Each week, Ben Hopkinson looks back at a serious, crazy, and happy news story from the past week.
Serious News
Part of Sadiq Khan’s re-election manifesto last year was his promise to "make rivers in London swimmable within 10 years”. However, an official at the Port of London Authority has raised concerns due to the tides in the Thames.
Grace Rawnsley, the director of sustainability for the PLA, spoke to City Hall, saying: “I think when we get headlines like ‘swimmable Thames’, it does mean that people think that it's safe to swim in. We've worked really hard over the last 15 years to reduce the number of deaths that we get in the Thames”.
Tidal for the majority of its passage through London, it does become non-tidal at Teddington Lock – the PLA do allow swimming but do not encourage it there.
A spokeswoman for Sadiq Khan rebutted: “The tidal part of the Thames will never be safe to swim in, but the Port of London Authority is responsible for ensuring this water is more generally safe and accessible to the public”.
Crazy News
The annual event of the No Trousers Tube ride returned despite near freezing temperatures across London.
Beginning in January 2002 after launching in New York, it has spread to various train networks across the world – with the London edition having trouser-less passengers spotted at Westminster, Waterloo and South Kensington.
Speaking about its inception, Charlie Todd who created the event said: “The whole point is just to create unexpected moments of joy, delight and confusion. It's meant to be a bit of harmless fun. It's not to be provocative or to irritate someone so hopefully the spirit of that continues”.
Happy News
A signed copy of the script of the finale Gavin & Stacey episode has raised more than £50,000 for charity in an online raffle.
Robert Wilfort (who played Jason West in the show) donated the piece to a charity in his hometown of Chesham – The Theatre Shed, an inclusive theatre company that brings together both disabled and non-disabled children.
Artistic director of The Theatre Shed says that the gesture was “beyond generous”, adding: “Being able to raise money like this is so imperative to help us keep going. We don't get any statutory funding, and it's been a tough year for us as a small charity” and that it will give an opportunity to “create access to the arts for those who would usually be unable to access it”.
More than 4,500 people purchased the tickets priced at £5.
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