Some London flats are the most expensive to rent in the world it has been revealed. One flat in Kensington is on the market for £25,000 per week, that's £1million a year, but still, estate agents claim, potential tenants are queuing up.

Compared to the £10,000 a week it would cost you to rent the best suite at the Dorchester it seems pricey. But of course, the London house sounds substantially larger.

The capital's high rents are largely owing to the limited number of properties available. In Greater London the lettings market accounts for 15 per cent of the total residential stock; in New York, more than 75 per cent of apartments are rented.

The Guardian's attempt to overturn the 153 year old rule that bans anyone from advocating the abolition of the monarchy in print has been blocked.

The paper argued that the Treason Felony Act 1848, which makes discussion of abolition a treasonable crime punishable by life imprisonment goes against the Human Rights Act, which guarantees the right to freedom of expression.

The Guardian is considering taking the case to the appeal court and, if unsuccessful there, to the European court of human rights in Strasbourg.

The Treason and Treasury Act was first established in 1848 as a way of dealing with a surge in support for Irish Nationalism and the revolutions that were taking place in continental Europe.

Ken Livingstones plans to change the route of Notting Hill Carnival have been quashed within just 24 hours of announcement, after rejection from borough councils, the Carnival Safety Group and the Royal Parks Agency.

The announcement, which came in the wake of two murders at Carnival 2000, a vicious rape and a number of stabbings, was to re-route the carnival to Hyde Park. The GLA Carnival Review panel expected the change in route to ease stress on crowd control and policing.

However, just minutes after the announcement was made, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea was voicing its concern with regard to the limited time available to implement such a manoeuvre.

The Carnival Safety Group agreed with RBKC, a spokesman was quoted in the Evening Standard as saying: "It would take at least six months to plan it properly, so 10 weeks is not nearly enough time."

Chief Executive of the Carnival Trust, Claire Holder voiced her dissapointment that the leader of Kensington and Chelsea had not supported Ken Livingstones plans, but added that she understood his reasons.

Although Mr Livingston's re-routing plans have been dropped this year, the parties agreed to consider reviewing the course for 2002.

Councillor Merrick Cockell, Leader of Kensington and Chelsea Council said after the meeting yesterday: "The Mayor's change of mind this morning is good news for Carnival. The mayor is in absolute agreement that public safety is paramount and understands that an arbitrary change of route at such short notice would have presented insurmountable problems. We can now concentrate on the practical arrangements for this year many of which have still to be agreed with the organisers, Notting Hill Carnival Trust."

read more on the Carnival in MyNottinghill

Ken Livingstone has announced last minute plans to change and lengthen the route of Notting Hill Carnival.

With less than 10 weeks to go before the internationally acclaimed bank holiday festival, the Mayor has announced plans to adapt the route of the carnival procession so that it may end in or outside Hyde Park. The Carnival Review panel, headed by Mr Livingstone believe that a route such as this would aid crowd control and allow more effective policing of the event.

However, local councils are not welcoming the last minute changes. Councillor merrick Cockell, Leader of Kensington and Chelsea Council said:

"To simply announce with less than 10 weeks to go that the Carnival is now to be re-routed to Hyde Park without discussing the matter with any member of the Carnival Safety Group and without addressing our very real safety concerns is somewhat high handed. Indeed the GLA only appointed its own safety and risk assessment contractors last week to carry out work for 2002.

"Simply lengthening the route does not necessarily mean Carnival will close down any earlier, and we know that crime and disorder increases after dark."

Claire Holder Chief Executive of Notting Hill Carnival responded to Mr Livingstones announcement:

"I am very grateful for the intervention of Ken Livingstone, we have been requesting a change to the carnival route for years.

"The late notice is not a problem - The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea should not be worried either, they have been aware our requests to change the route for years."

The Royal Parks Agency has dismissed the idea that Carnival might end in Hyde Park, so it may well end up finishing just outside the gates.

read more on the Carnival in MyNottinghill

Kensington & Chelsea MP Michael Portillo is the first person to announce their intention to stand for Tory leadership.

He told journalists at Westminster: "I wish to put my name forward to be leader of the Conservative Party."

After finally announcing his decision after days of media speculation, he said that the party had suffered a "catastrophic" election result and needed to make major changes to become electable.

"Unless the party makes major changes in its style and the issues it chooses to focus on there is a danger that we will go further down in the public's respect," he told reporters. He announced his decision flanked by shadow foreign secretary Francis Maude, who is to run his campaign.

Earlier Michael Portillo was publically berated by another possible contender, Ann Widdecombe, for surrounding himself with a 'little band of backbiters'.

On Radio 4's Today programme, right-winger Miss Widdecombe said she had not yet decided whether to stand against Mr Portillo but sounded distinctly gloomy about her chances of winning enough support among Tory MPs to make it onto a shortlist of two candidates to be voted on by party members.

She told Radio 4's Today programme she would be loyal to "the office of whoever wins" the leadership. However, she added: "The problem would be that little band of backbiters who surround him. I don't think I can go through another four years of that."

Ann Widdecombe's out-burst effectively rules her out of a future front-line role in Tory politics - because Mr Portillo is now over-whelming favourite to succeed William Hague.

Police have released an e-fit picture of two men who have attacked 17 women in the Kensington & Chelsea area in the last year, in an attempt to capture the serial sex attackers.

Only one e-fit picture has been released however because the two attackers have been described by victims in exactly the same way. Detectives even think that the two men, could be working in tandem or even be related. Both the men, who prey on lone women, are of South-East Asian origin, possibly Chinese or Thai, and are aged 18 to 26.

A senior detective said: "They look spookily similar and at first we could not believe they were not the same person. It was baffling until DNA evidence proved we were looking for two men. They can not be identical twins because the DNA would be the same but it is possible there is some sort of family connection."

