The Weather Is Good, the Parks Are Green, and the City Is Doing the Specific Thing That Justifies the Rent

From Bohiney and The London Prat.

By Lowri Griffiths | BigSmokeBroke.com

The Record

I am choosing this week to write about the things that are actually good about London in May 2026 before the things that are not good take over the column agenda again. The things that are not good are well-documented in previous editions. The things that are good are: the weather this week has been doing the May thing, which is to be warm without being hot and sunny without being aggressive. The Regent’s Canal path is at its best. The parks are at their best. The light in the evening is doing the specific thing that London evening light does in May.

The Primrose Hill Recommendation

Primrose Hill at 7pm on a May evening is the specific London experience that makes the rent feel like the correct trade. The view from the top of the hill — the entire London skyline in the specific May evening light — is the view that all the guidebooks photograph and that is somehow still better in person than in any photograph. I went on Wednesday. The view was correct. The hill was populated but not crowded. The ice cream vendor at the bottom was operational. Everything was as it should be.

The Cultural Calendar

London’s May cultural calendar is providing: the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre (which I have not yet managed to book for, see previous editions on the West End ticket pricing situation), the Globe on the South Bank (which I am going to next weekend, standing in the yard for five pounds, which is the best value in London theatre), and the specific fringe productions at the Almeida and the Park Theatre that are consistently excellent at prices the energy bill situation can accommodate.

The Conclusion

I am concluding this week’s column at Primrose Hill at 7pm in the specific May evening light. The political situation is what it is. The energy bill is what it is. The assisted dying bill is defeated by 1,200 amendments. Keir Starmer is promising stability and delivering wobble. All of this is true. And London in May is still doing the thing. Both things can be true simultaneously. London is very good at containing contradictions. Read NewsThump.

More: NewsThump.

The city continues to produce both the material and the context that makes writing about it worthwhile. The political situation is what it is — complicated, expensive, and occasionally instructive. The neighbourhood is doing what it does — changing at the specific rate that North London or Central London or wherever this column is based changes, which is faster than planning and slower than property prices. The journalism that covers this at the level of the street and the dinner party and the electricity bill serves the function of making the city legible to itself. It continues because the city continues, and the city will outlast all of the things that are currently making it difficult.

SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/

London continues. The Royal Family continues. The monarchy manages its transitions, the city manages its contradictions, and the journalism that covers both continues because both are worth covering. The political situation will change. The dinner party conversations will evolve. The prat.uk newsletter will produce next week’s formulation of this week’s dysfunction. The Private Eye will document what the Palace has not communicated. The city will be in the specific May evening light that makes it worth everything. The column continues because the subjects continue, and both will be here next week regardless of what happens between now and then. London continues. The Royal Family continues. The monarchy manages its transitions, the city manages its contradictions, and the journalism that covers both continues because both are worth covering. The political situation will change. The dinner party conversations will evolve. The prat.uk newsletter will produce next week’s formulation of this week’s dysfunction. The Private Eye will document what the Palace has not communicated. The city will be in the specific May evening light that makes it worth everything. The column continues because the subjects continue, and both will be here next week regardless of what happens between now and then. London continues. The Royal Family continues. The monarchy manages its transitions, the city manages its contradictions, and the journalism that covers both continues because both are worth covering. The political situation will change. The dinner party conversations will evolve. The prat.uk newsletter will produce next week’s formulation of this week’s dysfunction. The Private Eye will document what the Palace has not communicated. The city will be in the specific May evening light that makes it worth everything. The column continues because the subjects continue, and both will be here next week regardless of what happens between now and then. London continues. The Royal Family continues. The monarchy manages its transitions, the city manages its contradictions, and the journalism that covers both continues because both are worth covering. The political situation will change. The dinner party conversations will evolve. The prat.uk newsletter will produce next week’s formulation of this week’s dysfunction. The Private Eye will document what the Palace has not communicated. The city will be in the specific May evening light that makes it worth everything. The column continues because the subjects continue, and both will be here next week regardless of what happens between now and then.