Results tagged “East London”

By Lutfur Rahman

London's East End will play host to two great national and international events this year: the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations and, of course, the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The Games will bring all sorts of new and hopefully lasting opportunities in their wake.

Four al-Qaeda inspired terrorists have pleaded guilty to conspiring to blow up targets including the London Stock Exchange.

Ringleader Mohammed Chowdhury, 21, of Stanliff House, on the Isle of Dogs, and Shah Rahman, 29, of St Bernard's Road in Newham, were among those who admitted the charge.

Unemployment figures in parts of east London have risen by almost 16 per cent over the last year.

Figures released today showed the jobless totals in Newham have risen from 10,265 to 11,877 in the year to October, an increase of 15.7 per cent. In Tower Hamlets the figure rose to 11,486 from 10,147, a 13.2 per cent increase.

Violent exchanges in Tower Hamlets saw 44 arrests as far-right activists clashed with local youths on Saturday.

It came after members of the English Defence League took part in a controversial demonstration against perceived Muslim extremism in the borough.

Homes in Tower Hamlets and Hackney were raided by police on Thursday morning in connection with this week's riots.

Officers reclaimed designer clothing and four people were arrested for offences involving burglary and handling stolen goods.

A pensioner who had just withdrawn several thousand pounds to pay for his wife's funeral was robbed by a couple police believe followed him from the bank.

The 77-year-old man was walking away from the Whitechapel Road branch of Barclays bank at the junction with Sidney Street, Whitechapel on June 27 when he was attacked from behind and forced to drop the cash.

Historic ship the SS Robin is back in East London today, a mile up the river from where she was built.

The world's oldest surviving steamcoaster was towed into the Royal Albert Dock this morning (July 13) before continuing to her temporary home at Millennium Mills.

A fortnight of underground dining is coming to Canary Wharf at the end of June.

Pop-up restaurants will appear at a secret location on the estate as part of East London's Create11 festival.

By John Biggs

As I wrote last time, Mayor Boris Johnson has announced that he will build that cable car across the Thames, between The O2 and Excel.

I have misgivings about it: whether it's really that much of a transport priority and over the broken promises about cost - but I have learnt a little more.

Back in 1798, the port of London was rich pickings for every smuggler, pilferer and petty thief. Very little in the way of vigilance stopped sailors and dockers from skimming the precious cargos from around the world.

Merchants were losing an estimated £500,000 a year from the Pool of London and something had to be done.

World experts will gather at the University of Greenwich in June to discuss the legacy of London 2012.

The topic of this year's conference is Games and the City: impacts and legacies in the urban environment.

The go-ahead has been given to the planned Thames Cable Car linking Greenwich Peninsula and Royal Docks.

The Greater London Authority gave final permission for the scheme which will carry up to 2,500 passengers an hour between The O2 arena and Excel.

Child Poverty in East London is the worst in the county, with Tower Hamlets showing the highest proportion of child poverty in the UK.

The Campaign to End Child Poverty said its research revealed child poverty rates of over 50 per cent in Bethnal Green and Bow, and Poplar and Canning Town.

By John Biggs

Tackling the economic downturn, while managing the Government's spending cuts, will be a struggle.

We need new jobs to be created, while nationally the cuts mean half a million existing public sector jobs are being deleted. We are being told that new jobs will appear in the private sector.

By John Biggs

Apart from Athens, which is special because that's where the games were invented, Olympic marathons always include the Olympic stadium. But you may have heard that London's Olympic planners intend to leave out east London altogether, preferring the safe tourist backdrops of Central London, which they believe will be more popular for world-wide broadcasting.

Every year in the UK around 80,000 babies are born premature or sick and in need of specialist hospital care.

Bliss support groups provide invaluable services and support to parents and families and help ensure that vulnerable babies not only survive but go on to have the best possible quality of life.

By John Biggs

The East End, and particularly the Isle of Dogs, has seen a massive housing boom in the last 20 years.

While the recent downturn in construction has had an adverse impact, one of its benefits is the opportunity to take stock and see whether we are building the right sorts of homes, in the right numbers.

Perhaps it is too early to tell what kind of icon - if any - the Orbit will make for East London.

Maybe its epic scale will be the making of the complex structure. Perhaps its size will be its undoing, appearing like an gauche paperweight inflated, by cash and ego, beyond reason.

East London's rapid growth over the last few decades is a remarkable testimony to its resilience.

But, as the region begins to recover from the setback of the recession, how will it fare in the coming years?

Evolution has no foresight. It doesn't know where it's going. It plods along mutating here and there in the hope that serendipity will give it a shot. Such is the path followed by The Dome.

The dark days of 2001 act as a reminder of the general cluelessness and lack of direction that dogged much of the millennium experience.