic Year, and is set to a text by Melanie Reid, who broke her neck and back in a horse-riding accident in 2010. The music reflects Melanie’s positivity and the spirit of the Paralympian movement; the rest of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment’s programme features other Olympic nods. Then on Sunday, a senior figure in the piano world, American Richard Goode performs a 3pm recital at the Royal Festival Hall. An accessible programme of Chopin and Schumann makes this concert a highly pleasant prospect for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

THEATRE: Improbable’s The Devil and Mister Punch puppetry extravaganza opens at the Barbican tonight (check out the video below). Also opening is Master Class, starring Cagney and Lacey’s Tyne Daly as Maria Callas, pulling some younger singers to pieces. Absent Friends, starring Kara “Strictly Come Dancing” Tointon, Katherine “IT Crowd” Parkinson, Reece “League of Gentleman” Shearsmith and Steffan “Gavin and Stacey” Rhodri opens at the Harold Pinter Theatre on Thursday. From Monday, you can see innovative theatre company Filter remixing Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Lyric Hammersmith; or Black T-Shirt Collection by poet and visual artist Inua Ellams at the National.

ART / EXHIBITIONS: Designs of the Year 2012 opens at the Design Museum tomorrow, as does Queen Elizabeth II by Cecil Beaton at the Victoria and Albert Museum. On Thursday, you can see Lucian Freud’s Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery, or Yayoi Kusama’s spots at the Tate Modern. Both are extremely popular shows, and you might want to book ahead. Away from the blockbusters, The Last Days of Mubarak at the Foto8 Gallery sounds an interesting free option for anyone wanting to get a taste of the unrest in Cairo’s Tahrir Square this time last year.

Anything we’ve missed that you’re really looking forward to seeing this week? Let us know in the comments below.

We have listings for ongoing shows at London’s top museums on our Museums and Galleries page

Arts Ahead is brought to you in partnership with Cardboard Citizens: A Few Man Fridays a new play written and directed by Adrian Jackson.

In the 1960s the Chagos islanders were evicted from their Indian Ocean home to make way for a US military base and have been fighting for justice since. This world premiere from award-winning homeless theatre company Cardboard Citizens tells their story.

Moving, gripping and funny, A Few Man Fridays unearths an inglorious episode of British history, and explores the fantasies of the powerful, set against the dreams of the powerless.

For more information, tickets and to watch the trailer click here.

Performing at the Riverside Studios 10 February – 10 March, tickets £20 (£15 conc.)  All previews £10 – Feb 10, 11, 13, 14.

James Tissot, Portsmouth Dockyard © Tate

Immigrants have clearly had a massive impact on the development of British art. The latest exhibition from the Tate Britain aims to explore this link by displaying the different styles that immigrant artists brought with them, and how British artists learned from them to further their own skills.

The exploration of how such artists ended up in Britain is fascinating. Though the exhibition skirts over the fact, it’s likely that many of these artists came over to Britain as a business opportunity rather than to contribute to British art. Their handiwork might have seemed pedestrian at home but would have been considered exotic, and therefore more lucrative, in Britain. It’s apparent that though the Dutch and Italian painters who migrated here were talented, their works were not on a par with the contemporary masters at work in their home countries.

A few pieces hold interesting back stories along with superb artistic qualities, but the majority of the works on display are largely disappointing – even the Canaletto is not one of his best.

The exhibition has more to offer when displaying contemporary art, with the hypnotic ‘Cloud Canyons’ by David Medalla and the spiritual and powerful work by Rasheed Araeen being two highlights.

Though this exhibition explores some great stories around migration, the art on display does not necessarily do them justice.

Migrations: Journeys into British Art is on display at the Tate Britain until 12 August. Admission is £6 for adults, concessions available.

By Tabish Khan

Your company's name here? Olympic stadium from above, by M@.

London could soon be treated to a new raft of daftly-named landmarks, as the long-term naming rights for key Olympic venues are put up for sale. The Olympic Park Legacy Company is seeking sponsors for Stratford’s Olympic Stadium, Copper Box handball arena and Aquatics Centre. The sponsors gain naming rights when the venues reopen in 2013.

Applicants have until 2 March to register their interest, with a final decision in May. The venues will each lose the ‘Olympic’ portion of their title when they take on sponsorship, as the International Olympic Committee strictly forbids properties still associated with the games from receiving commercial branding.

Recent years have seen commercial naming rights move from the realm of too-far American curiosities (Pizza Hut Park, anyone?), to a disheartening fact of everyday life. Newcastle residents still mourn the loss of their sporting heart, St James Park – now known as The Sports Direct Arena.

To the surprise of many Londoners, CNN cited the O2 arena as an example of how venues can sell naming rights successfully. Renaming the old Millennium Dome apparently gave the building “a new, better identity,” reckons CNN, adding that the name has become part of metropolitan vernacular.

