LondonLife – Claridges dressed for Christmas…

PICTURE: Tanya Barrow/Unsplash

For more on the historic hotel, see our earlier post here…

LondonLife – Downing Street’s Christmas lights…

Prime Minister Keir Starmer turns on the Christmas tree lights outside 10 Downing Street. PICTURE: Simon Dawson/No 10 Downing Street (licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

LondonLife – City of lights…

PICTURE: ale ber/Unsplash

LondonLife II – The Lady Mayor’s Show…

The historic Lady Mayor’s Show took place on Saturday through the streets of the City of London. Dame Susan Langley, the 697th Lord Mayor of London, is only the third woman to hold the post in more than 800 years, and is the first ever to be titled the ‘Lady Mayor of London’.

The new Lady Mayor of London, Dame Susan Langley, waves from her carriage at the Lady Mayor’s Show. PICTURE: Ben Turner/UK MOD © Crown copyright 2025.
Participants in the Lady Mayor’s Show. PICTURE: Cpl Danielle Dawson/UK MOD © Crown copyright 2025
A military band in the Lady Mayor’s Show. PICTURE: Cpl Danielle Dawson/UK MOD © Crown copyright 2025
Pikemen guard the Lady Mayor’s carriage outside The Royal Courts of Justice. PICTURE: Ben Turner/UK MOD © Crown copyright 2025

LondonLife I – Marking 80 years since the end of World War II…

Poppies being laid at remembrance at the Cenotaph on Sunday, 9th November 2025. PICTURE: Cpl Danielle Dawson/© MoD Crown Copyright 2025
The Royal Party in front of the Cenotaph. King Charles II led the nation in a two-minute silence to remember those who gave their lives serving in the armed forces at the National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph on Sunday. PICTURE: Cpl Tim Hammond/UK MOD © Crown copyright 2025.
The Hollow Square formed around Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday. PICTURE: LPhot Ollie Leach/UK MOD © Crown copyright 2025

Earlier…

Rod Stewart plays with the RAF band at the Festival of Remembrance in the Royal Albert Hall, London on Saturday. The audience included the King, Queen and other members of the Royal Family. PICTURE: Cpl Danielle Dawson/UK MOD © Crown copyright 2025
Members of the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force muster and the book of remembrance is presented at the Festival of Remembrance in the Royal Albert Hall, London on Saturday. PICTURE: Cpl Danielle Dawson/UK MOD © Crown copyright 2025
A Chelsea Pensioner at the Field of Remembrance outside Westminster Abbey on Friday. The field has been an annual feature since November, 1928, to commemorate those who have lost their lives serving in the armed forces. PICTURE: Sergeant Anil Gurung/©MOD Crown Copyright 2025
Queen Camilla places a wooden cross of remembrance at the Field of Remembrance outside Westminster Abbey on Friday. PICTURE: Sergeant Anil Gurung/©MOD Crown Copyright 2025

LondonLife – Traffic lights…

PICTURE: Jonny Gios/Unsplash

Outside St Paul’s Cathedral.

LondonLife – Look up!…

PICTURE: Maik Winnecke/Unsplash

The magnificent carved fan vaulted roof of the Henry VII Lady Chapel at the eastern end of Westminster Abbey. The chapel, which 16th century historian John Leland called “the wonder of the world”, was consecrated in 1516.

LondonLife – ‘Goavve-Geabbil’ at the Tate Modern…

Hyundai Commission: Máret Ánne Sara: Goavve-Geabbil installation view featuring -Geabbil at Tate Modern 2025. © Máret Ánne Sara. PICTURE: © Tate/Larina Fernandez.

Described as an “immersive work honouring the reciprocal relationship between the Sámi people, the reindeer, and the land”, the Goavve-Geabbil is a monumental new sculptural installation by Sámi artist Máret Ánne Sara and has been made using materials which sustain her community in Sápmi, the territory of the Indigenous Sámi people which spans the countries of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia.

