Telecom news

• BT CEO in last chance saloon as investors voice concern

  04-06-2018 13:15
  New criticism of BT CEO has emerged, with some investors questioning his position at the helm as share price drops to the lowest point for six years.
  According to the FT, five investors have requested a meeting with no-nonsense Chairperson Jan du Plessis to discuss whether Patterson is the right person to lead the transformation of the BT machine after numerous scandals and poor performances littering the record books in recent years. This is not the first time Patterson’s role has come in
  
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• Tickets Alert: Ballot opens for free visits to Battersea’s Sky Garden

  18-08-2026 09:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  A roof garden above the development next to Battersea Power Station will open to the public this weekend, and the ballot for free tickets is open now.
  Hurry, as the ballot closes at the end of Wednesday. Yikes!
  Photo: Aaron Hargreaves, Foster + Partners
  It’s not the roof of the power station, but the roof of the modern building next to it, which does have the advantage of offering better views of the power station next door. The gardens with 29,000 plants and 55 trees sit on the 16th floor
  
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• Inside Old Oak Common as London’s new 14-platform station takes shape

  18-08-2026 08:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Anyone catching a train out of Paddington in recent years can hardly have missed the vast construction site alongside the railway. This is the future Old Oak Common station, and the project has now reached a major milestone with the completion of its first platforms.
  Passing the construction site on a train
  When it opens, Old Oak Common will combine a new subterranean six-platform station for HS2 trains with an eight-platform surface station for GWR and Elizabeth line services.
  With 14 plat
  
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• The London Buzz – 17th August 2026

  17-08-2026 18:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Old London – Lancaster House, once home to the London Museum
  Today’s London news round-up:
  Extension of ULEZ and switch to electric cars is cutting pollution from vehicle exhaust emissions in High Barnet town centre Barnet Society
  A 50-year-old man has been charged with arson after several fires were reported in an east London park. BBC News
  Excavations around Gallows Corner have started to be backfilled as Essex & Suffolk Water makes “good progress” with its works. R
  
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• Plans to replace the Wandsworth Roundabout adverts with… adverts

  17-08-2026 17:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  The large metal loops that dominate the Wandsworth roundabout could be replaced with a timber tree-like structure.
  Source: planning documents
  The Wandsworth Roundabout is a major traffic interchange in South West London, forming a critical node where several significant routes converge. Apart from the subways for pedestrians, it’s dominated by the huge metal “pretzel” that supports four large advertising screens.
  Now they want to replace that with a new structure to support the
  
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• Another date announced for the Barbican Conservatory plant cuttings giveaway

  17-08-2026 15:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  If you’ve ever wanted to own a little piece of the Barbican Conservatory, you’ll soon have the chance, as another date has been announced for their free plant cuttings giveaway.
  Conservatory space (c) ianVisits
  Note that the propagated cuttings vary in size depending on the host plant, and you will not be adopting a fully mature plant from the Conservatory. They will be given to you free of charge and in good health, so you can continue growing them at home.
  The event takes place on
  
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• Elephant & Castle station’s Northern line entrance closed until late September

  17-08-2026 14:36 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Elephant & Castle tube station’s Northern Line entrance is expected to remain closed until late September while engineers investigate and repair a water ingress problem affecting the lifts.Northern line trains will continue to stop at Elephant & Castle as normal throughout the closure, but passengers will need to use the station’s Bakerloo line entrance to enter and leave the station.
  As it happens, the station was already recommending that northbound Northern line passengers
  
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• Knit Wits exhibition: when SIBLING made knitwear loud, strange and fun

  17-08-2026 13:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  There was a time when knitwear largely meant sensible jumpers, Christmas presents from relatives and the sort of cardigan that suggested an early night.But an exhibition is looking back at a London fashion label that spent nearly a decade turning knitwear into something altogether louder, stranger, and considerably more fun. Founded in 2008 by Cozette McCreery, Joe Bates and Sid Bryan, SIBLING emerged from London’s club and fashion scenes with the fairly straightforward idea that knitwear
  
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• Virgin Trains gets approval to launch international services through the Channel tunnel

  17-08-2026 12:15 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Eurostar will face competition on the London to mainland Europe route from 2030, as the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has formally authorised Virgin Trains to launch its services.
  Concept image (c) Virgin Trains
  The agreement between HS1 Limited and VTE OPCO will allow Virgin Trains to operate up to 20 new daily return services between London and Paris, Brussels or Amsterdam from 1st October 2030.
  However, the regulator says several steps must be completed before the new services can run. Virgin
  
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• Charing Cross station reopened this morning following 22-day closure

  17-08-2026 11:38 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  London’s Charing Cross and Waterloo East stations reopened this morning following a 22-day closure that allowed engineers to carry out a £20 million programme of track, platform and station improvements.
  Track replacement by Waterloo East (c) Network Rail
  The closure, which began on 26 July, was centred on replacing ageing railway infrastructure on the approaches to Charing Cross. Engineers replaced almost two kilometres of 36-year-old track, along with the switches and crossings tha
  