But a quick survey of past naming rights disasters is enough to put any self-respecting Londoner on their guard. Choice picks include:

• KFC Yum! Center (Louisville, Kentucky) – Unfeasibly listed by CNN alongside the O2 as an example of “how to get it right”, the home of the University of Louisville Cardinals Basketball Team doesn’t stop at referencing one of the least sporting foodstuffs available – it also legally includes an entirely inexplicable exclamation mark. Yum!? No.
• Mitsubishi Forklift Stadion (Almere, Netherlands) – Dutch footballing side Almere City FC didn’t exactly attract the big guns when they opened their new home in 2005, but might just be happy not to have gone the same way as their Irish peers…
• Hunky Dorys Park (Drogheda, Republic of Ireland) – This tiny 2,000-capacity football stadium signed a sponsorship deal with Ireland’s “leading crinkle-cut crisp brand” in 2010, giving Drogheda United fans a home to be ashamed of.
• Enron Field (Houston, Texas) – briefly, until the company’s collapse in 2001, the Houston Astros Baseball team played out of this 40,000-seat arena financed by the infamous energy trading fraudsters. It is now known as Minute Maid Park, after the Coca Cola-owned juice brand.

Following last year’s record-breaking sponsorship deal by Farmers Insurance Exchange for a new stadium in LA, the smart money could be on London’s key venues going the same way as that other recent Olympic host, Sydney. The Australian games’ showpiece Telstra Stadium is now known as the ANZ Stadium after signing a seven-year deal with a leading bank – and a resurgent City could clean up similarly in the Olympic Park.

Sceptical Londoners can take solace in the fact that the sponsors sometimes suffer for their lavishness, with Enron leading the rogues’ gallery of companies who take a nosedive after giving their names to stadiums. Yet Arsenal fans will be forgiven for worrying that it will be the sporting hosts, not the sponsor who inherit the curse, as the still-trophyless former giants ponder the wisdom of their move from ancestral home Highbury to the Emirates.

What would you like to see? Coutts Stadium, Stratford? The Pieminister Aquatics Arena? Amstrad Handball Centre? Suggestions below.

By Matt Ponsford

Events of all kinds are marking the occasion. On the ‘official’ side of things, the Prince of Wales will lay a wreath at Dickens’ grave in Poet’s Corner as part of a service at Westminster Abbey while the British Council are running an international Twitter-based ‘read-a-thon’. The Prince will also visit the Charles Dickens museum in Doughty Street (pictured).

Elsewhere, Dickens tributes are ubiquitous. Google has a Christmas Carol-esque graphic; one  of Dickens’ biographers, Claire Tomalin, has written an open letter to her subject and actor Simon Callow has been stalking Highgate Cemetery (where many of the Dickens family are buried) to promote his own Dickens biography.

Dickens books are unsurprisingly being published at breakneck speed this year but it is not only biographies that are worth a look: we recommend The Dickens Dictionary by John Sutherland and the Museum of London’s photography book, Dickens’s Victorian London 1839-1901. Want to celebrate Dickens today in your own way? How about a Dickens-themed pub crawl.

There is much more Dickens celebrating still to come, of course. You still have a few months to catch the leading Dickens exhibition in town at the Museum of London, while there is a new exhibition coming soon at the Royal Academy of Music (opening on 2 May) that will explore the novelist’s relationship with music. And watch this space for news of a Londonist Dickens quiz, with Victorian fancy dress and a proper Dickens impersonator.

Photo courtesy of wallyg via the Londonist Flick pool.

Food boxes

London Street Food Bank volunteers collect unwanted and unsold food daily from shops in Westminster, the City, Hackney and Islington and try to get it to places where it can be useful. That could be direct to people on the streets gathering at the food bank or to projects working with vulnerable people, like the Hanbury Project in Shoreditch.

In their own words:

LSF serves up 100+ items of food on the street daily – which saves London councils money in waste pickups of food and dead starved bodies and companies money also for special coloured food waste bags. It is run by one ex-homeless, and two currently homeless distributors, along with a wider membership of varying interest in it. Also: We pick up after ourselves and others. Like wombles trying. Cleaning as we go.

The food bank knows its operating model is a challenge for grant-givers who want neat paperwork, business plans and committee meetings. They are upfront about their bad business model (use volunteers, give food away) and realise that using homeless volunteers (the best way to get food from LSF is to help move it around) means the paper trail is often non-existent.

But they know there’s demand for what they do, and they want to expand. They’d like to have a city base with a street window, or perhaps set up a free indoor market. It would be nice if the hugely dedicated individuals running the bank could could get paid for it and be able to properly focus on making the whole thing bigger and better. But all that needs someone to tackle the admin and formalise the fundraising. They were previously refused charity status for having an income of less than £5,000 so currently they operate as a not-for-profit sole tradership and are totally open about their accounts. In fact, they just published their ‘Current Assets Statement for Feb 2012‘ — the ‘executive summary’ says it all.

