Author: olimpslots_c

King Charles has visited the home of Tottenham Hotspur to highlight the Premier League club’s work supporting local businesses.

The King met guests including Gina Moffatt, 48, an ex-offender who turned her life around with help from the King’s Trust – formerly the Prince’s Trust – and now runs a restaurant in Tottenham, north London.

Ms Moffatt informed the head of state he was “bigger than Beyoncé”, referring to the US superstar’s upcoming performances at the stadium.

King Charles also took the opportunity to have a go at throwing an American football – receiving mixed feedback.

The football club is collaborating with America’s National Football League (NFL) – which stages games at the arena – in supporting local businesses and good causes.

During the visit the King met students from the London Academy of Excellence Tottenham, a state-funded high achieving sixth form on the stadium campus.

On the pitch he was handed a ball by the longest-serving British NFL playerEfe Obada, who praised the “energy” of the King’s throw but added that his “technique wasn’t immaculate”.

“I wanted him to get a little closer to the target so he could get it in but he was having a great time and got a good reception,” he said.

A man has been arrested in connection with three incidents of sexual assault in which teenage girls were touched while walking near Clapham Common.

It happened on Wednesday, 8 January, and Thursday, 23 January, and police have asked for any other victims to get in touch.

Met Police Det Ch Insp Amanda Prince described the events in south London as “extremely alarming and distressing” and praised the three girls for contacting the police.

She added on Wednesday: “Yesterday evening we arrested a 22-year-old man who remains in custody. I would urge anyone with more information or who may have been a victim to come forward.”

Two pensioners have denied damaging Charles Darwin’s grave in Westminster Abbey by spraying it with orange chalk paint.

Alyson Lee, 66, a retired teaching assistant from Derby, and Di Bligh, a 77-year-old former chief executive of Reading Council from Frome in Somerset, are charged with causing criminal damage by writing the words “1.5 is dead” on the 19th Century biologist’s grave last month.

The writing refers to attempts to limit global warming to 1.5C and reduce the impact of climate change.

Ms Lee sprayed “1.5” before Ms Bligh wrote “is dead”, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard.

A spokesperson for the church said previously that it did not anticipate there would be any permanent damage caused by the protest.

Ms Lee and Ms Bligh are next due before Southwark Crown Court on 21 March.

The Metropolitan Police Commissioner has said that the bill for keeping “rogue officers” on paid leave – because the force does not have the power to sack them -could run into tens of millions of pounds a year.

It comes aftera High Court rulingthat the Met cannot fire officers who have had their vetting clearance removed – a background check used to identify unsuitable individuals.

Sir Mark Rowley told the London Assembly’s Police and Crime Committee that the force was preparing an appeal.

The Met beganreviewing allegations against officersand staff following public outrage over the cases, such as Wayne Couzens, a serving officer who kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard.

Sir Mark said that urgent work was needed by the government to change regulations so he could get rid of rogue officers.

There are currently 29 officers who have had their vetting removed who remain on paid leave and 96 who have been sacked or resigned.

“The current people who are on paid leave at home, I think the bill for them will run to about £7m a year, but if the regulations aren’t fixed, as we put more people into the process, that number will tick up and up and up,” he warned.

He described the situation as frustrating but added, “You want to keep them off the street and away from colleagues.”

Sir Mark said he had been lobbying for action from the Home Office but that officials needed to “listen and roll their sleeves up”.

“I don’t apologise for stepping into a legally uncertain and untested space, the most important thing is the integrity of the police,” he said.

The Metropolitan Police Federation, which represents officers, welcomed the High Court ruling, saying it was about “ensuring a fair, but more importantly, legal process was in place”.

A Home Office spokesperson has said it was “acting rapidly” to ensure police forces could “dismiss officers who cannot maintain vetting clearance”.

Sir Mark also told the Police and Crime Committee that the Met was still facing “very significant” cuts to frontline services, but that they would not be on the scale he had previously feared, thanks to more government funding.

