It's time to stand up, speak out and come together for Feminist Fightback, the annual free activist conference taking place at University of East London for it's second year. Because fighting back is still necessary and feminism is not dead - and sadly, women's rights and gender equality still need protecting and promoting.

Representatives from groups like Central American Women's Network, Women in Darfur, Women's Environment Network, Southall Black Sisters, MPs, student union representatives and trade union representatives as well as the Feminist Fightback organising team will be taking part in a series of talks and debates throughout the one-day event.

Talks range from 'Is Sexy Always Sexist?' to Islamic feminism, women's representation in politics to women's struggles in Latin America. A special exhibition by women artists is being hosted alongside the day's events and there will be lots of information about various campaigns and action groups.

Last year's conference attracted over 220 attendees and this year, more are expected. Join the debate and meet those who are working for equality and the end of women's oppression and exploitation. Entry is free but registration is necessary. All this activity and action is taking place at the University of East London's Cyprus campus - that's the Docklands Light Railway station, not Mediterranean country.

And, to pre-empt any questions or comments that might arise: yes, men are welcome!

Feminist Fightback, Saturday 20 October, 11.30am to 7pm, entry is free. For more information and to register for a place, go to the conference website here.

Attention, sufferers of controller-thumb and Wii-wrist: the London Games Festival is here to make your condition even worse. From the 22nd of October to the 2nd of November organisers will be laying on talks, music and exhibitions celebrating the culture of gaming. Many of the events are geared towards those in the industry, but there?s also plenty to please the civilian gamer, especially in the festival fringe. And we can?t help but approve of the fact that most of them are free.

If it?s gameplay you?re after, Trafalgar Square is the place to aim for with three days of free gaming put on by Electronic Arts. There?s also a text-based treasure hunt across London on the weekend of the 27th. Or be a rebel and watch the games play themselves while you have a lounge, in the Zero Gamer exhibition.

There?s music to be had at Video Games Live, where an orchestra will play the scores from iconic video games (sort of like playing Tetris on piano, only bigger and almost certainly better). And there?s more at Games ? AV, which will feature three floors of art, DJs and performances from the likes of ZX Spectrum Orchestra and The Lost Levels.

There?s lots of, well, other stuff too: like a talk by Will Wright, creator of The Sims and the eagerly-awaited Spore. There?s an evening all about making weird new toys out of old games consoles, a social for women gamers, and an event on whether your brain is anything like a computer. With the festival on, for the next couple of weeks even the toughest of gaming addicts have a good reason to give their controller hands a rest and head outside.

The London Games Festival, 22nd October ? 2nd November, various venues. For more information go to the festival website here.

Image courtesy of the London Games Festival.

Fancyapint has awards in 2 categories. The reviewers' awards are based on their dedicated team's experiences over the year and a bewilderingly scientific system of tick boxes. The visitor awards are based on a not wholly scientific but ingenious manipulation of website usage data tracking how visitors use the site and which pubs they're interested in.

The award ceremony was no red carpet, glitzy do but a friendly and informal gathering in one of the winning pubs' function rooms - The Water Poet, Folgate Street E1 - with plenty of booze, affable chat and post gong sarnies. What's clear from mingling with the Fancyapint crew is that they really love their pubs. The big winners were:

Reviewers' awards overall winner: The Palm Tree, Haverfield Road, Mile End E3. A traditional East End boozer with a darts team, sausage rolls and bags of character. Watch out for an interview with the landlords soon.

Visitors' awards overall winner: Kings Arms, 25 Roupell Street SE1. Tucked away behind Waterloo East station this is pub picks up an award for the second year running for its location, ambience and quality of service. They also do some mean Thai food.

We're hoping some of the Fancyapint crew will be coming along to our birthday party next Thursday, 25 October at the Grafton Arms so you can quiz them about their choices then. We'll certainly be fancying lots of pints at this event so do come and join us to celebrate 3 years of Londonist!