Could you help London Street Food Bank make sure ‘no-one goes hungry in London’ with donations of food, items from their Amazon wishlist, volunteer time, admin or charity expertise, storage space, or a big chunk of money? Email LondonStreetFoodBank@gmail.com.

Find out more at www.londonfoodbank.co.uk and read the blog, like them on Facebook or follow @LDNfoodbank on Twitter and help spread the word.

Other food bank projects in London:

The Trussell Trust has foodbanks in Haringey, Hillingdon, Islington, Kingston, Norwood, Peckham, Tower Hamlets, Vauxhall, Westminster and Wimbledon, with foodbanks in development in Camden, Dagenham, Edmonton, Hackney, North Enfield, Waterloo, Woolwich. Trussell Trust food is largely donated by individuals and operated through church partners.

FareShare operates out of Bermondsey and Park Royal and works with community partners to distribute food boxes.

Foodcycle redirects food thrown out by retailers and turns it into nutritious meals, served in community centres and cafes (Station House, N4 and Pie in the Sky, Bromley by Bow) at an affordable price (e.g. main course £2.50).

Find out more: Listen to BBC Radio4′s Food Programme on Foodbanks.

Birds Nest Stadium, Beijing, China

The team behind one of the most celebrated Olympic stadia in history, the Bird’s Nest at the Beijing Games in 2008, will reunite to build this year’s Serpentine Pavilion.

The architects Herzog and de Meuron will reunite with artist Ai Weiwei, who has come under increasingly harsh scrutiny from the Chinese authorities. He was imprisoned in his homeland last year over “economic crimes”, which sparked a message of protest at Tate Modern, where he had previously filled the Turbine Hall with sunflower seeds in 2010. In a neat bit of serendipity, the Tate Modern’s redevelopment, and the new extension, were designed by Herzog and de Meuron.

The pavilion sounds ambitious: it will be partly submerged, “taking visitors beneath the Serpentine’s lawn”, with the foundations of previous years’ work revealed. According to the designers:

The old foundations form a jumble of convoluted lines, like a sewing pattern. A distinctive landscape emerges out of the reconstructed foundations which is unlike anything we could have invented; its form and shape is actually a serendipitous gift.

Traditionally the Serpentive Pavilion is designed by an architecture who has not built in the UK before, which clearly doesn’t apply to Herzog & de Meuron. However, the gallery has eschewed that pitfall by stating that it is the team’s first “collaborative structure” in Britain. A flimsy rationale, perhaps, but one that Londoners should benefit from.

The pavilion will open in June.

Photograph of Beijing National Stadium by Peter23 under a Creative Commons 2.5 Licence

Kinetica is an annual new media art fair produced by Kinetica Museum. The exhibition is a collaboration between galleries, art organisations and curatorial groups from around the world. As well as the art fair, there are a series of special events, screenings, talks, tours, workshops and performances running throughout the four-day event.

This year’s theme is time, transformation and energy. For the first time, the Kinetica Art Fair will host the Musion Academy Awards (MAMAs) with three categories: music, performance, and a Kinetica Award for the work that most closely addresses the theme of this year’s programme.

Look out for Alex Allmont’s clock building demonstration (on Friday and Sunday), where he’ll explore the inner workings on mechanical clocks by building one from LEGO Technic. We also recommend seeking out Andrew Shoben’s work with Greyworld, the team behind the recent Trafalgar Sun, and seeing what exciting new public art they’re currently planning. And we’re fascinated by Rosarinho’s Art, Light, Mind & Brain, a kinetic device which “invokes a unique visual experience in the viewer’s mind; an artwork created by the individual’s brain.”

If you’re still not sure what’s meant by kinetic art, the video below gives a nice introduction. There are more fun YouTube clips over on their facebook page.

Kinetica Art Fair runs from 9 to 12 February, at Ambika P3, 35 Marylebone Road, London, NW1 5LS. Tickets start at £10. Visit www.kinetica-artfair.com to find out more.

Fenix 2 was designed and built by the Chilean navy. Daubed in the red, white and blue of that country’s national flag, the capsule had to withstand multiple journeys up and down the vertical shaft and provide enough oxygen-enriched air for the 20-minute journey to the surface.

Londoners will get a chance to clap eyes on the steel saviour at the Science Museum from Saturday 11 February until 13 May. Sticking with the search and rescue theme, the museum will also show off (14-16 February) a rescue robot nicknamed Pinky, who is able to climb over and under varied terrain.

…and then all the buses in the world come along. Amusing/frustrating images from James Bird, who snapped this omnibus centipede on Essex Road this morning. Can anywhere else in town beat Essex Road for long chains of buses?

No matter the time of day, there seems always to be a queue at this takeaway – something that can’t really be said about the other Caribbean eateries nearby nor of Peppers & Spice’s closest lunchtime competitors. Not ones to miss out on a good queue, Londonist decided to investigate and see if Peppers & Spice is worth the wait.