Last year, he warned the force was facing a £450m funding shortfall, which he said could have an “eyewatering” impact, and the potential loss of 2,300 officers and 400 staff.

In December, policing minister Diana Johnson announced that the Met would receive an extra £65m through the National and International Capital City grant, partly to cover the costs of policing protests in the capital.

The commissioner told the committee that this meant that the force was now £45m better off than it had anticipated, but warned that “a large part of the tough choices will still have to be executed”, including losing officers and staff.

He repeated assurances that areas such as neighbourhood policing and public protection teams, which target violence against women and children, would be protected, but said he could not give any more detail on where other cuts would fall.

The Met has previously warned that it may need to reduce the size of the Flying Squad, which tackles serious and organised crime; the dogs unit and mounted branch; and Royal Parks policing.

The mayor’s draft budget proposes raising average council tax bills by almost £19 a year to help pay for London’s police and fire services, which is expected to raise an additional £54m in the police budget for 2025-26.

Sir Mark said that the Met was “part way through the budget process” and it would take a bit longer to get clarity.

Thousands of homes and businesses in south London have been left without water or have reduced supply after a pipe burst in the Crystal Palace area.

Thames Water has apologised to customers and said engineers had located the source of the leak and were “working to restore water to customers and fix the pipe as soon as possible”.

A spokesperson added: “Bottled water will be delivered to customers on our priority services register.”

They confirmed this included 11 care homes and 29 schools within the area which had low pressure or no water.

The affected postcodes were SE19, SE20, SE23, SE26, SE27, and SW16, the water supplier said.

“We are sorry to customers in the Crystal Palace area who have experienced low water pressure or no water due to a burst pipe,” it said in a statement.

“We have tankers in the area to infuse the network with water, and impacted properties should see their water supply return over the course of the day while our reservoir replenishes.”

It added that it was contacting customers in the affected areas who had pre-registered as having special requirements, such as being medically reliant on water, to ensure they were given specific help and support.

Thames Water also confirmed it had set up a bottled water station at Sainsbury’s in Southend Lane, SE26 4PU.

It said customers could access updates on the situationvia its website.

It is also trying to fix flooding following a different issue at the Crystal Palace Pumping Station and that this was “also adding to the supply problems”.

Lambeth Council said it was working to “support impacted communities” in the borough, which included liaising with schools that might face disruption.

It added a distribution hub for all residents impacted by supply issues was being set up.

Locals described the scene after the underground pipe burst on Tuesday and said there were “torrents of dirty water gushing down the street”.

Magda told the BBC: “I came home from work at about six o’clock, and I had a What’s App from neighbours to say the water was off.

“But, I’m a bit of a contingency planner so I had about 32 litres of bottled water in my garage and so it was fine, we were able to brush our teeth and wash our hands and by this morning, the water was back on.”

Hollywood film star Audrey Hepburn and T. Rex frontman Marc Bolan are among those to be recognised with blue plaques in London, English Heritage has announced.

People whose creative achievements have helped shape the capital were the focus of the charity’s awards this year.

Others to be honoured include novelist Barbara Pym, artist Graham Sutherland, ballerina Alicia Markova and poet, playwright, broadcaster, and campaigner Una Marson.

English Heritage said the plaques would celebrate their impact on London’s cultural landscape.

English Heritage’s curatorial director Matt Thompson said: “From literature and art to dance and music, these figures helped shape the London we know today.

“Their contributions not only had a profound impact on their fields but also continue to inspire generations.”

Bolan helped spearhead the Glam Rock movement of the 1970s and was known for his flamboyant style and fusion of rock, folk, and glittering theatrics, making hits like Get It On and Ride a White Swan.

English Heritage said his “iconic look, featuring sequins, feather boas, and platform boots” defined Glam Rock’s aesthetic and “challenged traditional notions of masculinity”.

He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2020 and English Heritage said his plaque would hopefully be installed at one of his west London addresses.

Hepburn’s early years in London, during which she transitioned from ballet to acting, will be commemorated with a blue plaque in Mayfair.

