Damien Hirst's most expensive piece has been sold for £50 Million. The famous diamond encrusted skull titled 'For The Love Of God' went for the full asking price and all we know is that it was sold to an 'investment group'. Don't worry. If you were planning on snapping it up yourself but just missed the boat, they plan on selling it in a couple of years. What amazes Londonist is that they're apparently paying for it in cash. Cash. How? We have images of wheelbarrow loads of tenners being delivered to the White Cube.

So, what is it about this skull to make it so darn expensive? Well it's covered in, wait for it, a shocking 8601 diamonds (amounting to a huge 1106 carats). That's more diamonds than there is in the crown the Queen wears on formal occasions. Three times more. There's also a massive pink diamond in the middle worth £5 million alone. The real 18th Century skull was picked up in a taxidermy shop in Islington. It still has all it's own teeth. How lovely.

But, looking at it (and you can't help but), the skull is, well quite tacky. Diamonds are meant to be exclusive and one of a kind. Throwing thousands of them onto a skull isn't aesthetically pleasing for Londonist. Astonishing, yes. Pretty, no. We wouldn't want it on our mantlepiece anyway.

It seems that in this case, money can't buy you style. It can buy you a hugely expensive, amazing but rather ugly bit of bling.

Flickr image from Secretly Ironic's photostream.

However, we've yet to come across a scheme that beats "Beards for Battersea".

Yes, staff and volunteers from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home are embarking on 6 weeks of furiously competitive beard growing to raise £3k for "much needed toys, treats and all kinds of things to make our dogs and cats stay at the Home happier and more fun filled".

We'll be keeping an eye on the mooted Beardies Blog to watch the hairy, scratchy progress with interest and are only rather miffed that at this stage, there don't seem to be any females entering the fray. Perhaps we should be fielding an animal loving Londonista? Do knee beards count?

Either way, the most amiable and venerable of beard bearers, Brian Blessed, will be judging the whiskery results and first prize will be a long awaited wet shave from the oldest and right royal barbers, Truefitt and Hill of St James.

Support the Battersea Beard growers here or contact the Home for details of how to put your best facial hair forward yourself.

Curious dog/beard image courtesy of Willster1000's Flickrstream.

When we were students, meals involved the following: Super Noodles, cheese on toast, Chinese takeaway, Indian takeaway, cheesy chips at the Student Union and beer. Oh, and more beer.

Now this looks like it might change. Nutrition experts at Surrey University have put together a booklet of healthy meals to make sure freshers get all of their As Bs and Cs. Vitamins wise, that is.

Recipes include shepherds pie and something called Tangy Tortilla Starter. The booklet is obviously hoping that students will stop watching Countdown and suddenly turn into Jamie's and Delia's after flicking through the guide and being inspired.

Whilst this is a great idea, (and frankly, who couldn't use a little help in the kitchen sometimes?) we're not so sure that students will pay attention to this. The booklet is likely to go in the same bin as the 'How to budget' leaflet picked up at the Fresher's fair. It's information that as a student, you knew you should pay attention to, but don't. Because you're a student. And you're at University now so you know best.

Every student thinks life will change when the get to halls of residence. They'll buy wine glasses and even a cook book. This token cook book will be on their kitchen shelf for three years. It will also be ignored for three whole years. Because they'll be too busy staying up all night in the library or the SU bar. Because of this, Cheesy chips and beer will be the answer to all of their problems. Or, snakebite and black to make sure they get some vitamin C. This is the way of the student life, has been for years. Why try and change it?

Tasty kebab image from Alex Kehr's flickr stream.

That's right, the DLR has been going for, if you can believe it, 20 years today. This seems like forever for this Londonista's favourite mode of transport around London. So where did it all start? Well Londonist took a little light rail trip down memory lane.

Way back in the 80s, it's hard to imagine but the Docklands were a no man's land in London. (No one came in, no one went out.) This was all due to change when the first plans for the DLR were submitted later that year. We don't think anyone was prepared for how much it would change the way South East Londoners live their lives.

While the Queen opened the railway line on 31st August 1987, it was a few years before it began to make a real difference. It wasn't until 1991 that Canary Wharf and Bank stations opened. These are the two most financially important stops on the line and no one could be prepared for the surge of passengers. It wasn't long before 70 new rail cars had to be put in place. In 1993 the workers population in Canary Wharf had risen to 7000 and just kept on rising.

In the 90s, it was the turn of Lewisham whose rail bill was approved, meaning that commuters here had a direct link into the city. Something which had always proved difficult before. It was easy to see how much the DLR was improving lives of those on the south of the river. But as these things take time, the extension didn't start until 1996.

The DLR was ten years old in 1997. The Lewisham line was to open ahead of schedule in 1999 and a line to Canning Town also opened. By 2000, the working population in Canary Wharf had increased to 30'600. TFL (Transport For London) was also created.

