 londonerama
the capital fanzine
online edition 1 - October 2007
Welcome to London's essential new newsletter! londonerama is the number 1 online mag for Europe's number 1 city. We have all the news, all the goss and all the up-front info. Well, some of it anyway. Read on...
FREE EUROSTAR TRIP!
If you have a weekday spare around the end of the month, maybe you'd like to assist those kindly folk at Eurostar in testing out facilities at St Pancras. They need volunteers to pretend to be passengers (going through security checks and passport control and everything), just to check that everything works properly before the grand launch on 14th November. Don't expect to get to France, although if you're lucky your test train might get as far as Ebbsfleet. Maybe. You'll need 6 hours spare, and you get a free lunch and travel expenses. Oh, and there is a real bonus. You also get a ticket for a free round trip to either Paris, Lille or Brussels to be redeemed later. Ooh la la.
Register your details here.
WEAPONS OF MASS COMMUNICATION
 The new exhibition at the Imperial War Museum is a minor treat. It features wall upon wall of wartime propaganda posters, not just from Britain ("Eat Less Bread") but from the US ("I'm buying Victory Bonds") and right across Europe ("All Hail the Glorious Fourth Anniversary of the Comintern"). They stretch as far back as World War I, and as recently as a certain skirmish in Iraq. Our posters tend to be a bit wittier and more direct, whereas the German contingent are more visionary and uplifting. Admission to the exhibition is free (though the accompanying book costs £20). Expect to spend a good 15 minutes looking round. Let us go forward together.
Review here, admission details here. | LONDON IS THE PLACE FOR ME
 Rivington Place is a brand new public gallery just opened in Shoreditch (where else) with a remit to represent diversity through art and photography. It's had £6m of lottery cash thrown at it, and the resulting building is both striking and functional (and full of community spirit). The free opening exhibition is split across two levels, with "phoning home" photographs downstairs and a trio of dislocated audio-visual presentations in a dark room upstairs. Try not to get very lost walking inbetween (and, whatever you do, don't wander into the Stuart Hall Library by mistake). It's a brave new venture deserving of support, but I wonder how many Londoners will ever notice it exists.
Gallery here, exhibition here.
SMITHFIELD UNDER THREAT
Developers are always threatening wholesale destruction at London's historic meat market, and English Heritage aren't too pleased. They've commissioned a 60 page masterplan for the area, heavy on the history, geography and sustainable options for the future. And they're holding a special "Market Values" exhibition in nearby Cowcross Street so that locals and stakeholders can give their opinions. It's only open on Tuesdays and Fridays, which suggests they're not trying very hard to be heard, but if you're in the area before 2nd November it might be of interest.
More information here, masterplan (pdf) here.
LET'S ASK KEN
If there's anything you've ever wanted to ask the Mayor of London (especially if it relates to policing, transport, the environment or 2012), you might get your chance next week. On Thursday 25th October at 7pm, to be precise. At People's Question Time. In Ilford Town Hall. I don't think that questions about Boris are on the agenda, but I bet somebody asks Ken all the same.
Free tickets available here. |
