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http://londonist.com/2009/11/cockney_cuisine_campaign_for_olympi.php

Image author's own

However, we may not see that many soups and salads from local allotments or biriyanis and jerk chicken from local restaurants as the International Olympics Committee has organised deals with global brands, which is a shame because we're quite sure all the visitors to London will want something "traditional" at some point. Imagine the stacks of polystryrene cups overflowing with delicious fishy jelly thronged with tiny, sharp bones. They would be served cold by red-faced ladies in striped aprons as an alternative or indeed, an accompaniment to dense meat pies and huge servings of mash, smothered in watery, pale green liquor. Mmmm.

Marathon runners, swimmers and competitors in endurance sports could do well with that sort of straightforward carb-loading but for the events that require speed and lightness, it would be tough to get on the track or field with that kind of lunch. For spectators too, the traditional honest, hearty and heavy East End cuisine could well mean lots of afternoon snoozing in the stands as ticket holders quietly sleep off their fish and chips. Bring it on anyway: during the worldwide focus on us during the games, we need to keep it real, Cockney style.

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http://londonist.com/2009/11/disruption_continues_on_thameslink.php

Image by mattbuck4950 under a Creative Commons licence

Aslef are balloting members over a pay deal of 0% this year and 3% next (deadline's 9th December, and with a 7 day warning period, expect strikes just before Christmas to match the tube), but members are seemingly also expressing their displeasure by sticking (completely legally) to their contracts. We cannot believe our rail arteries have been set up to run on staff goodwill, and that the system can only function if drivers work on what should be days off. We're sure they get paid well for it, but wouldn't we all prefer to be on a train driven by someone properly rested?

Don't even expect compensation from First Capital Connect over the chaos; they've implemented an "amended timetable" (i.e., fewer trains) which is a way of wriggling out of fines and customer complaints. This timetable isn't being publicised anywhere as far as we can see though; so if you're planning to rely on FCC to get you home or to Luton or Gatwick airports in the near future, you'll need to check their live running information, give yourself plenty of time and cross your fingers.

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http://londonist.com/2009/11/wax_haven_the_wall_street_100_rifle.php

An illustration of a wide-smiling Barry Sternlicht greeted us as we entered the Riflemaker Dairy for José-María Cano's "The Wall Street 100" collection. Mimicking newspaper cuttings from the Wall Street Journal, the exhibit's 100 large wax portraits depict people the artist deems socio-politically powerful. After Sternlicht, we caught the more stern glare of Paul Wolfowitz, and then moved on to a dopey-looking Roberto Vedovotto and a Jeffrey Rich in serious need of a new hairdresser. The first room made us want to read The Economist's entire back catalogue. Who were these bureaucratic supermen, and why had we never heard of them?

The second room, with slightly larger graphics, allowed us to appreciate the intricacy of Cano's work. What amounts to a sum of stipples successfully evokes mood, replicates the feel of a newspaper, and adds texture and dimension to each portrait. There is a vivacity to Cano's meticulous renderings, such that the coldness of the achromatic palette melts away and even Alan Greenspan can, in the words of an omitted icon, 'smile with his eyes'.

As we continued to walk the exhibit, we were confronted with the more familiar faces of Bill Gates, Bernard Madoff, and Rupert Murdoch. Still, many others we did not recognise, and a graph illustrating the 2007 financial downturn intensified our initial concern: while these people greatly shape our economic well-being, we knew almost nothing about them. Though movers and shakers they may be, we had relegated them to the margins of our consciousness.

Women are, strikingly, absent from Cano's list of powerful people. When we visited, none were present in his depictions, although the exhibit appeared to be still somewhat under construction. And though the website advertises certain female inclusions (The Queen, Kate Moss), the space is dominated by masculine icons, implying a message that mass inequality still lingers in the corporate and political worlds.

Cano's recreations are rigorous and well worth a look. Maybe you'll do better than us at 'Name that Tycoon'.

By Rob Lederer

Riflemaker Dairy is located at 7 Wakefield Street, just around the corner from Russell Square Station. The Wall Street 100 will be on display until 5 December 2009

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http://londonist.com/2009/11/is_it_celebrity_charity_week.php

Take small steps: revamp your wardrobe with TRAID by camdenphotos

Once the fashion shoot's over in Camden, it's over to Spitalfields where Sara Cox, an Apprentice, one from Blue Peter and that guy off The Bill will be sleeping out to raise money for Centrepoint. Normal people are very welcome too - please register to sleep out or stay at home and donate.

To round off a week of do-gooding, the Really, Really Great Garage Sale takes place on Sunday in the Selfridges car park with stall holders including Liz Hurley, Jamie Redknapp, David Walliams and Denise Van Outen shifting their unwanted guff out the back of their motors. Organised by Lisa B, Louise Redknapp, Trinny Woodhall and Yasmin Le Bon on behalf of Mothers 4 Children, admission for star spotting is just £5 but we imagine if you want to take home some sleb cast offs or fan memorabilia, you might have to wang out a bit more.

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http://londonist.com/2009/11/finsbury_punkd.php

Image by quadriman

The 32-page guide, distributed free in this week's edition of Time Out and shortly to be mailed out across the borough, is aimed at drumming up custom for businesses and services across Islington. Yet the many streets of N4 rack up just a single mention: Fonthill Road, with its manic clothing markets. The rest of the area fondly known (at least to Ciryl players) as Krapy Rubsnif might as well not exist.

