The London Buzz - 21st May 2025
Today's London news round-up:
📻 Royal Free Radio, which now broadcasts to patients at four North London hospitals, is celebrating 55 years on air on 24th May. Enfield Dispatch
📐 London’s lonely young men are lining up to join the Freemasons The Londoner
🚘 Hackney Council has scrapped a “flawed” scoring system for disabled parking assessments after hundreds of residents were denied Blue Badges. Hackney Citizen
💷 Lambeth Council remains under intense scrutiny from its external auditors, who have warned of serious and ongoing failings in financial governance, record-keeping and accountability Brixton Buzz
🏘️ Plans to build up to 500 homes next to the Thames Barrier could be approved by Greenwich councillors next week – seven years after proposals were first submitted. Greenwich Wire
🌳 Trees on Colindale estate 'may have been killed' by pruning Times Series
🎓 Lecturers at University of Greenwich have been left “devastated” after a swathe of job cuts were announced. South London Press
💺Two teenage boys have denied throwing a chair 50ft (15m) from the top floor of an east London shopping centre, allegedly as part of an internet prank. BBC News
🏢 With the eighth anniversary of the Grenfell Tower tragedy approaching in June, the government has said that it will take around two years to carefully take down the stricken high-rise once work begins. Emergency Services Times
⚽ Support still growing for return of Barnet FC to its historic home On London
🏢 Disabled tower block residents "threatened" for posting about broken lifts on Reddit London Centric
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And from ianVisits:
Fifty men’s sheds to help reduce male suicide in London
Heathrow Express starts earlier, but Elizabeth line remains better value for morning travelers
British Museum displays a 2,000-year-old Buddha in exploration of Indian religions
SWR boosts train Wi-Fi speeds with its own dedicated mobile network
Rail closures north of St Pancras station over the next two weekends
Finsbury Circus garden reopens with new pathways, planting, and pavilion
Some things to do in London tomorrow
London’s First Zeppelin Raid - £5
An illustrated talk by Ian Castle. Drawing on original documents and with personal stories of those caught up in the raid that night.
Community tour of Compressor House + Workshop - Free
Chance to see inside a restored docklands building that's being converted into a community centre.
Keats House After Hours - £10
Experience the beauty of Keats House after hours, with a special late opening.
Writing a history of the City of London Corporation - Free
A talk by Ian Doolittle on the City of London and its livery companies.
Lore Harp & Vector Graphic: Silicon Valley’s Forgotten Female Microcomputer Pioneers - Free
A talk about Vector Graphic and its two female co-founders at a time when women rarely ran companies.