Street life

In 2008 London Mayor Boris Johnson set a target to eradicate rough sleeping in the capital by the end of 2012.

With a year to go to meet that objective, what progress has been made on the street?

On a chilly December night, I joined an outreach worker in the City of London to track down rough sleepers who had been reported to the charity that day.

Here's my BBC News feature.

Is the gay scene racist?

Mahad, 25, and Yan, 21, are asylum seekers who came to the UK to escape homophobia in their home country.

But since they arrived, they have been shocked to experience a different kind of intolerance – racism on the gay scene.

Here's my exclusive report for the Pink Paper.

Doctors condemn HIV drug deal ‎

Doctors and patient support groups have raised concerns after people with HIV in London have been asked to switch to taking different antiretroviral drugs, to save NHS London money.



Doctors say that switching prescriptions creates "medical risks" and raises "ethical issues".

Here's my exclusive report for BBC News.

Deaths after church HIV prayer cure claims

At least three people in London with HIV have died after they stopped taking life saving drugs on the advice of their Evangelical Christian pastors.

The women died after attending churches in London where they were encouraged to stop taking the antiretroviral drugs in the belief that God would heal them, their friends and a leading HIV doctor said.

Read more in the article I wrote following my BBC News investigation.

Electric Dreams

"Brixton is the new Camden," says Electric Brixton's owner Dominic Madden.

It's a bold statement, given Camden, in north London, has been at the heart of the capital's live music scene for decades.

The Fridge in south London opened last month, rebranded as Electric Brixton, having undergone a £1m facelift.

Here's a feature I wrote about London's newest venue.

London riots: Teenagers 'lack hope'

Many of London's teenagers have been rioting because they "lack hope" and "feel let down by society", youth group leaders told me.

But the young people I spoke to warned other teenagers, who have been taking to London's streets, that rioting is not the solution.

Here's my BBC News article, written on the week of the worst rioting in the capital for generations.

Extreme marathon man

"It's not the years, it's the mileage," says Lloyd Scott, paraphrasing his hero Indiana Jones.

The extreme fundraiser completed the London Marathon dressed as the intrepid archaeologist, dragging a 300lb (140kg) boulder in 2007.

But the challenge the 49-year-old is most famous for is walking the course wearing a deep sea diving suit in 2002.

Ten years on, the former footballer plans to repeat the feat for a second time, at next year's marathon, before retiring from the event.

Here's my exclusive BBC News story.

Gay Pride in London: 40 years of activism

This year's Pride London event marked the 40th annual gay pride march in the capital.

Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell talked to me about organising the first UK Gay Pride Rally in July 1972.

Here's the audio-slideshow I produced.

London HIV services cuts 'outrage'

London's HIV prevention groups have said they are "concerned" and "outraged" at a 20% funding cut.

London Primary Care Trust (PCT) chief executives have cut the budget for 2011-12 by £516,000.

Meanwhile, the number of Londoners with HIV who acquired the infection in the UK has more than doubled in the past decade, latest figures show.

Here is my exclusive story for BBC News.

George Davis says supporters 'justified'

Punk band Sham 69 wrote a song about him, The Who's Roger Daltrey wore a T-shirt declaring his innocence and his name became part of criminal folklore.

Nearly 40 years on, they have reason to celebrate. Mr Davis, 69, has won his appeal against his conviction.

It started with a kiss

It started with a kiss - on a first date between two men in a pub in Soho, central London's gay heartland.

From that moment, neither James nor Jonathan could have imagined in their wildest dreams the events that would unfold in the next 48 hours.

Two nights later, the John Snow pub had locked its doors and hundreds of people had gathered outside to stage a 'kiss-in'.

They were protesting against allegations that the landlord had thrown them out because he thought their kissing was "obscene".

Here's my BBC News feature which includes exclusive interviews with James and Jonathan.

And here's my live radio report from the scene for BBC London News.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

Who is the fastest superhero on planet Earth?

... Superman, according to Guinness World Records.

At the London Marathon, I interviewed familiar if rather surreal cast of characters at the start line, all attempting to break various world records in costume.

Love replaces hate

It is no bigger than a postcard but appears to spread a message of hatred and division in an area of east London that many residents pride for its diversity.

A group of locals say they have had enough.

But rather than retaliating with anger, they are responding with messages of love.