During her time in the capital she gained her first film and stage roles including her Broadway debut in Gigi and secured an Oscar starring as Princess Ann in Roman Holiday, while she also became known for her style and fashion influence.

Renowned 20th Century ballerina Markova, a co-founder of the English National Ballet and an influential figure in the Royal Ballet, will also be celebrated with a blue plaque at her childhood home in Muswell Hill.

Jamaican poet, playwright, broadcaster and campaigner for racial and gender equality Marson will also be recognised.

As the first black woman to be employed as a programme assistant, and later as thefirst black producer at the BBC, Marson spearheaded a wave of change in British broadcasting.

Meanwhile the London childhood home of Sutherland, who once painted Sir Winston Churchill, will be the location for his plaque as English Heritage said it played a formative role in his artistic development.

Novelist Pym’s Pimlico home, from where her novel Excellent Women draws its inspiration and setting, will also be marked with a plaque.

English Heritage said all blue plaques were subject to full owner approval and it was working with the property owners.

As a toddler, Toby Brown first began tinkering with padlocks. Then he started kitting his house out with alarms made out of bits of paper and wires.

By the time he was in primary school, he had coded timetable games and was selling them back to his teachers in Twickenham, west London.

The schoolboy later joined Hack Club, a global hackers’ community for teenagers, where he became their youngest employee at age 13.

Now at 16, Toby has secured a $1m deal with Silicon Valley investors for an AI platform he has built, Beem.

Toby has postponed taking his GCSEs and instead is jetting off to build up his business in sunny California.

He said: “This amount of money is going to be so helpful. I actually got the phone call on my birthday, so it was a great birthday gift.

“My friends were quite shocked by it. I made the mistake of not telling them early enough, and it got to the last week of school, and the news came out, and suddenly everyone was like, ‘Ah, Toby, can I have a tenner?’

“It was such a massive part of life. I’d wake up early in the morning to work on it, and I’d come home from school and start coding, it was all I was doing, all I was working on, and it was hard sometimes not being able to tell everyone what I was up to.”

As for what Beem actually does, Toby explains: “It’s essentially a computer that brings files to you; it can bring your calendar to you, and it’s scaleable to do anything, really.

“An example I really like is if you imagine you’re going on holiday and you’re going with your family, you’ve booked an Airbnb and it [Beem] realises you’ve not booked your flights yet. Beem knows you; it knows your price, and it knows what airline you like to fly with.”

For Toby’s mother Claire, it is a mystery where he got his coding talent from.

“We don’t have a background in coding or computing. I work for the NHS; my husband is in marketing, and it’s not something we know much about,” she said.

“It was quite a shock for us, quite surprising,” added Claire.

“But he did it all by himself – from building his first computer to finding Hack Club, which was where he really found his people and community.”

Toby’s mentor and founder of Hack Club, Zach Latta, who is based in Vermont, in the US, said he knew Toby was special straight away.

“From the first day you met Toby, you knew that this was going to happen.

“Hack Club is a place where there are hundreds of teenagers around the world who are working together on these alternate paths, and you could just tell that Toby was going to take this step.

“I’d say it wasn’t a surprise from me when I heard that he’d raised $1million, obviously that was going to happen,” Mr Latta explained.

“It’s so exciting to see so many incredible young people joining Hack Club from London and the UK right now, there’s a big growing community there.”

“It’s such an exciting opportunity,” Toby added. “I think we’ve got an opportunity to really change things, change how we use computers, and I couldn’t turn that down.”

Toby said after his trip to California, he hoped to return to London and continue his schooling.

But asked whether Beem was going to take over the world, Toby chuckles: “World domination, but not the evil kind!”

A secondary school for boys in Islington and the Royal College of Music are among more than 70 projects shortlisted for architectural awards.

The 78 projects shortlisted for the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) London Awards 2025 also include the Elizabeth Tower at the House of Commons, Tower Hamlets Town Hall and the London College of Fashion.

They will all be visited by a regional jury with winners announced this spring.

