LIGHTING UP LONDON (Part 2) by Stuart Thomas, Editor

Exactly 24 hours after I first wrote about it here, the good people at the Corporation of London have turned the lights on.

St Pauls looks wonderful.

I can put my torch away - and CoL - thank you...

WILD CAT CHASE by Marcus Powell

An hysterical woman phones Essex police to say she's seen a puma on the prowl. Cue major investigation.

The Weald country park near Brentwood is not exactly the place you'd expect to see an American mountain, more the back woods of Essex, but the wildlife round here is apparently extraordinary.

A police armed response unit and helicopter were sent out, yet this morning there were just a few tame park animals about - although a herd of wildlife photographers were on the prowl - so we were taking no chances. I stayed parked safely in a car seat while my cameraman sampled the wilds of Essex but he's had hostile environment training - which is more than I have.

We told the rangers we were in search of a puma or the dead deer which had been savaged. So apparently were 200 other people who'd all been alerted by the police, but all the deer were happy and healthy so surely this was just a wild cat chase. Undeterred and knowing Pumas live in trees we went out fearlessly on foot.

Then we saw it large - black - and legging it -but no its an old shaggy dog - some story!

So was anyone taken in? You'd have thought after 50 sightings in recent years - and not a Puma caught - the police might have given up the chase. We have....

London Tonight: Wednesday October 25th

Hello everyone.

Time to get your goat again: where do you stand on Chelsea Tractors - 4x4 Fiends - and, now, Richmond Range Rovers? Lots of us love 'em, even envy 'em - but most of us accept that many of them are mega-polluters. (Not all, however, as a recent survey showed that one, the Hummer, was rather better than you might have thought.....)
Anyway, Richmond Council wants to slap a higher parking permit price on them in a bid to save that delightful bit of the planet that is south west London and north east Surrey. Simon's on the case and we want to hear your thoughts. Peep-peep!

We're talking to the lovely Zoe Ball about saving the planet's most endangered species: celebrities get to chose the one they most want to save. Quite why Michael Portillio went for the Hyacinth Macaw is beyond us though we can only assume that David Suchet used his "little grey cells" to choose the Giant Panda.
Anyway it's a lavish new ITV series where you will be invited to take part: Zoe explains all.

And to cap off the theme of making the world a better place we are running a competition where you can win a wind turbine to cut your electric bill ... or the voucher-equivalent. Tune in to have a chance.

By the way, if you think you've seen a puma in Brentwood you may very well have seen a puma in Brentwood. A nervous Marcus, still recovering from having been stomped on by a dancing, prancing horse has gone all Sherlock Holmes for us in north London.

A train fell off the tracks at Waterloo last night: no-one hurt but lots really fed up with the delays that are still continuing. It even made Alastair late this morning - but not so late that he isn't poised to have a grumble! Ben's down at Waterloo.
Borat is in Leicester Square! The scourge of Kazakhstan hits the silver screen tonight and Tamzin is there for you - lucky minx.

If there isn't something there for you then I am an Azerbaijani!

See you at 6.

A & K