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• Government plans default ‘yes’ for new homes near railway stations

  17-08-2026 11:12 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  The government could fast-track proposals for new housing developments next to railway stations for construction under its plans.They had already said that planning decisions should give proper consideration to the proximity of public transport links, but under the updated National Planning Policy Framework, there will be a default ‘yes’ for homes within reasonable walking distance of well-connected stations.
  An important rule will also set minimum density expectations for new housin
  
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• BlackBerry: From phone dinosaur to tech champion

  16-08-2026 06:00 via ft.com
  A decade after the disappearance of its handsets, the company’s future rests on car and security software
  
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• The London Buzz – 13th August 2026

  13-08-2026 18:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Old London – Jack Straw’s Castle, Hampstead
  Today’s London news round-up:
  The BBC cameras have returned to a Bushey church to film scenes for EastEnders. Watford Observer
  London as a Wheelchair User: Accessible Travel, West End Tips + a Wicked Review  Disability Horizons
  Plans for a new self-storage warehouse in Hackney have been shot down by council planners who claimed it was a poor fit for the local area. Hackney Citizen
  Barnet to get its first council-maintained Islami
  
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• The expensive way to guarantee tickets to see the Bayeux Tapestry

  13-08-2026 17:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  The first batch of tickets to see the Bayeux Tapestry sold out as soon as the huge online queues finally got their hands on them, but there is another way to see the tapestry if you missed out.You just need to be quite desperate.
  And fairly well-off.
  The central London hotel One Aldwych has an exclusive hotel partnership with the British Museum, and if you book a night at the hotel, they’ll throw in two tickets to see the tapestry during your stay.
  Well, “throw in” might be doi
  
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• Tickets Alert: Tours of Isleworth Ait – an island in the Thames

  13-08-2026 15:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  There’s going to be a fairly rare chance to visit a usually off-limits island in the Thames next month.Isleworth Ait is a teardrop-shaped island in the River Thames not far from Richmond, and is a managed nature reserve that’s home to a wide variety of birdlife and rare molluscs.
  It is accessible only by boat and is not normally open to the public – but next month, there will be one open day.
  The tour begins on the quay on Church Street in Isleworth, from where you will travel
  
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• Exhibition explores how cinema shapes our image of cities

  13-08-2026 13:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  From postwar Vienna and animated Tehran to modern Paris, Brooklyn streets, glass towers and future urban worlds, a new exhibition looks at how cinema turns urban landscapes into cultural images.It’s a fairly small exhibition if you like looking at physical objects, but it is lifted somewhat by the use of 3D-printed maps of some of the cities featured. Mostly, it’s display boards on the walls highlighting key aspects of films where the city landscape has been a significant feature.
  Th
  
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• Police to test facial recognition cameras on the London Underground

  13-08-2026 11:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Facial recognition trials are coming to selected London Underground stations as the British Transport Police tests whether the technology can be used to find people wanted for serious offences.
  From a previous trial at London Bridge mainline station (c) TfL
  The Transport for London (TfL)-supported trial will see Live Facial Recognition cameras deployed at stations selected by British Transport Police (BTP) using intelligence and crime data.
  The cameras will scan the faces of people passing throu
  
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• Visiting Coombe Conduit – the tunnel that kept Hampton Court supplied with fresh water

  13-08-2026 08:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Nearly 500 years ago, King Henry VIII wanted a reliable supply of fresh water for Hampton Court Palace. His solution was to commission several miles of pipes to carry spring water from the nearby hills directly to the royal table.
  Today, the largest surviving building from that Tudor water supply system occasionally opens to the public.About a 20-minute walk from New Malden station, you might spot an open gate in a fence, helpfully labelled. Step through and, at first, there doesn’t seem t
  
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• Camden considering improvements to public Wi-Fi services

  12-08-2026 17:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  It could be easier to use WiFi services around Camden as the council is considering joining the Connected London public WiFi programme.Many businesses, public spaces and cultural attractions already offer free WiFi access, each requiring people to sign up and log in every time they connect.
  Connected London WiFi is a service that aims to create a seamless roaming experience across London’s many disparate WiFi networks. It’s based on research initiated by the Mayor of London in late 2
  
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• The Open House London buildings you’ll need to book in advance

  12-08-2026 15:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  The annual architecture fest that is Open House London takes place in September, with over 700 venues to visit and tours to join.
  The coveted lift pass (c) ianVisits
  Most are turn-up-and-walk-in, but some need to be booked in advance, and that opens at midday on Wednesday 19th August 2026. I’ve waded through the circa 700 venues to find the ones that need to be booked in advance – which was “fun”, as there isn’t a needs booking filter on the organiser’s websit
  
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• Islington exhibition celebrates 50 years of cycling campaigns