For our lunch, we went with the charcoal jerk chicken meal (all dark meat including “rice and peas” and a choice of salad, £5.50 for a small, £6.50 for a large) and were right well pleased with its sticky sweet and mildly fiery flavour and its massive proportion. We’d be pleased to have it again – but that ‘again’ would need to be an especially hungry occasion.

However, overhearing order after order made for the mutton soup during our midday dine had us wondering if we’d chosen the best dish for that particular day. A piled high range of home made patties and cakes (also popular with the continuous line of customers) made us second guess the wisdom of going for the large meal. A small order would perhaps saved us some money and tummy space for a callaloo patty or piece of carrot cake. All patties and cakes are priced under £1.50.

Seating is limited to just a few barstools here. And as said, it’s a happening little joint. So, when you go, it’s probably best to plan not to eat in. They pack and wrap your food up securely whatever the case.

Peppers & Spice is located at 40 Balls Pond Road, N1 4AU (there’s another in Tottenham as well).

Photo/Chris Osburn 

Mark Spencer, a director at NHS North West London, says that the group – which covers Brent, Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster – have to make £1bn savings over the next four years from its annual £4bn budget. He told the BBC

We have more hospitals per head of population, more hospital beds per head of population and travel time to your local hospital is much shorter than anywhere else in the country.

Which sounds brilliant! More beds means shorter waiting lists, a hospital nearby means easier access if you’re old, immobile or have an emergency! But wait:

And that’s an inefficient system.

Oh.

An NHS North West London report says care at their hospitals is inconsistent and that the “patient experience is generally poor”. So the plan is to rationalise facilities and create more specialised hospitals.

It’s likely that A&E departments will also close and, while it’s tempting to pin this all on Health Secretary Andrew Lansley’s controversial and incredibly unpopular NHS reorganisation, at least five of the area’s eight A&Es were under threat two years ago.

Photo by Adam BRI Smith from the Londonist Flickr pool

So this is the deal: you bring your (fully charged!) mp3 player as well as your headphones and, faced with a complete stranger, foist your favourite song (or indeed the song that you think would make you seem cool/intelligent/alternative — delete as applicable) on said stranger whilst they do the same to you, in the hope that your respective aural taste-buds might click in musical harmony.

On paper this sounds like a brilliant idea. In reality? Well, we reckon it might also work brilliantly in practice. Let’s face it, music — as Madonna once said — makes the people come together. Madonna knows her stuff. Well, perhaps apart from when it comes to directing films. But this is a contentious point and we’re digressing. Besides, quite a lot of us might like artists that none of our friends are into, so even if this endeavour doesn’t get you a date, there’s still a plausible chance you might meet a like-minded gig buddy.

In an ideal world, love should be blind (though not deaf, in this instance), but we would suggest dressing up for the occasion. Also — choose your tunes well. First impressions are important. What’s a well-chosen tune? That all depends on your personality. But, ultimately, if you’ve thought it over and you want to be represented by a rare Smiths b-side or a Saturdays album track, who’s to say you nay?

Doors open at 7pm with the fun kicking off at 8pm. And after you’ve done your bit of DJ-dating, there’ll be some general mingling and dancing to be done from 10pm onwards. For ticket information click hither.

We’d also love to hear what you plan to or would otherwise play to prospective dates on this or a theoretical Speed Listening night so be sure to leave us a comment with your choon-of-choice.

• On how the London Olympics could, er, crash the internet.
• Meanwhile, the ‘games makers’ have commenced training
• Boat owners beware: you’ll have to pay to moor near Olympic events in the Summer.
• James Bond is here. Living among us. Looky here.
• The National Geographic’s top three British pubs are in London.
• Have you seen this man? Trident officers (unusually) release a photo of someone they want to talk to….

Wimbledon Common. Because we just can’t get enough of London in the snow, can we? Image by Stephskimo via the Londonist Flickr pool.

An azure halo of light engirdles the Duke of York’s column above the Mall. Over in Covent Garden, a similar band decorates the Seven Dials sundial. And in the City, Paternoster Square’s column is also aglow. What can it all mean?

This is PLUNGE, a new and thoughtful installation from Michael Pinsky. The artist invites his viewers to look ahead one thousand years to 3012, to a possible future where runaway climate change has drastically altered the landscape. His striking blue glorioles are set to a prophesied height of the oceans, 28 metres above the current sea level. (It should be noted, this is at the extreme end of extreme predictions.)

The installations were commissioned by LIFT and Artsadmin and will be on show until early March.

Welcome to the latest episode of Londonist Out Loud, a podcast about London. You can listen in-browser, or subscribe via iTunes or RSS.

News and Views
Londonist Out Loud is presented and produced by N Quentin Woolf. This week’s show comes from Hyde Park Corner.