Image of the award winning Palm Tree courtesy of Ewan-M's Flickrstream.

Contractors uncovered the objects whilst clearing a 100-year old waste tip near Stratford last month. A subsequent survey, ordered by the Olympic Delivery Authority, revealed "low level" contamination and hotspots of the highly poisonous heavy metal radium-226. However, the ODA stressed that there was no risk whatsoever to public health.

The site stands on the grounds of a former factory that produced radium paint, which was used to make 'glow in the dark' markings on aircraft dials and watches. It was banned in the Fifties after around 100 painters contracted radiation poisoning - so don't get any clever ideas about daubing it all over your body for Halloween

Image courtesy of diamond geezer's Flickrstream

We're not quite sure why. The Kennel Club secretary says that the move "promotes the importance of dogs within our lives" but we think it's more about promoting the annual Discover Dogs show coming up in November and the sponsor/tie-in Sky Movies season of doggie movies over the same weekend. Yes, Battersea Park is a popular dog walking space but why anyone feels the need to give some fictional dogs permanent plaques in a local park is beyond us.

Hovever, here comes the audience participation bit. You can, of course, vote for your favourite movie pooches to be included. Just 6 legendary dogs will be commemorated in the inaugural ceremony on 5 November (ironic, seeing as dogs really don't like bonfire night). The shortlist includes 2 dogstars already immortalised in the Hollywood Walk of Fame: Lassie and Rin Tin Tin, plus other obvious favourites, Toto, Pongo and Perdita and Greyfriars Bobby. Vote here, filmic doglovers.

The Dog Walk of Fame will be revealed on 5 November in Battersea Park. Discover Dogs is at Earls Court on 10-11 November and watch out for dog movies on Sky that weekend if you really must.

Image courtesy of SMN's Flickrstream.

Back in July, we went to see Leftovers at Dino?s Grill in East London. Leftovers was a performance piece in which audience members were called upon to smell, taste, touch, listen and watch, as active participants rather than observers. We got very excited. We called it a ?journey? and ?an act of remembrance? ? we said that the meal we were served was ?the most satisfying full ?English? breakfast available?. Now artist Mem Morrison performs Leftovers in London again, only this time it has been transformed into a stage show, commissioned by Chelsea Theatre and Nottingham NOW Festival.

In short, Leftovers concerns itself with integration and belonging. Morrison? Turkish-Cypriot parents were proprietors of a South East London greasy spoon and the juxtaposition between the ?foreign? and the British (in the shape of the full breakfast) serves as starting point from which Morrison explores his own identity and the way food can bridge differences between people.

Anyone who has ever seen Morrison?s other stage shows will know that he can easily captivate an audience on his own, as he is a charismatic and charming performer. But can a performance that relies on the audience?s sensory participation really translate in a manner that is equally moving and relevant? And what we really want to know is: will we yet again be fed?

The performances in the London in July sold out quickly, so book now to see if Morrison also this time succeeds in touching hearts and minds.

Leftovers is at Chelsea Theatre on Wednesday 24th October. Entrance is free, but booking is essential. More information here and here.

Image by Manuel Vason

You may or may not have noticed that this week is Amnesty International's Protect The Human week. Protect The Human week is a snazzy name for the week formerly known as Amnesty Week - a time when people all over Britain celebrate and raise awareness about Human Rights. Up and down the country people have been holding events in aid of the charity and this Friday the week closes in style with a bash at Play Bar, Old Street.

So if you like the sound of live jazzy trip hop from Iota, chunky funk classics from Vinyl Richie and a guest appearance from Phatplastic before their return to fabric's main room in November get down to Play tonight.

It's a great opportunity to have a good night out and support a worthwhile cause at the same time. All proceed go directly to support Amnesty's work - protecting individuals wherever justice, fairness, freedom and truth are denied.

