Author: Daniel Foster

Londoners planning to travel across the capital this Saturday and Sunday are being urged to check their routes in advance after Transport for London confirmed a wave of closures and service reductions affecting the Underground, Overground, Elizabeth line, DLR and tram network. The most significant disruption affects the Metropolitan line, where no trains will run between Harrow-on-the-Hill and Chesham, Amersham and Watford from Thursday through to Sunday evening. The closure, caused by signalling improvement works, also knocks out all Chiltern Railways services between Aylesbury Vale Parkway and Marylebone via Amersham. Rail replacement buses are in operation to all affected stations,…

A Metropolitan Police sergeant has been dismissed for gross misconduct after being found to have operated and publicly promoted his mobile pizza company on days he was recorded as absent from duty through illness. Matt Skelt, a firearms officer with 34 years of service, was signed off on long-term sick leave for much of 2025 and into January this year. During that period, social media posts showed him attending events, selling pizza outside a pub two days a week, appearing at a birthday party and working a Christmas market while promoting the business. The disciplinary hearing, held in Sutton, south-west…

Arsenal have secured one of their most important pieces of business of the season after confirming Bukayo Saka has committed his future to the club on a deal running until 2030. The 24-year-old, who joined the club’s Hale End academy as a young child, has put pen to paper on an extension that sporting director Andrea Berta had made a top priority. The agreement is understood to have been reached in January, with the announcement coming shortly after Saka scored in Arsenal’s 2-2 Premier League draw with Wolves. The signing continues a broader pattern of the club tying down its…

A south London borough will implement council tax increases and millions in service cuts after being classified by the government as having low needs and high resources, despite projecting a multi-million pound budget shortfall. Merton Council is proposing to raise council tax by 4 per cent from April, while simultaneously cutting £7.2 million from services across the borough, as it grapples with what it describes as an unfavourable funding settlement under the government’s new Fair Funding Review. The authority has been categorised as a “low-needs, high-resourced” borough under the funding overhaul, which takes effect in April. This classification assumes Merton…

Detectives investigating the fatal stabbing of a 19-year-old man on a busy south London high street are appealing for anyone who was in the area on Saturday evening to come forward immediately. The victim was attacked on Rye Lane near its junction with Heaton Road in Peckham at approximately 7pm on 14 February, with police particularly keen to trace anyone present between 6:30pm and 7:30pm who may have witnessed the incident or events leading up to it. Officers and London Ambulance Service paramedics treated the teenager at the scene before rushing him to hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.…

One in five children struck down during a measles outbreak affecting multiple north London schools have required hospital treatment, with health officials confirming all those admitted had not received full immunisation. The outbreak has affected at least seven schools and one nursery across Enfield and Haringey, with more than 60 suspected cases recorded since the start of the year. Between 1 January and 9 February, the UK Health Security Agency confirmed 34 measles infections in Enfield alone. NHS Ordnance Unity Centre For Health GP surgery warned families that infections were spreading rapidly across the affected schools, urging parents to check…

Fire investigators have begun examining the wreckage of a private nursery in south London after a major blaze tore through the building on Saturday evening, leaving half its roof destroyed. The Rushey Green Nursery in Catford became the focus of a major emergency operation on January 31 when flames took hold of the historic childcare facility. The London Fire Brigade has now launched an investigation to determine what sparked the fire that required nearly three hours to extinguish. The extent of the damage to the private childcare centre remains significant, with half of the nursery’s roof completely destroyed by the…

Commuters across London face widespread disruption this weekend as major engineering works close key sections of the Underground and Overground networks. Transport for London has confirmed extensive closures for track maintenance on Saturday 31 January and Sunday 1 February, with the Central line bearing the brunt of the disruption. There will be no service between Bethnal Green and Epping, Woodford, Hainault or Newbury Park on both days. The Night Tube will also be suspended east of Liverpool Street on Friday and Saturday nights. The closures will particularly affect Leyton Orient supporters travelling to Saturday afternoon’s match against Port Vale. The…

A documentary about US First Lady Melania Trump attracted just one viewer at its UK premiere screening in north London, despite President Donald Trump’s assertions that tickets are “selling out, FAST!” The £29 million film, directed by Brett Ratner, debuted at Vue’s Islington cinema at 3.10pm on Friday, 23 January, with a single ticket purchased for the screening. A subsequent 6pm showing performed marginally better, attracting two attendees. The screenings took place in the cinema’s 25-seat theatre. On Monday, 26 January, President Trump shared photographs from a celebrity-filled premiere of the documentary on social media, declaring the film “a MUST…

Two Tottenham Hotspur players were involved in a dramatic incident on the M25 on Tuesday after a tyre blew out on their Ferrari. Wilson Odobert and Randal Kolo Muani were travelling on the motorway in Hertfordshire when the vehicle suffered a catastrophic tyre failure, leaving the luxury sports car stranded at the roadside. Images from the scene showed the French attackers standing beside the motorway alongside what appeared to be emergency service personnel. The front-right tyre of the black Ferrari was completely burnt out. Spurs boss Thomas Frank moved quickly to reassure supporters that both players had avoided serious harm…