Culture
Leona Lewis: the Hackney heroine has given Simon Cowell a lesson in taste
Collide singer talks epic spook-pop, riots and dodging Whitney style ballads with Sylvia Patterson
Olympics Aquatic Centre – review
Zaha Hadid’s London 2012 Aquatic Centre hasn’t come cheap at £269m, but it is the Olympics’ most majestic space
London 2012: Olympic gold medals glitter in public for the first time
Design by British artist David Watkins in line with London 2012 logo but fails to impress branding experts
Radio review: Hackney Podcast
A cacophony of local voices made this haunting fiction of London after The Flood come alive
London 2012: Olympic flame will be lit in one year’s time, but still much to do
IOC hail progress as Tom Daley dives into Aquatics Centre pool, completed on time and budget
Man Booker prize 2011 longlist includes quartet of debut novels
Stephen Kelman’s Pigeon English leads charge by first-time authors as previous winners fail to make 13-strong longlist
Iain Sinclair’s struggles with the city of London
Iain Sinclair has spent decades documenting the capital and its edgelands. Now he has launched a furious attack on the Olympic development project.
Cine-files: Rio, Dalston, London
This single-screened east London cinema offers a personal touch and period detail but falls down on facilities
Barbican unveils Olympics arts festival
Programme includes theatre productions starring Juliette Binoche and Cate Blanchett, and major Bauhaus exhibition
Mr Briggs’ Hat: A Sensational Account of Britain’s First Railway Murder by Kate Colquhoun – review
After a juddering start, Kate Colquhoun’s account of the first murder on the British railway really gets going
Yes, but is it drawing? London 2011 Biennial Fundraiser
The best works auctioned at east London’s Drawing Room, by Turner prizewinners and younger artists alike, are self-regarding, silly, and muse on the nature of drawing itself
Yuck: A taste of things to come
Formed by childhood friends with a shared love for guitars and fuzz and melody, Yuck are proof that lo-fi rock is in rude health
Hipsters are agents of social change
The ranks of the skinny-jeaned get endlessly knocked – but I’m grateful for their part in making the lives of gay people easier