Commercial: Story of London

Just a quick note that the Story of London festival begins today. This year's theme is 'London, Innovation and the Future', and Nico Macdonald of Spy has been involved in programming a number of events, including the core debates at the British Library next week, on topics as diverse as:

Bankers and Bonuses: What has the City ever done for London? [4 October]
Is London growing too big too fast?  [5 October]
London and the Olympics: Predicting the legacy of the twenty-first century [6 October]
Is London missing out on the potential of new technologies? [7 October]
Will London still be a major player in the world in 2050? [8 October]

Good range of conversationalists and contrarians lined up to speak too, including:

Billy Bragg ; Luke Johnson, FT columnist and chairman of Risk Capital Partners; Economist editor-in-chief John Micklethwait ; BBC Newsnight economics editor Paul Mason; Sir Terry Farrell ; Chris Luebkeman, head of Foresight, Incubation and Innovation at Arup; James Heartfield ; The Times design and architecture writer Stephen Bayley ; Ricky Burdett, head of the LSE Cities Programme; Tony Hall , director of the Cultural Olympiad; Iain Gray, chief executive of the Technology Strategy Board; Adam Hart-Davis ; Dr Hermann Hauser; Oliver Morton Energy and Environment Editor at The Economist; Wired UK editor David Rowan; Professor Lisa Jardine ; Southbank Centre artistic director Jude Kelly; Julie Meyer of Ariadne Capital; James Woudhuysen; and Peter York.

Do hope you can make some of them.