In 2001 there was a public enquiry into extending the line into Woolwich, followed by an extension to City Airport which opens in 2005. By 2005 there was over 50 milllion passangers being served by the DLR.

Preparations had to start for the olympic games, meaning refurbishment has begun on the cars. More rail cars also needed to be introduced as the need for the rail line increased further.

Now the DLR is 20 (though it still looks shiny and new to us). In simple terms, the line has proved invaluable to those living in South London. There's no doubt that this line has improved workings in the city (even if you can't get on a train to Canary Wharf first thing in the morning because of over-crowding - but this just shows just how necessary it is.)

It's clear that while the DLR continues to grow, links from South London and the city will just keep getting better and better. Especially after 2012. This can't be a bad thing. We found out today that capacity will be improved by 50% over the next five years. At last count this year, the passanger total was around 60 million. The line is still more reliable than the underground too.

This Londonista lives on the South of the river and knows the importance of the line first hand. Though we'll be honest. Londonist is still a bit confused by how it works. There's still no driver. How do they do that? Magic? Anyone else get a bit freaked out by this? It's probably just us.

Despite this, we all know that it's really quite fun to sit at the front of the train and pretend you're driving it. Don't we?

Flickr images from top taken from the photostreams of Grant Mitchell, Annie Mole, Pete Arkestra, James Cridland

An occasional column on the forces behind the capital?s economy.

Potemkin, a Russian-themed vodka bar on Clerkenwell Road, has unveiled an intriguing set of five cocktails whose recipes will be tied to stock prices.

It?s not an entirely new idea. We (barely) remember a night at the Dax bar in Hannover, and there?s the near-famous Dow Jones in Barcelona. The twist this time around is that Potemkin will adjust the alcohol content of its drinks according to how well five big Russian companies perform on the London Stock Exchange.

The bar wants to highlight the growing power of Russian business ? and get some publicity, of course. But the promo is just a snifter of the huge scale and somewhat obscure nature of London?s foreign-backed economy. We all know how Roman Abramovich spends his money, but who knows what Taftnet does? (It?s an oil company ? oh, and now, a cocktail.)

You don?t have to dig far in the London business world to turn up even more exotic propositions. Take, for instance, two members of the FTSE100, the definitive list of the UK?s biggest public companies: Kazakhmys is a Kazakh copper mining company and Carnival, based in Miami, is the world?s largest cruise line. Companies like these are attracted to London for the same reason billionaires are: easygoing tax laws, but also location, access to financial markets, and a cosmopolitan air that?s reflected in the work force.

Not only has globalization changed London?s stock exchange, it?s also transformed our drinking habits. George Orwell once compared the likelihood of finding vodka in London to the chances of turning up a Yorkshire pudding elsewhere in Europe. Who could have guessed that 60 years later, the clear stuff would be more popular than whisky?

By MikeW

Top image from Max Sparbar's Flickr photostream, and lower image from follow the edge.

Foo Fighters have announced that they?re doing a two night stint at the O2 on Saturday and Sunday 17th and 18th November. There are now only seats left for either date unfortunately, at £32.50. Though keep your eyes peeled, more nights may be added.

The Hives play Hammersmith Apollo on Friday 23rd November. Tickets are available at £16.50 each now.

Those loveable rogues The Pogues (see what I did there?) are playing their usual Christmas stint at Brixton Academy on Tuesday and Wednesday 18th and 19th December. Tickets are £29.50 each.

A head wobblingly good time will be had when David Gray plays the Roundhouse on Monday and Tuesday 12th and 13th November. Tickets are £28.50 each.

Alison Moyet plays the London Palladium on Sunday 27th January. Tickets vary in cost between £27.50 and £32.50.

The Pigeon Detectives have added another date to their string at the Forum. They now play on Wednesday 21st November, on top of Thursday and Friday. Tickets are £13 each.

Finally, if you?re up early tomorrow morning the Besnard Lakes have announced a date at KCLSU on Wednesday 12th December. Tickets go on sale at 9am tomorrow.

Photo is taken from audunn.com's flickr stream under the Creative Commons License.

The BBC are facting us out from under the sheets this morning with a bevy of traffic stats garnered from London councils.

5 million parking tickets were issued in 12 months up to March 2007. That?s roughly one per car in the greater London area, and a 2.7% increase on the previous year.

People have cottoned on that straying into bus lanes is a bad thing. Penalties have dropped by 41%. However, nearly 300,000 drivers still confused their vehicle for an omnibus.

The number of miles driven annually by vehicles in London is now 20.4 billion. What weird and wonderful comparisons can we pull out of the traffic cone? Well, that?s like driving right round the equator 820,000 times. Or to Mars and back (at its closest approach) nearly 300 times.

More mundanely, clamping is down 26%, and appeals have increased by 8%.