His guests this week are:

If you can’t play the video, as Jepps walks through the garden an automated voice kicks in saying

Stop. This is a restricted area and your photograph is being taken. It will be sent for processing if you do not leave the area now.

Understandably Jepps, and large swathes of the internet, are outraged at such a seemingly authoritarian move by Camden Council, and one that residents weren’t consulted about. Jepps has since discovered the camera is light sensitive so in winter, it can be ordering residents out of their garden for most of the day.

Camden Council say the horrible American voice was never a planned initiative: it’s a function of a flash camera (Jepps refers to said camera in his original post) that was accidentally switched on, possibly during a battery change a few weeks ago. The flash camera was installed as a temporary measure after complaints from some residents about antisocial behaviour (something that Jepps counters by pointing at police crime maps, showing not one recorded incident for Walker House. We don’t know; we’re not about to get involved in neighbourhood rows and are backing slowly away from that one).

But this made us wonder: is the flash camera sending photos off to be ‘processed’ anyway, with or without the shoutiness? If so, where are these photos going? Who has access to them? How long are they stored? Wouldn’t that be the same invasion of residents’ rights to use / walk through their garden at night without risk of having their photo snapped and stored as a potential criminal, but without a warning? We’ve asked Camden Council and will update this post with their reply.

Edit: Camden Council say images are stored on a memory card inside the camera. Community Safety Officers are “usually” the ones to download them and they can be shared with police “ for the purpose of addressing crime and disorder”.

Kensington Gardens snowman by Roll the Dice

Monday:Still time to make a snowman this evening…

Tuesday: Try the ‘fast and furious’ open mic night Camden Eye Tunes (see what they did there?) at the Camden Eye NW1 from 8pm (free entry).

Wednesday: Coldharbour London Gallery screens artist film ‘Love’s Presentation’ which captures the creation of David Hockney’s famous Cavafy Etchings of 1967 narrated by the man himself at 7pm (£4 adv, £5 on the door).

Thursday: Go to the Crap Dates Workshop at the Big Green Bookshop in Wood Green to mark the launch of Rhodri Marsden’s book ‘Crap Dates’ from 7-9pm (free).

Japanese film maker Masayuki Suo is in conversation at the Japan Centre at 6.30pm (free but book your place).

Friday: The Imagine Children’s Festival opens on Queens Walk at the Southbank Centre at 11am, until 26 February (free).

Saturday: Goldilocks family theatre is presented by the brilliant Little Angel Theatre with shows at Rich Mix, Bethnal Green at 11am and 2pm (£5, Tower Hamlets residents £4).

Help clean up Woolwich Dockyard with Thames 21 from 10am-12.

Sunday: Take your little ones along to Hedgehog Day at Sutton Ecology Centre between 10.30am-5pm (£3.50 per child).

Attend the Sunday Lecture at Conway Hall, Holborn on ‘Flawed Ethics and Climate Change‘ from 11am (£3 on the door).

Consult our page about free things to do in London for more.

Photo by Roll the Dice via the Londonist Flickrpool

Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the past few months, you’ll be well aware that the other big event taking place in London in 2012 is the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

As well as a couple of extra holiday days, thankyouverymuch, we’re also going to be treated to royalmania that hasn’t been seen in the capital since, well, since that wedding last year.

And it all starts today. It was on this day that King George VI died in his sleep; so it was 60 years today that Liz acceded to the throne. As well as a 62-gun salute at the Tower of London at one o’clock, the BBC’s new series The Diamond Queen starts tonight on BBC1. And this morning, we had a sneak preview of the V&A’s forthcoming show, Queen Elizabeth II by Cecil Beaton: A Diamond Jubilee Celebration. It opens to the public on Wednesday.

It’s a small show of about 100 pictures, split into five sections, examining photos of the Queen as a teenager; during her coronation; in various snuggly poses with her kids; and finally looking rather regal and imposing in the late 1960s. Interspersed with the images are diary entries and letters to add a little bit of flavour to the show. The last section is dedicated to Beaton himself: after all the earlier posing, you get the impression of a rather flirty, fun figure who became a real master of his art. There’s a lovely film about Beaton by David Bailey where Cecil shoots pictures of fellow artists like David Hockney, and admits to cooing “like a bloody dove” during photoshoots, constantly reassuring his subjects with a crazy range of descriptors: “Perfection! Scintillating!” and so on. He sounds like something out of a Carry On Film: definitely the product of a different age.

But back to the photos of the Queen. There are gorgeous shots of her as a teenage princess in beautiful spangly dresses positioned in flowery bowers symbolising her as a bringer of Spring, stability, and good fortune. One of the dresses she’s wearing once belonged to her mother: you can’t imagine Beatrice or Kate trying this today. In the later sections, you have to remind yourself the shots are of the same woman, taken by the same guy: once crowned, Beaton’s Elizabeth looks solid, stately; later still, she’s even slightly intimidating in a long admiral’s boat cloak against a plain backdrop.

