LONDON BRIEFING February 2005

News this month

Poor taste and timing

The frosty relationship between Ken Livingstone and the Evening Standard, a tabloid, got even frostier on February 8th when the mayor asked Oliver Finegold, a Jewish reporter at the newspaper, if he was a “German war criminal”. The mayor, who alleges that the journalist was harassing him, also likened Mr Finegold to a “concentration camp guard” and said the Standard comprised “a load of scumbags and reactionary bigots”. The jibes were made as Mr Livingstone left a party honouring Chris Smith, Britain's first openly gay MP.

Mr Livingstone, who is chronically outspoken, may have gone too far this time. Calls for a public apology have come from rival politicians, Holocaust survivors and Tony Blair, the prime minister. The Board of Deputies of British Jews has lodged an official complaint with the Committee on Standards in Public Life, a local-government watchdog. But the mayor has so far refused to back down. In his weekly press conference on February 15th, Mr Livingstone renewed his attack on the Standard, claiming its publishers have waged a 24-year campaign of hate against him. Further ruffling feathers, he said they would have been “at the front of the queue of the collaborators” had the Nazis invaded Britain.

Cut-rate riot

Chaos reigned at the midnight opening of a new Ikea in Edmonton, in north-east London, on February 10th. Dozens were injured as a throng of about 6,000 shoppers besieged the furniture superstore. Some had been queuing for over ten hours, hoping to snatch cut-price deals such as £45 ($85) leather sofas and £30 bed frames. Others abandoned their cars on the busy North Circular road and made a last-minute dash for the store. Citing an “unforeseen volume of customers”, Ikea's management shut up shop less than an hour after opening. Emergency services attended the scene and took six people to hospital.

A spokesman expressed shock at what took place, and pointed out that Ikea had liaised with both local police and the borough council about security arrangements before the event. Indeed, some commentators wondered if Londoners have simply become dangerously obsessive with bargain-hunting. Another stampede at an Ikea opening in Saudi Arabia in September 2004 involved 8,000 shoppers and resulted in 16 people injured and three deaths.

Final bidding

Amid lively media speculation, the International Olympic Committee's evaluation team began a four-day visit to London on February 16th. Their estimation of the city will impact the IOC's choice of host for the 2012 games when it meets in July. As the 16-person delegation arrived, a poll by ICM, a research firm, showed that 74% of Britons favoured the London bid, though only 39% believed it would actually win.

While in London, the IOC delegates toured proposed Olympic venues such as Lord's cricket ground, Wimbledon, the unfinished Wembley Stadium and the main site in Stratford. Meetings with Tony Blair and the queen were also planned. To allay concern about the capital's congested transport infrastructure, the visitors were driven through the five-mile rail tunnel connecting the Olympic Park and St Pancras station in central London. Once completed, the journey time by rail will take just seven minutes. The delegation's visit concludes on February 19th with a presentation on London's multiculturalism, the same day that a free exhibition promoting the bid opens in Trafalgar Square.

Overseas courtship

London's economic and cultural links with China are set to be strengthened with the opening of offices promoting the city in Beijing and Shanghai. Outlining his proposals on February 7th, Ken Livingstone drew attention to the capital's already close ties with the country and the growing importance of Chinese trade. London is home to over 80,000 people of Chinese origin and another 43,000 visited in 2003. It also boasts around 250 Chinese businesses (including those originating from Hong Kong). The hope is that the offices—which among other things will support Chinese companies wishing to locate in London, and vice-versa—will cement the city's position as the gateway for Chinese companies doing business in Europe.

Meanwhile, the fate of London's “Chinatown” in Soho hangs in the balance. Some businesses are moving out, threatened by developers keen on regenerating the area, and lured by growing Chinese communities elsewhere in the capital. Mr Livingstone dodged the issue in his February 13th speech at Chinese New Year celebrations, talking instead about his plan for a new Chinatown in the Thames Gateway area in east London.

Sniffing out snorters

Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police's new chief, has pledged to target London's middle-class drug-users who think it is “socially acceptable” to snort cocaine. In an interview with the BBC on February 1st, Sir Ian linked the party drug to “misery on the streets of London's estates and blood on the roads to Colombia and Afghanistan”.

The most recent British Crime Survey found that over 600,000 people in England and Wales had taken cocaine in the past year, and 275,000 had done so in the past month. Moreover, the price of cocaine has dropped from £60 a decade ago to about £40 today. In a subsequent interview, Sir Ian hinted that undercover detectives may pose as drug dealers in areas such as Kensington, Chelsea and Islington. Raids on some of London's upmarket nightclubs and drinking venues are also expected.

Catch if you can

March 2005

Turner Whistler Monet

February 10th-May 15th 2005

This touring exhibition, a crowd-pleaser par excellence, attracted more than 50,000 visitors in Paris, and record numbers of advance bookings in London. The show concentrates on the landscape paintings of three important 19th-century artists, exploring the artistic dialogue that wove the men together and encouraging comparisons of their work. James Abbott McNeill Whistler and Claude Monet were friends, and both were influenced by JMW Turner. Expect to jostle with crowds to get close to their portrayals of the Seine, the Thames and Venice's Grand Canal. It is worth queuing for.

Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1. Tel: +44 (0)20 7887-8888. Tickets: £10/£8. Open: daily 10am-5.30pm. See the museum's website.