Tickets available in advance for just £5 from http://www.standupcelebrate.com and you can RSVP via their Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=6788885717

Most Londoners tend to forget that for every ex-pat community living in London, there is a similarly ex-pat music scene catering for them. Well, this is what a lot of Iranians do for entertainment?

And because Iranians are a funny bunch, after six months of concert drought, there are now two rival gigs on the same evening ? Sunday October 28th.

Londonist highly recommends a triple line up which is on at the Coronet Theatre in the New Kent Road. It features Andy Madadian, the original Iranian medallion king. This guy really knows how to get ?em up and dancing, and, Cliff Richard style, has weathered well over the (many) years for which he has been singing. Also strutting his v. funky stuff is Jamshid, who will really have them whooping it up ? his Kurdish origins lend his melodies a wild, irresistible note. And then we have Sepideh, who for all her, er, blonde, nubile charms, has a voice like pureed mulberries. All that and a couple of hip and happening DJs (DJ is the new train driver for young Persian men ? an astonishing number aspire to DJ-dom), and you?ve got yourself a very jolly Sunday indeed.

On the same night, but with a slightly different tempo, you could also take in the legendary Dariush (see left; think Jack Jones, Persian style ? soulful ballad crooning) and Mansour, who is actually great ? big hair, big music. Details of this concert are scantier, but it is most likely to be on at the Hammersmith Palais.

Tickets for Londonist?s recommended concert are £30.00 (£35.00 on the door), and are available by dialling 07944 104334, or from most good Iranian supermarkets.

Photos courtesy of i) Jim Callender?s flickr stream
And ii) Sh.N's flickr stream.
Iranians aren?t too good at PR yet, so we had to improvise.

Doc Rogers lives and works in the heart of London's SoHo ? he's currently a creative technologist for an advertising company and a keen blogger.

1/6 ? I have to spend a lot of time surfing the world wide web for work, so I often stumble across interesting sites and blogs that are London-related. Today it's all about the maps, possibly not the most exciting of topics I know, but there are some cool things going on in this digital niche.

First up... walkit.com... enter a postcode or location of a walk you would like to do and off you go. It's a simple idea and who knows it might get you off that sofa. Continuing the map theme... we're all familiar with the iconic tube map by the genius Harry Beck... but what does the real tube map look like? Something that always makes me laugh is when tourists get on at Leicester Square and get off at Covent Garden... all of two minutes walk, but only a Londoner would know that right? ;-)

Last but by no means least, Google Earth. If you've not had a chance to play with this amazing toy you really should take a look. A great feature is the old map layer ? 17th century London never looked good.

Ok that's enough maps for now, I have a couple more but will save those for another day. Enjoy London.

By Doc Rogers ? www.docrogers.co.uk

OK, Londonist isn?t stupid. There are lots of hardworking parents out there who either can?t afford proper childcare or can?t find anything suitable. And there are even more desperate young (for the most part) women who want to come to England to study but need that little financial boost. On paper it is the perfect arrangement ? Mr. & Mrs. get live in child-care with the option of light cleaning and laundry duties thrown in, and Fifi/Inga/Marie-Claire gets free accommodation, the opportunity to practice the old lingo, and a wage of sorts. So that?s why. And when the right combo is found, it can be an au-pairing made in domestic heaven.

But deary-me there is so much that can wrong. For starters, the idea of introducing an attractive, vulnerable teenager into a standard nuclear family (if there is such a thing anymore: discuss) is a recipe made for stand-up comedy at the very least. And then, most of these (albeit willing and pleasant) girlies have little or no idea which end of a baby is which, and so placing your darling progeny in such hands can at best be construed as foolhardy.

So the news story which caught our eye this weekend ? Greenford-based former police officer in the dock for spanking 17 year old au pair ? is not quite as News-of-the-World-ish as it first seemed: it is sad, farcical, pathetic even, but not all that surprising.

Piccie courtesy of one-11?s flickr photo stream