But for us, it’s the family portraits that are the most fun. It’s like looking at anyone’s old family album: there’s a young Prince Philip, looking much like William does today; baby pictures of Prince Charles look just like any other sprog from the 1940s; beautifully shot pictures of any mum and her new baby look lovely: the same rings true if that woman also happens to be The Queen.

Queen Elizabeth II by Cecil Beaton: A Diamond Jubilee Celebration runs from 8 February to 22 April at the Victoria and Albert Museum, with thanks to Garrard. Tickets cost £6. Visit www.vam.ac.uk to find out more. Psst: it’s Mothers’ Day next month. Take your mum along; she’ll love it.

With so much going on in London the whole time, it is very easy just to live from day to day. Some events, however, are worth thinking that little bit ahead for, simply to ensure that we don’t miss out on the most prized tickets. This is certainly true of Reverb 2012, the festival of cutting-edge contemporary classical music that now appears at the Roundhouse in less than three weeks’ time (24-26 February and 3-4 March).

Reverb 2012 celebrates a new generation of performers who have broken away from staging ‘traditional’ classical concerts, redefined the rules and shattered boundaries. The Roundhouse, with its unique space, atmosphere and heritage, is at the forefront of seeing artists create new music with inspiring visuals and genre-defying collaborations.

In this Olympic year, the theme of Reverb 2012 is love and truce, and the calibre of the performers could not be higher. The festival begins on 24 February with The Night Shift, which sees the 90-piece Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, conducted by Sir Mark Elder, recreating the sounds of 19th-century Paris in Hector Berlioz’s Romeo and Juliet. The evening also includes live sets from the Roundhouse Music Collective with their unique blend of alternative classical, jazz and electronica, and DJs throughout the Roundhouse foyers. In the lead-up to their Roundhouse performance, players from the OAE will be touring pubs all over London spreading that unique Night Shift atmosphere right across the capital.

Other highlights include the Aurora Orchestra on 25 February performing Love Song for the City, which moves from the desolate post-war German cities of Richard Strauss’s Metamorphosen to the dizzying growth of modern New York as imagined by Michael Gordon in Gotham. Throughout, Bill Morrison’s breathtaking black-and-white film enriches this visceral contemporary classic. The following evening sees Imogen Heap perform her a cappella soundtrack for the 1928 French surrealist silent film The Seashell and the Clergyman, with acclaimed UK choir The Holst Singers.

In this short space we can only mention a few of the performances on offer, and indeed only some of the ‘acts’ within each concert, so we recommend that you check out the Reverb 2012 website for full details. All performances will be streamed live on the Roundhouse website and on Roundhouse Radio but, since there’s nothing quite like the live experience, we recommend that you make a date with one or more of the innovative performances on offer.

Photo: Reverb 2012 opens with The Night Shift, performed by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under the baton of Sir Mark Elder, © Joe Plommer

Hoxton-based Scottish artist Robert Montgomery has covered three huge billboards at the eastern end of Old Street with poetry.

The poems ‘reference the moral failure of Capitalism, the concerns of the Occupy movement, and new ideas of freedom in the city’. Indeed, the billboards are almost opposite the former Old Street Magistrates Court which Occupy were occupying, before they got turfed out at the end of January.

The billboard installation is part of Montgomery’s show It Turned Out This Way Cos You Dreamed It This Way at KK Outlet, Hoxton Square. The show runs until 25 February, free entry.

Read an interview with Montgomery in the Independent today.

Porcelain Raft

Tuesday: the Upset the Rhythm Kingdom Tour comes to Café Oto with Gentle Friendly, Way Through, and Peepholes.

Wednesday: the ever popular New York indie rockers Nada Surf are at Koko.

Thursday: surf poppers Hooded Fang are at Old Blue Last.

Friday: electro-rockers AWOLNATION are at the Garage.

Saturday: another chance to catch Hooded Fang when they play with Eagulls and History of Apple Pie at Barfly.

Sunday: sunshiny psych rocker Porcelain Raft is at the Garage.

Lots more gigs going on at Londongigs.net

David Shrigley is primarily known for his crudely drawn cartoons, having worked for both the Guardian and the New Statesman in the past. The best comparator for his work would be the ‘Far Side’ cartoons by Gary Larson, but Shrigley’s cartoons have a much darker undercurrent and highlight his dislike for societal norms and the banality of everyday life.

Though there are plenty of cartoons on display — many that are brilliantly funny — the purpose of this exhibition is to highlight Shrigley’s progression on to other media. His surreal and often abstract sense of humour translates well into photography, paint and film, but less so into sculpture. His humour might feel hit and miss to some, but this display is guaranteed to attract new fans.

Some artworks will make you smile, if not burst out loud laughing. A personal favourite is the lost-pet poster that asks passers-by to call if they spot a grey pigeon that doesn’t answer to a specific name.