  12-08-2026 13:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  In 1976, a pressure group was set up to campaign for better cycling provision within Islington, and 50 years later, they’ve got their own exhibition.It’s a fairly modest affair, just a couple of cases, but it’s quite fun to see the very early typewritten newsletters and pamphlets that were the norm for community groups in the 1970s.
  And it turns out that it was also usual for a protest march to be preceded by a bagpiper back then.The exhibition notes that the campaign group too
  
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• Seven major football trophies go on display in Shoreditch this week

  12-08-2026 12:30 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Football fans will have the chance to get up close to seven of the game’s biggest trophies when they go on display in Shoreditch for two days this week.The free display will bring together silverware from some of the biggest competitions in English and European football, with visitors able to see the trophies up close and take photos — or the almost obligatory trophy selfie.
  TNT Sports says that the display will feature the Premier League, Emirates FA Cup, Women’s FA Cup, UEFA
  
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• Waterloo station using remote control drones to keep trains moving

  10-08-2026 15:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  A remotely operated drone is now flying over the tracks at London Waterloo as part of a new effort to reduce disruption caused by trespass and speed up responses to incidents on one of Britain’s busiest rail networks.
  (c) SWR
  The drone, introduced by South Western Railway (SWR) and Network Rail Wessex, is the first in a planned network of automated aircraft that will monitor the railway, inspect infrastructure and provide live intelligence to control teams without the need to send staff on
  
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• Weeks of London bus strikes to hit more than 40 routes from Friday

  10-08-2026 13:45 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  More than 40 bus routes across north, east and central London are facing weeks of disruption as over 1,500 Arriva bus drivers prepare to strike in a dispute over working conditions.
  Unsplash+ License
  The first strike starts this Friday (14th August), with a series of walkouts then planned through August, September and October.  TfL is warning that if the strikes go ahead, little or no service is expected on the affected routes.
  The dispute involves Unite members working for Arriva London No
  
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• London exhibition recreates the bohemian cottage where Lucian Freud learned to paint

  10-08-2026 13:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  In 1937, two men bought a cottage and set up what would become a renowned art school, and nearly 90 years later, a themed recreation has been built in London.The house was at Benton End, bought by Cedric Morris and his lifelong boyfriend, Arthur Lett-Haines, where they set up the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing, which broke from the strict rules governing many art schools of the time.In its time, it would become a home from home for many of the top names in 20th-century art. The hous
  
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• HS2 installs a plaque 40 metres below London to celebrate the Brunels’ engineering legacy

  10-08-2026 10:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  A heritage plaque has been installed inside an HS2 tunnel 40 metres below London, marking the point where the new high-speed railway passes beneath the tomb of one of Britain’s most famous engineering families.
  HS2 CEO Mark Wild and Director of the Brunel Museum install a plaque in the Euston Tunnel (c) HS2
  The plaque has been fixed to the wall of the Euston Tunnel just as it passes beneath Kensal Green Cemetery, where Sir Marc Isambard Brunel and his son, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, are buri
  
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• London’s Alleys: Haven Place, Ealing, W5

  10-08-2026 08:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  This is a very narrow and grimy old passageway right opposite Ealing Broadway station, and if less yeuky, would be a good shortcut to the shops. But no, really, no, don’t use it.Haven Place is most inappropriately named, as it’s neither, but takes its name from Ealing Haven, a piece of common land that used to be crossed by a number of unnamed lanes, one of which followed a similar alignment to The Broadway.
  When the railway arrived in 1839, housing quickly followed, and the common l
  
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• William Morris Society starting regular tours of his Hammersmith home

  07-08-2026 17:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  The William Morris Society is starting regular tours of Kelmscott House in Hammersmith, where William Morris lived for a while.William Morris was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist activist who was closely associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement. Even if you don’t know his work, you’ll recognise the style when you see it, as it’s very distinctive in a late Victorian sort of way.
  Although his childhood home is a museum in Walthamstow, his adu
  
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• All ten surviving Van Eyck portraits to reunite in London for first time

  07-08-2026 15:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  All ten surviving portraits by the pioneering Netherlandish artist Jan van Eyck will be brought together in London for the first time this winter in what the National Gallery describes as a landmark exhibition.
  ‘The Arnolfini Portrait’, 1434 and ‘Margaret, the Artist’s Wife’, 1439
  The exhibition, opening at the National Gallery on 21st November 2026, will bring all ten of the artist’s portraits and about half of the twenty or so surviving autograph pictures by
  
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• Tickets Alert: Muppets and Fraggles – a big screen celebration with Q&A

  07-08-2026 13:30 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Fans of Jim Henson’s beloved creations can relive some of the most memorable moments from The Muppets and Fraggle Rock at a special one-night celebration at the BFI Southbank next week.
  Fraggle Rock
  Taking place on Tuesday 11th August at 6:15pm, Muppets and Fraggles: A Celebration will look back at the pioneering puppetry and storytelling that made Henson’s productions a defining part of many childhoods.
  The 80-minute event will feature a screening of classic clips, followed by a liv
  
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