One has sexually assaulted and abused at least 13 women aged between 15 and 33 in Kensington and Chelsea streets over the last year. The other suspect, who is prepared to use violence, has raped a young woman at knifepoint and subjected three others to serious assaults close to their front doors.

Police believe the one attacker who has indecently assaulted seven women and exposed himself to six others could become violent if he is not caught soon. Detectives think he is a student at a foreign language college because he has only struck during term time, avoiding summer and Christmas holidays.

This attacker speaks English, is "polite and almost apologetic" to his victims after he approaches them in the road and asks directions to a Tube station. His attacks have escalated in recent weeks and police believe he could have carried out many more assaults that have not been reported.

Anyone with information should call Kensington CID on 020 8246 0754 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Local MP Michael Portillo will stand for the Tory leadership, colleagues reveal. He will run a "dream ticket" with Kenneth Clarke that will attempt to steer the party into a less eurosceptic position and hopefully unite the party.

Under the deal which is still being brokered, the eurosceptic Mr Portillo would allow Mr Clarke to campaign for a Yes vote in the euro referendum in the same way that Labour prime minister Harold Wilson allowed his cabinet to take different sides in the 1975 European referendum.

The final talks will take place when the shadow chancellor returns from his short holiday in Morocco.

Portillo's break drew a barbed comment from another prospective participant in the leadership race Ann Widdecombe, who replying to a question on Sunday's Breakfast with Frost said, 'I don't think we should all go away and hide because we are afraid of being asked questions about the leadership'.

With Hague making a quick exit from the political stage after Thursday's disastrous election results for the Tories, the race for the leadership is on.

Kensington & Chelsea MP Michael Portillo remains for many the strongest candidate, but whoever becomes leader they face a daunting task to recover the party from their worst result in living memory.

Portillo was the Tory Conference darling of the right wing of the party in the mid-1990's, who once made an appearance wrapped in a Union Jack. However, support for Portillo is not reckoned to be as high as it once was however as his politics have been seen to be wavering between the right and the left of the party.

His main political claim to fame up to this point, remains the embarrassing loss of his seat at the last election in New Labour's 1997 landslide victory.

Lady Thatcher used to regard him as one of her favourites. "We expect great things of you", but even she is understood to have lost faith.

However, there are still a merry band of so-called "Portillistas" who will be loyal to the end. More significant, perhaps, are the recent press reports that Ken Clarke is set to mobilise the Tory Left behind Portillo.

Full local Election results and comment ...

A Royal butler, still employed at Kensington Palace, appears in court today accused of stealing property from the estate of Diana, Princess of Wales

The former butler to Princess Diana, Harold Brown 48, has been charged on four counts, including the theft of a jewel daffodil motif, a ring, a gold model of ship, a bangle and a pair of earings.

The charges concern belongings which went missing between 1 January 2021 and 15 November 2000. The model of an Arab dhow was a gift from the Emir of Bahrain when the Prince and Princess of Wales married in 1981.

Brown, who is on conditional bail, is due to appear at Bow Street Magistrates Court in central London.

The Earl's Court branch of Burger King at 250-252 Earl's Court Road has lost its appeal to renew its 2am night cafe licence. Horesferry Road Magistrates Court emphatically rejected the appeal by the restaurant's owner, Adil Catering Ltd. The Judge also ordered the company to pay the Royal Borough's legal costs of £10,000.

The case stems from the Licensing Committee's decision, in March 2000, to decline to renew the Burger King's late licence on the grounds that the applicant was 'not a fit and proper person'. This decision was made in the light of several complaints regarding the restaurants health and safety record. Environmental health officers identified faults including -

serious health and safety features including failures such as water leaking through light fittings and air conditioning units

rat and cockroach infestation

poor cleaning, repair and food hygiene

"When the safety of customers and staff are at risk we do not mess around," said Environmental Health and Leisure Chairman, Cllr Bryan Levitt. " This restaurant had lost two hours of trading a day and our environmental health officers are watching the premises like hawks. If Adil Catering is wise, they will in future provide the standards that we demand here in the Royal Borough."

Brookside babe Claire Sweeney is the new face of Marks & Spencers … well actually its not just her face we're meant to be looking at, as she's fronting their new bra campaign.

The troubled High Street chain (with branches in Kensington & Chelsea) hope that a traditional celebrity endorsement of a product will be bring more success to their women's wear department than their last campaign which featured naked women standing on mountain tops screaming 'I'm normal'.

Rory Scott, director of M&S;'s lingerie business unit, was happy to have signed her up. He said: "We selected Claire for her personality, style and public perception that absolutely fit the image we want. She is confident and glamorous and the bra will ensure any woman feels the same."

Sweeney's belief in M&S; underwear is apparently not just a publicity stunt as she claims to be spending £200 a year on it already. She said: "I last treated myself just before Celebrity Big Brother because I knew I'd be getting changed in front of other girls."

We just can't seem to get away from Ms Sweeney displaying her body to us because only last week she was in the news after winning Rear of The Year.

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Local Features
Animal Monument Gets Go Ahead

Your Local MP - Michael Portillo
Latest news
Interview with MyVillage
Portillo-biography

Parks and Public Spaces
Cycling in Kensington Gardens Now Legal
Swans Are Victims of Mystery Killer
Kensington Garden & Hyde Park
Princess of Wales Memorial Gardens
Fear Over Children's Safety at Diana Garden
London Garden Squares Day - June 2001
Orangutan Walk - Sunday 24 June 2020

History
Gunman Take Over the Iranian Embassy in Kensington
Kensington and Chelsea : A Historical Sketch
Princess Diana Dies In Car Crash

Kensington Revealed
The Ghost of Kensington Palace