The London Minute ⏰ Monday 23 June 2025
Anti-war protest, Tube price hike warning, Piccadilly Line launch delay + get your free wildflower seeds
🌤️ Good morning London. Here’s Monday’s London Minute.
🎟️ Tube passengers could face annual above-inflation price hikes until the end of the decade. - Ross Lydall, The Standard.
🚇 The launch of the Piccadilly Line’s new trains will be delayed by up to a year. - Ross Lydall, The Standard.
"It will obviously be disappointing for customers that they will have to wait a bit longer for the new trains, and I regret that. But I would like to assure Londoners and visitors to our city that we are working extremely closely with Siemens to ensure that the new trains can be introduced as soon as possible in the second half of next year." - Stuart Harvey, TfL's Chief Capital Officer.
⮑ Parts of the DLR timetable will be paused next month as new trains get added to the line. - Will Noble, Londonist.
🪧 There is a ‘no more wars’ emergency protest planned today at the US Embassy from 6.30pm today. - Details via the Stop the War Coalition.
⮑ The Metropolitan Police chief Mark Rowley said he was ‘shocked and frustrated’ by the planned protest, which is supported by 35 groups. - Jacqueline Howard, BBC London News.
🎻 Police issued an appeal after a violin worth more than £150,000 was stolen from a pub on Canonbury Street. They said the owner was a member of London’s Philharmonia Orchestra. - More details via the Met here.
🚉 Liverpool Street Station's major redesign has been labelled a 'billion pound gamble' after a report said its financial viability is reliant on an 'upswing in market conditions'. - Ben Lynch, Local Democracy Reporter, MyLondon.
📆 This week at the London Assembly:
Tuesday: The Housing Committee will meet to discuss how London can deliver an increase in accessible homes, which allow disabled people and others with access needs to live independently.
Wednesday: The Economy, Culture and Skills Committee will meet to understand the benefits and drawbacks associated with a Universal Basic Income (payments made to all people without a means test or work requirement).
Thursday: The Planning and Regeneration Committee will ask experts about the impact that energy constraints are having on development in West London, and what more can be done to futureproof London’s grid.
🌳 Plans to build 160 homes on a Green Belt site in Hadley Wood are likely to be submitted next year, the land owner has confirmed. - James Cracknell, Enfield Dispatch.
🚴♀️ ‘Chaos in Clapham: a visit to the most dangerous cycle spot in Great Britain’ - Mabel Banfield-Nwachi and Michael Goodier, The Guardian.
🎨 Where's London's missing Banksy? - Always a good read, Jim Waterson in London Centric.
✌️ Better news
This section aims to include better news from all over London. It’s a wide range of things, and as always you’re welcome to submit yours here. My hope is that it inspires more civic pride and community spirit, new plans in your calendar and a few smiles or laughs along the way.
💰 Islington Council has awarded more than £500,000 in grants for organisations helping refugees, migrants and asylum seekers in the borough. - More details from Josef Steen, Local Democracy Reporter, in the EC1 Echo.
🤝 Windrush Day was marked in Brixton yesterday with the third annual ‘Big Caribbean Lunch’ event. - Deputy Mayor for Communities and Social Justice Debbie Weekes-Bernard shared these images.
📆 The exhibition centre at Olympia is gearing up to open later this year after a four year construction project. - The venue’s calendar is filling up and Bridget Osborne previews some of the events on The Chiswick Calendar.
🦋 ‘The sunniest spring on record’ has led to a boost in insects, and therefore birds, writes Eric Brown in his Wild Things column for the Richmond and Twickenham Times.
⮑ TfL/GLA are handing out 12,000 free wildflower seed packets at Tube stations across the city today. - IanVisits has more details.
🐾 ‘The secret dog-friendly cafe hidden in the middle of a north London wood.’ - Ezekiel Bertrand, Ham & High.
🎉 ‘There’s more going on out there than any of us can comprehend,’ so ‘revel in the unexpected and remove the damn digital blinkers.’ - Tom Kihl writes a beautiful piece on human connection during summer, in Camdenist.
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📌 “Full closure of Gallows Corner in Havering for months with miles of diversions.” - Thanks to David Styles for sharing this.
📌 “It’s London Climate Action week this weekend with a huge range of events on across the city. Get involved here!” - Thanks to Amy Davis for sharing this.
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The future of The London Minute ⏰
🌤️ Good afternoon, good people of London. I’m close to stopping this newsletter. I’ve sent it to thousands of you for free every day for over a year on a ‘pay if you want’ basis. While a handful of absolute heroes do pay (thank you, sincerely), there aren’t enough to keep it afloat, sadly.