First it was skulls, now it's nude paintings. A painting that Francis Bacon gave to The Royal College of Art in return for rent, is soon to be auctioned at Christie's. It's expected to fetch more than £9 million. Wowser.

Study from the Human Body Turning on the Light will go under the hammer in October. The renowned art college is selling the painting in the hope of raising cash for its new campus.

Bacon was never a student at the college and had no formal training in his lifetime. After a fire in his studio, he was forced to take a short tenancy with the college in 60s. Instead of cash and deposits, he paid his rent in pictures.

Londonist is pretty impressed with this idea of rent. We wonder how our landlords would feel if we drew them a few pictures each month? Eviction? Really? Oh well. They'll be sorry when our doodles make millions.

Flickr image from wEnDaLicious' photostream.

Opening up the show, a town crier and his son introduced the band with a bit of pantomime-audience participation, before a red banner was draped across the stage whilst the entire band assembled in their places allowing ?musical director? Tim DeLaughter cut a heart shaped window into the fabric. The band revealed, things got off to a flying start. The band have ditched their traditional choral robes for this tour, instead opting for army-style jackets, all with the ?Fragile Army? logos on ? the Spree have got Political.

Flowing into one continuous piece of music, the 22 member band managed to remain as tight as anything, with DeLaughter directing all the action throughout. Epic wasn?t the word, as they plunged through a setlist that would keep everyone happy: from the diehard b-sides fan through to those of us who only knew the classics. "Soldier Girl? was thrown into the set quite early, providing a chance for DeLaughter to come down to the front, and get generally mauled by the crowd. ?Hold Me Now? saw mass hug-sessions from groups of friends, loving couples, and the just plain drunk.

All too soon, it was announced that it was time for them to go, slowly leaving the stage one by one until only the harpist is left remaining, and crowd are left chanting for more. Soon enough, the band emerge. In the balcony. In their traditional robes. Congo-ing along the balcony rows, they make their way down to the stalls and through the crowd, making it up to the stage one by one, security counting them in and the band launching into one hell of a jam. Soon, Tim emerges, crowd surfing his way to the front to launch into a cover of Nirvana?s "Lithium'" To some of you, this will appear to be sacrilege, however it was absolutely amazing ? the lyrics shining through and the self-loathing of the song becomes ironic with the whole band in tow.

Soon enough the end is upon us, DeLaughter seeming genuinely touched by the crowds reception, wishing a light-hearted farewell: ?I hope y?all can still remember how to ride your bikes ? you?re gonna need ?em with this bitch of a tube strike!?, and with the final flourish of an old Tripping Daisy song ?Sonic Bloom? they were gone, in a flourish of colour.

Whilst we were coming down from the amazing high their show has given us, we had to admit: they?re no one trick pony: they?re a force to be reckoned with. Make sure you catch them next time they?re in the capital.

Photo from the author's own collection.

By definition there must be at least two sides to every dispute. But we're really struggling to find empathy with the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) union after it broke ranks with other unions to insist on shutting down most of the tube network until Thursday. Next week they will cripple the tube again, if there's no agreement.

The strength of the RMT argument doesn't seem to be making much headway in the media yet - particularly to those taking hours to get home this evening as a result, cramming the bus network, DLR and overland or reverting to the trusty bike or - gasp - walking.

Tomorrow, if you can't make it to work then you might consider tootling along the jubilee line (which should be operating) to Westminster station. The RMT are holding a rally outside the Department for Transport a few minutes walk away - and Bob Crow, the strikingly untimid RMT general secretary, will be there to talk to any media that will listen. Fancy going to hear the case of the strikers, or indeed to put your own points to Bob himself? Pop along from 11.30am - the address to tap into your GoogleMap is Great Minster House, 76 Marsham Street, London SW1 4D.

If you wish to express support for the RMT at this time, you could always buy one of their new silk ties. We recommend not wearing it at rush hour the next few days.

Image taken from Maciej Zagozda's flickrstream

You rub your eyes, and make a vow to cut back a bit on the old Lambrusco/JD/what you will. It cannot be.

Ah, you think, it?s a practical joke: there?s a hidden camera somewhere?.

Well, this slightly Python-esque scene is likely to be played out at several spots around the capital in the near future. And it is all in the name of peace.

The piano isn?t any old honky-tonk model, but rather the very same piano on which John Lennon composed ?Imagine?. It was bought by George Michael in 2000 for an unfeasibly large sum of money, and he and his partner are behind the Imagine Piano Peace Project. The idea is to take the instrument to locations which have witnessed moments of great tragedy or violence, and encourage people to interact with it and take a moment to reflect. The song Imagine is to be performed at each place, and the photographs taken to capture these renditions will go into a commemorative book.

It has been a busy piano this year, having toured sundry venues with a grizzly history in the States - Waco, Virginia Tech, Dallas ? amid controversy.

While many applaud the tour as a powerful artistic statement, some critics accuse Michael - whose stage show has featured an unsubtle attack on George W Bush for the Iraq war - of being naive and intruding on victims? grief.