John Nahar, RIBA’s regional director for London, said the shortlisted projects collectively “capture and celebrate the city’s diverse cultural identity, contributing to inclusive and sustainable communities”.

“Individually, each initiative not only improves the physical environment but also enhances the quality of life for all of us who live, work and study here,” he added.

The RIBA awards have been running since 1966 and the winners will be considered for several special Awards before being considered for the National Award, which will be announced in summer.

The shortlist for the RIBA Stirling Prize – the UK’s best new building – will be drawn from the RIBA National Award-winning projects and announced in September.

The Stirling Prize winner, the UK’s most prestigious architecture prize, will be announced in October.

Tottenham Hotspur has been given the go-ahead to build a new training ground despite campaigners arguing it would destroy a park.

The football club plans to fence off a section of Whitewebbs Park in Enfield, north London, and build a new women’s academy, with 11 pitches and a new clubhouse.

There were 296 objections sent to Enfield Council, with many comments about the loss of green space and the impact on wildlife in the area. Objectors to the plans included The Woodland Trust.

Enfield Council decided to grant a 25-year lease to the football club, and said the development would include “improving the surrounding parkland landscape”.

Concerns about the scheme had included the blocking of views, limiting access to public spaces and not preserving ancient parkland and wildlife.

Campaign group Friends of Whitewebbs Park said the character of the park – which was bought for the benefit of the people of Enfield by Middlesex Council in 1931 – would be permanently altered, and it “would be irreversible”.

The group’s chairperson, Sean Wilkinson, described the “supposed benefits” to the community as “minimal”.

Enfield Council’s Labour leader, Ergin Erbil, said the project would “bring exciting opportunities to Enfield, including job opportunities, apprenticeships, and enhanced sports facilities”.

“We look forward to the next steps, to ensure the project achieves long-term benefits for everyone in Enfield,” he said.

A spokesperson for Tottenham Hotspur said the club was “delighted” by the approval.

The Premier League club promised the development would “improve local access to nature and habitats, provide new facilities for visitors, community groups, and sports clubs, and put Enfield on the map as a champion of the women’s and girls’ game with a best-in-class academy”.

Train drivers on London’s Elizabeth line are to stage a series of strikes in a dispute over pay with their employer MTR, their union Aslef has announced.

Almost 500 drivers will walk out on 27 February and on 1, 8 and 10 March.

Mick Whelan, Aslef’s general secretary, said: “Our members have been instrumental in the success of the Elizabeth line but, despite our best efforts, MTR has decided not to recognise the input, the importance, and the value of train drivers in this success.”

MTR’s managing director Mike Bagshaw said he was “disappointed that drivers on the Elizabeth line have rejected a 4.5% pay rise and voted for industrial action”.

The strike decision comes after ballot with a turnout of 88% in which 95% of drivers voted in favour of industrial action.

Nigel Gibson, one of Aslef’s district organisers, said: “Taking action is always a last resort, because we do not want to inconvenience passengers and our members do not want to lose money, and I hope that the company, seeing the strength of feeling amongst our members – their drivers – will do the right thing and return to the negotiating table.”

Mr Whelan added: “I suspect that the company’s intransigence is because it has lost the contract with Transport for London (TfL) to run the Elizabeth line.

“If that is indeed the case, it is very disappointing to see the company behave this way.”

Mr Bagshaw said: “The offer would have maintained some of the highest salaries in the industry, along with enhanced terms and conditions.”

He added: “We remain committed to engaging with Aslef in the hope of resolving this dispute.”

A Transport for London (TfL) spokesperson said: “We encourage Aslef and MTR Elizabeth line to continue working towards resolving this dispute and avoid impacting our customers with strike action.”

The capital’s newest line opened in May 2022. It runs from Reading and Heathrow, west London across to Shenfield, Essex.

MTR will cease to operate the Elizabeth line on 24 May, at which point it will hand over to a consortium consisting of the Go-Ahead Group, Tokyo Metro and Sumitomo Corporation.