The surrealism stretches to the layout of the exhibition itself. The display starts in the lift, and there’s a wall with a hole giving crawl access to the next gallery. The curators have done an excellent job of bringing Shrigley’s world to life, keeping the tone light-hearted – a must if you want to truly enjoy Shrigley’s art for what it is.

If you can appreciate a wicked, and often abstract, sense of humour, then you won’t want to miss this.

David Shrigley: Brain Activity is on display at the Hayward Gallery until 13 May. Admission is £8 for adults, concessions available. For more information, visit the Southbank’s website.

By Tabish Khan 

See Tuesday.

London events for people with curious minds.

Tuesday 7 February
ARCHITECTURE: Ken Shuttleworth, the architect most famous for designing the Gherkin, is at Imperial College to discuss sustainability in building. FREE, 5pm

EDGE OF SCIENCE: Rupert Sheldrake, proponent of morphic resonance theory most recently seen rearing its dubious head on Torchwood, is at Goldsmiths to talk about the dangers of scientific dogma. FREE, 6pm

SUSTAINABILITY: The British Library hosts a talk on progress towards more sustainable lifestyles. £7.50/£5, 6.30pm

FUTURE FLIGHT: What might the aircraft of the future look like? Head down to the Dana Centre to ask a panel of aviation experts where your jetpack is. FREE, 7pm

EVOLUTION: This month’s Science in the Pub is themed around Darwin. Expect plenty of scientific discussion for a general audience, plus beer. Upstairs at the Ritzy in Brixton. FREE, 7.30pm (but people will be there long before), #pubsci

Wednesday 8 February
ELECTRONICS: Learn about the future of plastic electronics, with a talk at Imperial College. FREE, 5.30pm

QUIZZAGE: The London Geeks meetup group hosts a geek quiz, with questions on maths, science, computers and such. The fun takes place in Ye Old Cock Tavern on Fleet Street. Free, 7pm

Thursday 9 February
ASTRONOMY: A spacetalk event at the Royal Observatory looks at how astronomers map the universe at the largest scales. £5, 6.30pm

Friday 10 February
GEEK VARIETY: Bright Club is back with the usual unusual mix of academics and comedians. Tonight’s theme, at the Bloomsbury Theatre, is luuuurve, to coincide (almost) with Valentine’s. £8, 7.30pm

Saturday 11 February
SCI-FI: The London sci-fi/fantasy meetup group once again get together in the Mad Hatter pub, Southwark. FREE, 5pm

Sunday 12 February
APOCALYPSE: The end of the world is coming, of that there can be no doubt. Prepare yourself for the End of Days by attending The Event, a variety show about surviving the apocalypse. Speakers include musicians, nuclear physicists, astronomers and a zombie expert. It down in the basement of The Albany, Great Portland Street. £5, 2pm

FILM: Watch a special screening of Christopher Nolan’s Memento at Clapham Picturehouse, followed by a discussion about memory with a cognitive scientist and a neuroscience blogger. £11.60, 2.30pm

ASTRONOMY: It’s your final chance to see the Astronomy Photographer of the Year exhibition, which closes today. FREE

Booking ahead

SPACETACULAR!: Like space and astronomy? How do you fancy a show that mixes real space science with space comedy, short films, tin-foil costumes and the legendary space quiz? Come along to Spacetacular! on 23 February at the Roxy near London Bridge. Londonist editor M@ and comedian Helen Keen host. Come as you are or come in space costume and get £1 off entry (redeemable on door). Book now. £5, 7pm

Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments. Or alert us to upcoming events by emailing matt@londonist.com

Given that the likelihood of getting a decent cup of coffee decreases exponentially the further one gets away from Charing Cross, it is always a delight to source the stuff out in the burbs. Not that Nunhead is really that far out: most of it carries 0207 phone numbers, so that’s still pretty central, right? And it is only 15 minutes or so out of Victoria. Anyway. Thanks to Bambuni, Nunhead’s shiny (really shiny) new deli, there is indeed nice coffee to be had in that part of SE15.

Bambuni opened a few months ago, and quickly captured the attention of South East London’s twitterati. Since then it has backed up its on-line presence with a remarkable range of products. And a very nice brew. The coffee is Volcano‘s Winter Blend, and frankly it produced one of the best Americanos we’ve had in a while (best way to test a coffee, no? black, but stretched out just enough to taste it as it goes down).

There are cakes and sandwiches, and an astonishing number of tables and chairs. Bambuni may primarily be a shop, but it’s a jolly welcoming one, with a heated patio and loads of room just to chat and chill. Owner Huey seems to be a sociable chappy (that’s him on the left), and actively encourages people to pop in and have a drink (yes, the place is licensed).

Other products include an impressive range of ales, all sorts of pantry stuff (that means flour and the like) you can buy loose, some very posh pasta, and plenty of cheese.