Now Londonist is all for world peace, and anything which serves to help build peace gets our vote. But we would like to know whence comes this fascination with ?the actual spot? where horrors have been perpetrated. In some Catholic and Orthodox countries, it is practice for the family of accident victims to erect a permanent roadside shrine, with icons and flowers and candles. But business of laying flowers and weeping cathartically at the site of a fatal accident or murder is, to the best of this Londonist?s knowledge, new to the famously reserved British. Is it because we are enjoying an unprecedented period of relative peace and comfort that our thoughts turn to this tragedy tourism? Or is it because we are bombarded with so much information via the internet and television that none of it feels real any more? Is this morbid curiosity a way to feel the pain?

We wish the piano good luck with its peace tour. But we are not entirely sure that the use of these locations will have the desired effect?.

Image care of charmingman?s flickr stream.

A day after possibly the strongest entry for the most risible right-wing attempt at 'humour' since Jim Davidson was allowed near prime time television, Boris Johnson emerged from his summer holidays (it's silly season all year round for him really) and set out his stall for taking on Ken Livingstone next May. And what a stall it is.

Thrill to his delight at being able to buy mango juice in newsagents! Listen to his boast of fathering the genetic equivalent of a "UN peacekeeping force" (take that Guardian-reading lefties, he's no racist!). Join in his fight against thugs on buses and stand up to them the next time you see some chip-throwing miscreant with a knife under his coat (don't worry, under Mayor Boris the streets will be congestion-free so your ambulance will arrive quicker). Look forward to getting on the property ladder once the boroughs are liberated from Livingstone's Stalinist social housing targets. And finally an end to 'deals with left-wing dictators' (but leaving the door open for deals with right-wing ones, dictators of no fixed ideology and people who are generally a bit mental but get the job done). As ever, there's a full synopsis of today's County Hall speech at ConservativeHome.

By 'Race4CityHall'

And this is a merry tale, a girl-done-good tale, a story of pomp and pageantry and a bit of fun. Nothing too complicated or controversial. What Sullivan himself called ?No topsy-turveydom, very human?.

Moira Cameron has every right to feel ?peerly proud? today as she slips into her new ?undress? uniform (blue, rather than the red and gold picture postcard one) ready for her first day of duty as England?s first female Yeoman Warder. She beat five male applicants for the (rather stingey, we feel) £20,000.00 p.a. job, which is only open to NCOs in the armed forces with a minimum of 19 years? service behind them.

Londonist is only surprised that it has taken this long for women to penetrate the ranks ? she will after all get to wear a theatrical frock coat and fancy stockings, feed the birds, talk to tourists and watch over the world?s biggest collection of bling. Nothing too blokey there. For sure the original Beefeaters probably needed the extra rations of beef they were reputedly given, as they were burdened with such onerous tasks as guarding real prisoners in the Tower.

Anyway, Londonist wishes Yeoman Warder Cameron the very best of British in her new role as one of the capital?s best loved icons.

We all knew it was coming. Yet another tube strike. As of 6pm this evening, we're going to see 72 hours of chaos as more than 2,300 RMT members have promised to walk out. (The TFL website says services will not return to normal until Friday morning.) And what can we do about it? Absolutely nothing. We've been told to 'finish our journeys by 5pm or jump on the DLR'.

So what's the deal? Well, lucky us, the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines should be running as normal. Though of course, these are going to be hugely over crowded. NO OTHER LINES ARE EXPECTED TO RUN. This means that until Thursday 6pm, there is no service on: Bakerloo, Central, Circle, District, East London, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan, Victoria and Waterloo & City line.

Now, we know the union have been fighting for job security since the collapse of Metronet. But do they have to hold the whole city to ransom to do this? This seems ludicrously unfair and Londonist believe that underground passengers would be hugely supportive of any action that didn't screw up our daily lives. It's a little difficult to be supportive at the moment when Londoners are being used as pawns in a game.

Maintenance works will also not go ahead, meaning more problems in the future when the underground workers have stopped throwing their toys out of the pram. People get made redundant every single day. Yes it's terrible but why do millions of other people have to suffer?

What really annoys Londonist, is that Metronet and Ken Livingstone have assured them already that the concerns they had have been addressed. So why is the strike still going ahead? We have no idea what right the unions have to do this now the issues have been apparently resolved. Disrupting the lives of millions isn't exactly the best way to get results. Having a whole city against what you're fighting for doesn't seem like the best plan of action.

Although the strike is still planned, we'll keep you updated if there's any news. Currently, as services are likely to start winding down around 4.30pm we suggest you find other ways to continue your journey. As always, feel free to comment and tell us what you think.

UPDATE AT 4.15PM: Looks like things have started already. The Central, Victoria and Metropolitan lines already have minor delays. Hammersmith & City, Distrct and Circle lines already running with severe delays.

5.30PM - "Due to Metronet industrial action the service is suspended between Rayners Lane and Uxbridge". On the Piccadilly line. A line that was meant to be running with no problems.

Flickr image from kk+.