Kew

An 18-year-old man is "incredibly fortunate" to be alive after he was stabbed in a park in Ilford.

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The victim was approached by three men, of a similar age, in Seven Kings Park on Aldborough Road South at about 15:30 on 2 December.

The suspects asked him for a cigarette before he was attacked and suffered multiple stab wounds.

Detective Constable Jonathan Lam said:

"The victim was incredibly fortunate that the consequences of the attack were not graver.

"It is entirely understandable that having witnessed this, you may be fearful of coming forward, but please, consider making the call to police or Crimestoppers anonymously."

Police believe there may be phone footage of the incident.

One suspect is described as Asian, and was wearing a dark beanie hate.

The two other suspects are described as black and white.

A young boy who suffered serious burns during a school Christmas carol event at a south London church is in a critical but stable condition in hospital.

Three people including the boy were injured during the incident at Our Lady of the Annunciation Church on Bingham Road, Croydon, at around 14:10 yesterday.

The child, who is understood to be between the ages of seven and 10, was taken to hospital by air ambulance.

A man and a woman were also taken to hospital by road.

The boy was attending a carol service with pupils at St Thomas Becket Catholic Primary School, which is less than a mile away from the church.

The school confirmed it was aware of the incident and will be releasing a statement later.

The London Fire Brigade and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) were also informed after the incident.

An investigation will now be opened into the incident by either HSE or Croydon Council.

An HSE spokesman said: "HSE has been informed by the emergency services, who have led the initial response. We will liaise with the local authority to establish which agency is best placed to take this forward."

Greater Anglia

Delivery of the next phase of Greater Anglia's new £1.4bn fleet of trains has been delayed by software problems.

Manufacturer Bombardier said the first trains were expected to enter service by spring and not the end of this year.

It said development of the software to be used on the 111 trains had taken longer than anticipated.

Greater Anglia, which has seen a string of delays and cancellations with its new trains, said it had been told extra staff had been assigned to the job.

The first of the trains - which will run into London Liverpool Street - were expected to come into service at the end of the year, with all of them in use by the end of 2020.

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BBC

As you step out of East Croydon Station - one of London's busiest transport hubs - on this cold morning, the area's diversity becomes apparent immediately.

There is a man wearing a turban, a woman wearing a traditional African dress and headscarf, elderly women pushing mobility scooters being taken over by a small group of joggers and a large group of school children being guided to a traffic light.

The menagerie of different languages being spoken blends in with the sound of construction: drilling and hammering noises emanate from building sites on almost every corner, and Croydon's many skyscrapers and tower blocks are interspersed with cranes.

BBC

This is emblematic of the huge amount of investment Croydon has seen in recent years, and regeneration which is afoot.

There is a large police presence around the station with what seem to be sniffer dogs. "They pick up on explosives", one station worker tells me, but she is quick to add that there is "nothing to worry about" and they are "just training" them.

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London's third largest borough by area, Croydon encompasses some of the poorest and most affluent pockets of London.

According to the Land Registry Croydon is home to hundreds of million pound homes.

In 2017 buying a house on Kenley Lane, in Kenley, will set you back close to £1.9m.

The average wage in the area is £25,600, above the national average but well in to the bottom third of London earnings.

An estimated 16% of children live below the poverty line

In a walk of just two miles the average life expectancy drops 10 years.

Residents living in Selsdon, near the Croham Hurst golf club, can expect to reach 84.5 years old.

Those living in Selhurst, in the poorer northern tip, tend to make it just past 74 years old.

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London's famous frost fairs, which were held on the River Thames when it froze during particularly harsh winters, are to be celebrated at the Museum of London Docklands.

About seven frost fairs were held between 1564 and 1814, with Londoners descending on the ice to build markets, play games and cook up feasts.

The last to be held in 1814 even saw an elephant being marched across the river alongside Blackfriars Bridge.

The fairs will be marked at the east London museum with a free family festival on 21 and 22 December featuring choirs, talks, arts and crafts.

Aisling Serrant, community engagement manager at the Museum of London Docklands, said they hoped "to capture the spirit of these spectacular, winter celebrations of a bygone era".

A young Richmond councillor has hit out against colleagues on the environment committee for their excessive use of paper in meetings.

Monday's Environment, Sustainability, Sport and Culture Committee had documents of more than 340 pages.

After a few instances of councillors getting lost in the agenda, Green Councillor Dylan Baxendale said: “I want to make a comment about how disappointed I am in our environment committee, that everyone has piles of paper everywhere.”

Cllr Baxendale was using an online version of the agenda to search for the appropriate sections of the report and criticised those who weren’t using it saying they were ‘inundated’ with the paper version.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service after the meeting he said: “Every councillor has an electronic device as an iPad, so we should be making use of it.

“I think it is a pretty reasonable way to look at things, not just for the committee, but across the whole council to be fair.

“I do believe there are people internally having a look at it to see how it could be improved.

“Last night I was just sitting around the table staring at everyone’s papers, it looked a bit crazy. I especially requested not to receive hard copies, and so I was surprised that every other person sitting there had not."

Chair of the committee, Liberal Democrat councillor, Martin Elengorn, said “we are suitably chastened".

PA Media

Melania Trump was serenaded with a rendition of Mariah Carey's festive classic All I Want For Christmas Is You as she visited a Salvation Army centre in east London.

The US First Lady bobbed her head slightly as around 30 children from Baden Powell Primary School belted out the well-known Christmas song.

Wearing a black and white houndstooth check coat over a black sheath dress, the wife of US President Donald Trump appeared to say "bravo" as she congratulated the ensemble.

She also spent around 20 minutes helping the school children make Christmas wreaths, using sparkly pipe cleaners, pine cones and tinsel.

Mrs Trump beamed throughout the visit, commending the Christmas hat-clad youngsters on their festivewear and chatting more generally about the festive season.

PA Media