All facted out? Well here?s a final flourish of motoring number play. According to the Mayor, 40% of London households do not own a car. 90% of non-Londoners do not understand this when arranging their weddings in the middle of bleeding nowhere (we suspect). Only 10% of Londoners use the car as their main mode of transport through the inner city. This compares to 76% in the rest of Britain.

Image taken from Cubicgarden's Flickr photostream.

Londonist is very very worried. Standards are slipping. Things ain?t what they used to be (actually they ain?t been that way for quite a long time, but hey).

We have learnt this very evening of a new product made in Weybridge which attempts to undermine all of Londonist?s attempts at refinement, and indeed chip away at the very fabric of society.

We are talking about the ready-filled, disposable wine glass. With a sticky foil seal across the top, you know, like yoghurts have. With a best-before date on it.

AAAARGHHHH!

Londonist likes wine. Quite a lot as it happens. But the whole thing about wine is the ritual, the pop of the cork, the glug as you pour, the chink of the glass?. We figure that if you are that desperate that you need your wine ready poured, you?d be better off just sticking a straw in a bottle.

We can see that at festivals and the like plastic glasses are a safer bet ? but long life wine for goodness sake?

Londonist is clumsy and breaks things too, and we concede that glass glasses are not always the best option ? but some things are just not meant to be compromised?.

Photo courtesy of Mel B?s flickr stream. No, we don?t think it?s that Mel B.

Except they?ve moved to a tip in Croydon and are decidedly less furry than their 1970s incarnation.

When Channel 4 advertised for volunteers to participate in a prize eco-challenge, most of the respondents were anticipating the jungle, or polar icecaps perhaps. What they actually ended up doing was living as modern Borrowers on rubbish for three weeks. Literally. They were plonked in a municipal refuse dump in South London and told to get on with it.

The much touted show has met with a lot of jeering and scepticism, a fact not helped by the fact that the rubbish with which they had to contend was pre-selected, designer stuff ? clearly the real thing would have been far too dangerous and potentially toxic, but it does kind of take the raw spirit of adventure out of the programme. Furthermore, they were not actually obliged to forage for their food with the rats and the seagulls, but were, rather, provided with generous supermarket hand-me-downs (slightly-after-best-before stuff).

The show is also coming out right in the middle of the great, post BB, reality TV debate, and so is bound to be cited in an attempt to trash the genre (if you?ll forgive the tabloid-esque pun).

Whilst Londonist is quite happy to live in a state of ambivalence when it comes to fly-on-the-wall telly, we think that this particular instance is a great premise for a programme. It is obviously meant to make us think about what we throw away, which has to be a good thing. The act of making something out of nothing is one of the most rewarding known to the Blue Peter generation(s), and we are also fairly sure that somebody has snuck an Ikea gene into the pool somewhere which renders the idea of bashing bits of wood together unfathomably attractive. Ever since Londonist saw (the bathtub sofa in) Breakfast at Tiffanys, we have had a tendency towards eccentric furnishing ? we will be glued to our sets tomorrow evening.

?Dumped? is on each night from Sunday-Wednesday at 9pm.

Image courtesy of Anghann?s flickr stream

It seems summer is officially over now (though it seems to have never properly arrived really?), and with that the early autumn tours start to make an appearance.

Beastie Boys play the first of two nights at Brixton Academy on Tuesday night, though tickets are long gone as you might expect. Soho Dolls play Hoxton Bar and Grill, with tickets at £7.50 and still available. Londonist favourites Palladium play the Barfly as part of Levi?s ones to watch along with Operator Please and Johnny Foreigner ? tickets are £6 each.

Elton John plays the O2 Arena on Wednesday night, with a scattering of tickets left priced between £75 and £100 each. Broken Social Scene play?s Kevin Drew?s new album at the Scala, so don?t expect much (if any) old material. Tickets are sold out, though Scarlet Mist and the like may have some. Richard Hawley plays a sold out Roundhouse. Caribou play their experimental indietronica at Barden's Boudoir. Tickets are £8.50 each. Tiny Dancers play Bush Hall, with tickets £8.50 each.

The Jesus and Mary Chain play Brixton Academy on Friday with support from The Horrors, though tickets again are long gone. Regina Spektor plays Royal Festival Hall, Kate Nash plays a sold out (what a surprise) Bloomsbury Ballroom. Robyn plays Bush Hall ? tickets are £10 each. Plain White T?s play a sold out KCLSU, and finally Jamie Cullum and brother Ben play The Forum, with tickets £17.50 downstairs and £19.50 upstairs.

Finally, some of you may remember a live review on Thursday which we were hoping to cover The Envy Corps' gig at Water Rats. Unfortunately they had to cancel after their guitarist became ill, which we initially took to be some dental work gone wrong... however unfortunately Brandon suffered a stroke. We wish them all the best for the future and a speedy recovery for Brandon!

Photo of The Polyphonic Spree taken from fmg2001's flickr stream, and Justice from elchicodelaleche's flickr stream under the Creative Commons License.