Day: January 20, 2026
What is happening with the planned £700,000,000 new London Overground line?
January 20, 2026The buzz around a proposed new Overground line is gearing up, but when can Londoners expect to travel on it? Much of the conversation about London’s future travel upgrades has focused on the potential Bakerloo line and DLR extensions. But work is also going on on the other side of the capital for the new […]
Read More
Should Londoners be worried about China’s super-embassy access to communication cables?
January 20, 2026Londoners have been warned they at risk of threats, intimidation and espionage as China’s ‘super-embassy’ plans are given the go-ahead after years of diplomatic rows. Beijing has been allowed to turn the former Royal Mint building in Tower Hamlets into Europe’s largest embassy despite widespread security concerns. For years, the building plans remained redacted for […]
Read More
‘I fled Hong Kong for my safety – China’s super-embassy will mean more espionage’
January 20, 2026Brooke Davies Published January 20, 2026 12:31pm Updated January 20, 2026 12:31pm Dissidents who fled China to the UK say Keir Starmer is ‘playing into Beijing’s hands’ after the government approved a hugely controversial super-embassy in London. Plans to convert the Royal Mint in Tower Hamlets, which is near top financial centres and critical communication […]
Read More
‘I came back from the dead. I know there’s an afterlife – I’ve seen it’
January 20, 2026Ray Catania was 20 when he died in a gas leak that filled his room and set fire to his parents’ home as he slept. ‘All night long, the gas was rising into my bedroom, and I was breathing it in,’ Ray, now 57, tells Metro over Zoom from his home in New York. ‘There […]
Read More
People living near China’s super-embassy reveal what their biggest fear is
January 20, 2026To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Last year MI5 were reportedly worried about the building’s close proximity to major communication cables, leaving them susceptible to an attack. This afternoon, MI5 director general Sir Ken McCallum warned in a joint letter with GCHQ’s director that […]
Read More
UK government approves Chinese ‘mega embassy’ in London
January 20, 2026The UK government has approved the construction of a vast new Chinese embassy complex in east London, despite concerns about security and its impact on political exiles in the capital. The decision brings to an end, for now at least, the saga that has been running since 2018 over the site at Royal Mint Court […]
Read More
London neighbourhood stinks so badly of ‘eggs and sewage’ that locals can’t sleep
January 20, 2026Across one particular neighbourhood in East London, an unpleasant stench lingers in the air. Residents in Newham have long been complaining about the borough’s foul pong — but that’s perhaps to be expected when you live near to one of largest sewers in Europe. Beckon Sewage Treatment Works, which is right in the middle of […]
Read More
New City & Guilds owners tripled bosses’ pay amid £22m cost-cutting drive
January 20, 2026The new owners of the vocational training body City & Guilds appear to have more than tripled the pay of its top six executives right at the moment the company is cutting £22m of costs and shrinking its UK workforce. The large increases to salary and bonuses have emerged during a scandal over the sale […]
Read More