If you take neighbouring shops Ayres the Bakers and Sopers fishmongers into consideration, Nunhead is becoming quite the gourmet enclave.

Bambuni is open 6 days a week. You can follow them on Twitter, or call on 020 7732 4150 to find out more.

And you can discover more London Blends over here.

Events include: who was Britain’s greatest queen?, the real story behind George VI’s speech therapist (you may have seen a film about this), the connections between the media and the monarchy (“I can’t bear that man. I mean, he’s so awful, he really is.”), and the inevitable debate about whether we’d be better off as a republic. You can also take a walking tour through royal Kensington.

The right royal series begins on 16 February and runs through till the Jubilee celebrations later this year. Tickets are available for booking right now.

"And how many of these have been sent out...?"

For visitors to London, it’s a tricky one to pronounce — let alone spell — but it appears that the man who is in charge of the capital also has been having a little difficulty when it comes to spelling Marylebone.

In the run up to the Mayoral elections in May, Boris has been distributing borough specific literature through the capital’s letter boxes. The leaflets are your typical pre-election bumph — focusing on improvements that have been made to your local area with the obligatory political spin.

Each leaflet includes a map of the borough and it is here that he’s come a bit unstuck. In the leaflet for the borough of Westminster, Boris spells the affluent area of Marylebone  ’Marlebone’, as this image by Twitter user @ZuluAdams shows:

It's all about the where's and 'y's...

Marylebone, (pronounced mar-lee-bone), is an area which skirts Oxford Street and is home to the world famous Harley Street. The name actually derives from the church of St. Mary that was situated near a stream or ‘bourne’.

The gaffe will be embarrassing for the current Mayor as he seeks to convince Londoners that he is the man they should vote to stay at the helm for another term. It’s not the worst mistake that has or will ever happen on the campaign trail, but being unable to spell correctly a key central location in the capital will hardly have helped his cause — even if it was written and proof-read by his election team.

Image of Boris by Dean Nicholas from the Londonist Flickr Pool.

• Monday – 6th February 1875: The first ‘Cabmen’s Shelter’ is opened in St. John’s Wood – providing a place where cabbies can rest and consume refreshments, without the temptation of getting drunk in the pub.
• Tuesday – 7th February 1991: The IRA launch a mortar attack on 10 Downing Street. No one is hurt, but the attack does somewhat startle John Major during a Cabinet meeting.
• Wednesday – 8th February 1750: A small earth tremor causes minor damage to buildings in London.
• Thursday – 9th February 1996: The IRA detonates a massive bomb near South Quay DLR station, just south of Canary Wharf. The explosion kills two men working in a nearby newsagents shop and causes £85 million worth of damage to surrounding buildings and infrastructure.
• Friday – 10th February 1840: Queen Victoria marries Prince Albert at St James’s Palace.

Random London Quote Of The Week

I thought of London spread out in the sun
Its postal districts packed like squares of wheat

Philip Larkin, The Whitsun Weddings

Picture by Luke Faulkner via the Londonist Flickr Pool.

Every week we select a photo from the Londonist Flickr pool, taken in the last seven days, that illustrates this season or time of year in London.

This week, inevitably, we’re more-or-less compelled to select photos of the snow and ice in London, as captured by GanMed64, Nick Shillingford, caioelis, Tyla’75 and Cybermyth13.

• Cyclist killed on Bishopsgate.
• Huge fire in Grafton Street, Mayfair yesterday morning.
• K & C traffic wardens given minimum ticket quotas.
• Yesterday saw clashes outside the Syrian Embassy.
• Double stabbing in Croydon last night.
• Non-news of the weekend: Ripley’s have swapped a crystal-covered mini for a hand-knitted Ferrari. As you do.

Image by belkus via the snow-dusted Londonist Flickr pool.

With its new Roast + Conch shop at Seven Dials, British luxury chocolate brand Hotel Chocolat brings small batch chocolate making to London. Cocoa beans from the company’s Rabot Estate plantation on Saint Lucia are delivered fresh to the shop and converted daily into a range of “rare” chocolate batches in an open basement kitchen where customers are free to view. The upstairs retail space has been in operation since a soft launch back before Christmas but the downstairs yum factory has only opening over the past week. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, eh?

In addition to gawking at the manufacture of fine chocolate, the new venue presents punters with a chance to sample Hotel Chocolat’s “cacao cuisine” menu developed at the company’s own restaurant on Saint Lucia. Wraps and open sandwiches cost about a fiver and include savoury sounding numbers such as duck confit with roasted cocoa nibs and goat’s cheese with walnuts and dark chocolate. Hmmm … Londonist might need to head back there soon to review the lunch menu.

Roast + Conch is located at 4 Monmouth Street (or 180 Shaftesbury Avenue depending on which door you enter), WC2H 8JB.

Photos/Chris Osburn