In this, Sara’s first major work in the UK, the artist draws on her experience as member of a reindeer herding family to highlight ecological issues impacting Sámi life and has combined hides and bones derived from traditional reindeer herding practices along with wood, industrial materials, sound and scent.

The Hyundai Commission: Máret Ánne Sara: Goavve-Geabbil can be seen in the Turbine Hall at the Bankside institution until 6th April. Admission is free. For more, see tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern.

Hyundai Commission: Máret Ánne Sara: Goavve-Geabbil installation view featuring -Geabbil at Tate Modern 2025. © Máret Ánne Sara. PICTURE: © Tate/Sonal Bakrania.
Hyundai Commission: Máret Ánne Sara: Goavve-Geabbil installation view featuring Goavve- at Tate Modern 2025. © Máret Ánne Sara. PICTURE: © Tate (Larina Fernandez).

LondonLife – Regent Street curve…

Lex Brogan/Unsplash

LondonLife – Rush hour, Poplar…

PICTURE: Kevin Grieve/Unsplash

LondonLife – Screen characters set a new record in Greenwich…

It’s official, a new Guinness World Record was set in Greenwich on the weekend when some 874 people gathered at the Old Royal Naval College on Saturday dressed as their favourite characters from the big (and little) screen. The Old Royal Naval College team partnered with Elstree Studios for the event, part of the festivities being held to mark 100 years of film and TV at the site, which featured everyone from Stormtroopers to Jack Sparrow, Batman to characters from Bridgerton and Sherlock Holmes. The record, which was verified by Guinness, is officially known as the ‘largest gathering of people dressed as screen characters’.

LondonLife – Refuelling…

PICTURE: Intrepid/Unsplash

LondonLife – Going up…

Tower Bridge is raised to allow boats to pass through. PICTURE: Carmen Dominguez/Unsplash

LondonLife – Millennium Bridge bubbles…

PICTURE: Philippe BONTEMPS/Unsplash

LondonLife – Murals, Hawley Street, Camden Town…

PICTURE: Philippe BONTEMPS/Unsplash

LondonLife – Remembering VJ Day, 80 years on…

PICTURE: Sergeant Rob Kane UK MOD © Crown copyright 2025

Lance Corporal James Bell plays the bag pipes in front of the Cenotaph to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Victory in Japan Day on Friday, 15th August. Lance Corporal Bell was one of six military pipers who performed solemn laments across the UK, the Far East, and aboard HMS Prince of Wales at sea, to honour the end of World War II and the sacrifices of the Commonwealth forces.

LondonLife – Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park…

PICTURE: John-Mark Strange/Unsplash

LondonLife – Kensington Gardens birdlife…

PICTURE: Aleks/Unsplash

LondonLife – Kew Gardens’ new Carbon Garden…

The Carbon Garden at Kew Gardens. PICTURES: Ines Stuart-Davidson © RBG Kew

A cutting edge ‘Carbon Garden’ opened at Kew Gardens on 25th July with the aim of revealing the critical role carbon plays in sustaining life on Earth, the scale of the climate crisis, and the “extraordinary potential of the natural world to combat it”. The permanent new garden features a selection of herbaceous perennials which illustrate the dramatic rise in global average temperatures over time, a dry garden which showcases how we can work with plants to adapt to a changing climate, more than 20 new trees selected for their resilience to projected future climate conditions, a rain garden and bioswale which, among other things, illustrate the ways we can manage waterflow, prevent soil erosion, and reduce flooding, and carbon storage. and grasslands, wildflower meadows and native hedgerows which aim to boost biodiversity. At the centre of the garden is a pavilion designed by Mizzi Studio which is inspired by the symbiotic relationship between the plant and fungal kingdoms, and is created using low-carbon, natural materials. Admission charges apply. For more, see www.kew.org/kew-gardens/whats-in-the-gardens/carbon-garden

LondonLife – Bold play in Hyde Park…

PICTURE: Laura Gogue/Unsplash