The council deposited responsibility for the diss at the doors of Time Out, who were responsible for the content. Guide editor Laura Lee Davies said: "There are some great places in Blackstock Road but places like Archway and even Holloway Road often just get taken for granted as well... we can't just leave out Upper Street".

Certainly not -- the good burghers of N1 need to know where to buy their goji berries and ethically sourced handbags.

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http://londonist.com/2009/11/allotments_on_abandoned_lots.php

Since the recession scuppered upmarket plans for the development of 'Noho Square' on the site of the demolished Middlesex Hospital a desolate hole has gaped in Fitzrovia. A year long campaign by locals to make the space available to the community, however, looks finally to come good.

The developer now in charge of the site has agreed to throw it open for a year. A section will be turned into temporary allotments and a part of it loaned to a neighbouring primary school so they can learn about growing food. The greenfingered plan needs planning permission approval from Westminster but we struggle to see why the Council would deny such imaginative use, given the shortage of allotment plots in London, the Mayor's keenness on grow your own and the tragic waste of this prime West End space.

Perhaps inspired by this grassroots action, the City of London Corporation is actively encouraging alternative uses for plots where development has been hit by the credit crunch. The Richard Rogers designed "cheesegrater" was put on hold last year. Developer, British Land, is now running a competition for young architects to find a use for the site for up to 5 years. Could Leadenhall Street soon be home to a new city farm, a pastoral pier or allotment plots for city types to unwind in? Let's hope this optimistic sprouting of green spaces in dense cityscapes isn't just a temporary blip. The winning idea will be announced in the next few weeks.

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http://londonist.com/2009/11/crossrail_construction_completedon.php

It'll be over half a decade before the Crossrail project sees its first passenger services. But transport fans can now get a detailed peek at the route at New London Architecture. The Store Street museum-cum-showroom has long been one of our favourite places to casually drop by, thanks to its superb plastic model of London. This hobbyist's dream stretches from Kensington to City Airport, with a special flange for the Olympic site. Since our last visit, they've added the route Crossrail will take across the city, with some precision. It's fascinating (to a certain mindset) to see exactly which buildings the lines will pass under, and to speculate why it curves sharply in some places (existing tunnels? Deep building foundations? Nuclear bunker? Super-deep plague pit?). Check it out at 26 Store Street, just off Tottenham Court Road. Entrance is free.

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http://londonist.com/2009/11/see_rihanna_live_on_monday.php

Stoke Newington girl gone global, Leona Lewis, launching her album at the Hackney Empire is one thing. Caribbean pop superstar Rihanna doing it is another matter, but that's exactly what's happening on Monday night, when the robot lady of pop hits the rainy streets of our fair capital in promotion of her new saucy album 'Rated R'.

The location of the gig is a secret for now, but we're told it holds 1000 people and the gig will be around 8pm. Any guesses? Tickets are available soley for competition winners, so it's a bit handy that we have the ability to make you one. Want to be there? Email londonist@gmail.com with rihanna in the title and we will sort one of you out. We hope she is wearing this exact outfit, particularly the eye patch.

• 17:36 the dude next to me in the school library was playing tetris on tetrisfriends.com. A+, sir. #

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http://londonist.com/2009/11/scrap_the_olympics_says_former_dome.php

Image / RobBeer

Speaking on BBC2's Daily Politics show, Gerbeau, styled the "gerbil" during his Dome-nership, said that he expected the budget (currently £9.325 billion) will grow to exceed £12 billion, and argued that the money would be better invested in the economy. Britain's best interests would, he thinks, be served by touting the Games around other cities like a pair of hand-me-down galoshes. Paris is his pick; an attempt, perhaps, to win back Gallic favour, which he lost after publicly backing London's bid.

The argument brought a strong rebuke from Tessa Jowell. The Olympic minister offered a hostage to fortune by stating categorically that "not a penny more" than the current budget would be spent, and dismissed Gerbeau as a "disappointed Parisian" trying to steal London's glory.

Gerbeau has found himself a niche career sounding the bugle of doom over the 2012 Games. In a Telegraph interview earlier this year he predicted it would "go the way of the Dome, except 15 times more expensive", and would turn out to be the crowning folly of Gordon Brown's premiership, much like the Dome was a hangover from the Major administration. It just so happens that Gerbeau runs a profitable business which successfully turns around failed, or failing, companies: angling for a job much, PY?

http://wordsmith.org/words/hobbyhorse.html

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http://londonist.com/2009/11/pop-up_shop_review_marmite_pop-up_s.php

Photography by Chris Osburn

Pop-up this, pop-up that. With vacant retail space throughout town and a palpable air of economic uncertainity, there's a lot of non-committal pop-upping going on. The latest is a pop-up shop dedicated to all things Marmite. Located at 80-82 Regent Street at the entrance to Quadrant Arcade, the yellow glow of Marmite's cheery lid and label is easily spotted (and might make a nice diversion while out viewing the groovy Carnaby Christmas lights). Love it or hate it, this savoury vegetarian spread's got a lot of affordably priced schwag associated with it. For those looking for yeast extracted Christmas prezzies, the Marmite Pop-Up Shop will be open seven days a week through the first week of January. Find out more at www.marmitepopup.co.uk.