East London Life

You would think that after the Forest Gate debacle, the Met would have learned to be a little more sure of their “intelligence” before they went kicking in peoples doors again. You’d be wrong however.

At dawn yesterday morning the Met anti-terror cops stormed a house in Shadwell and spent five hours tearing the place apart before realizing that they were in the wrong place. It seems that they were looking for a man in Manor Park, seven miles down the road.

How it can take five hours of tramping about in a terrace occupied by a very scared couple and their cat to realize that the person that they (presumably) can recognize is not there is beyond me.

Said Scotland Yard:

“We apologize for the inconvenience, our actions were in good faith.”

So, bad intelligence plus good faith equals what exactly? A trashed house and no disciplinary action, just like before…

A revolutionary “zero-carbon” house which removes harmful emissions instead of releasing them into the atmosphere is to be built in Hackney.

The environmentally friendly, two-bedroom home is one of the first designs to take in carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming, rather than causing it. Read the rest of this entry »

Not so very long ago, the Olympic planners promised us the “greenest games ever” in 2012. No one seems to believe them however, and with good reason. I have written several times about the proposed destruction of the Manor Garden Allotments, but I have never laid it all out at once, so here is a thumbnail guide to what the Olympic Planners, Lord Coe, Tony Blair and Ken Livingstone mean when they say “greenest games ever”: Read the rest of this entry »

From Hyde Park to Tower Bridge, Oxford Street to Elephant and Castle - cooks from the many different communities across east and south-east London have been building the city out of food, creating a feast of all the cuisines that make cosmopolitan London one of the food capitals of the world.
Find out what a huge, edible 3D map of London looks and tastes like at Eat London, a free outdoor event produced by Lift

Download the Eat London flyer as a pdf
Download the Eat London flyer as a Word document

Read an article published in Lift News about Eat London by Charlotte Higgins >>
When?
On Saturday 28th April 2007 in Trafalgar Square

• at 12.30pm a 60m2 edible map of central London will be presented
• from 2.00pm London will be served
• at 4.00pm the city will have been eaten by its citizens!

Where?
Trafalgar Square, Central London on Saturday 28th April 2007
Getting there
Follow this link to see a map of Trafalgar Square and for comprehensive public transport information about getting to Trafalgar Square by tube, train or bus >>
Access
Trafalgar Square is fully accessible. Follow this link to find out more about facilities at Trafalgar Square, including eating and drinking, pubic toilets and public safety >>

Please email us at info@liftfest.org.uk if you have any access requirements for Eat London we can address.

Manor Gardens Allotments are a small green paradise and thriving community hidden away in the East End of London. For nearly 100 years generations of local people have been able to grow their own food and enjoy their leisure in this uniquely secure and peaceful space, which time and the hard work of the plotholders has turned into a place of special beauty.

Come the winning of the bid for the so-called ‘green’ Olympics 2012, and it has become just another piece of land to be flattened, community dispersed and its history erased… to be replaced by a concrete path. But campaigners are determined to persuade the authorities that the destruction of this special place would be an unnecessary and tragic loss, and their retention within the Olympic 2012 site would be a tremendous and imaginative asset. First shown on BBC1’s InsideOut on 30 Oct 2006.

In Aldersbrook (E12), nestled between Shoulder of Mutton Pond and Heronry Pond, lies a Bluebell wood, which Ham over at London Daily Photo has a beautiful picture of up on his site.
A Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta, syn. Endymion non-scriptus, Scilla non-scripta) wood is a wood that in spring-time has a carpet of bluebells underneath a newly forming leaf canopy. Bluebell woods may be found in all parts of Great Britain and Ireland. Bluebells are a common indicator species for ancient woodland, so bluebell woods are likely to date back to at least 1600.

If you visit, be aware that In the United Kingdom the common bluebell has been a protected species since 1981. This legislation was toughened up in 1998 under schedule 8 of the wildlife and countryside act and as such the trade in common bluebell bulbs or seeds is an offence. Landowners are prohibited from removing bluebells on their land for sale. Wild bluebells are protected by the legislation and it is a criminal offence to remove the bulbs.

There is another Bluebell Wood in London. Up North in Haringey is a wood that covers the Eastern edge of Muswell Hill — a Bluebell wood that is one of the ancient woodlands of London.
[Thanks to Ham @ London Daily Photo]

An Essex firm is making stab-proof hoodies lined with Kevlar, the material used in body armour for British troops.

Romford-based Bladerunner, which makes protective clothes for police forces and security guards, is selling the tops for £65.

Boss Adrian Davis claims to be in discussion with schools in east London about putting Kevlar linings into school uniforms.

“It’s all in development but we’re at an advanced stage,” he said.

“We’ve sent examples of school jumpers to the manufacturers and we’re waiting for the costings. I really believe it’s needed,” he told The Sun.

His colleague Barry Samms says a policeman friend has come across 14 and 15-year-olds wearing stab-proof vests for protection on the streets.

[from Ananova]

Katmaidog says: This is my first edited movie; made with Windows Moviemaker, and it depicts the London that I know. It was filmed in 2005/2006 in and around the Whitechapel area of East London, where I live (with the exception of the busker, who was filmed last weekend in the London borough of Greenwich.)
All of the music (with the exception of the title and credits tracks) was as is, part of the scene.

Yesterday marked the beginning of the sixth East London Film Festival, which runs until next Thursday at various venues throughout Hackney and Tower Hamlets.

The festival is truly an East London affair, organised and paid for by Tower Hamlets and Hackney councils, Film London and even the East End’s own Three Mills film studios at Bow., and features films reflective of the heart of the East End; from the fashion trade to Bengali families.
This year’s highlights include the world premiere of With Gilbert and George, and the UK premiere of journalist John Pilger’s War on Democracy.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’m forever blowing bubbles
Pretty bubbles in the air
They fly so high
Nearly reach the sky
Then like my dreams they fade and die

Fortune’s always hiding
I’ve looked everywhere
I’m forever blowing bubbles
Pretty bubbles in the air.

(full lyrics here)