LONDON TONIGHT TONIGHT

Monday 18th October,

Good Afternoon one and all...

I bought a bucket today. In fact, I bought two buckets - having broken two buckets at the weekend. The details are dull (as is this story so far) but the bottom line is that I ended the weekend with two fewer buckets than I started the weekend. (I would love at this point to tell you the name of the rather well known shop where I bought the two now-broken buckets so you could steer clear of the same model but I'd probably get a telling off.)

So - to restore the bucket balance at home, I wandered through the market near our offices today and bought two more buckets. (I know. This story's not getting any more interesting, is it? If I'm honest I might bail out altogether in a minute.) Here's the thing - walking back to work, I noticed people just staring at me because of the buckets. I passed one of our picture editors who asked if I'd now been asked to clean the office too. A couple of minutes later, the ITV News Head of Output asked "Why the bucket, sorry, two buckets?". As I walked into the building, the Deputy Editor of ITV News raised an eyebrow and said "windows..?" And all the while, I noticed double-taking from pedestrians, cyclists, taxi-drivers and taxi-passengers.

Quite extraordinary. They're just buckets, everyone. Lots of people have at least one. Now, if I'd been wandering about with a Faberge egg... or a month old iguana... or maybe, indeed, with one of buckets actually on my head... I could understand the interest. But just carrying buckets?

Try it yourselves - on the way to work. Perhaps it's just me. Perhaps I don't look like a 'bucket' sort of person. But what is a 'bucket' sort of person? And what do they look like?

Anyway - better get on, before I kick the bucket.

Today's programme can be summed up like this:

The Jubilee line is in a mess after a power failure this morning - trains stopped in tunnels, after people heard a big bang. Well, what would you think? Anyway, we're being told the after effects might linger well into the working week.

The Government announces details of its Comprehensive Spending Review on Wednesday - when we'll all hear which departments are going to lose how much money. It's likely to be a very black day for all of us. We'll be bringing you all the details of the impact of the cuts - and our comprehensive coverage begins today with the results of a survey carried out by Westminster council. It seems to suggest a lot of people just haven't clocked on to how serious the cuts will be. And there's a report on how the cuts could effect something as essential as a 'Meals on Wheels' service.

Another story we've been following very closely, of course, is the day-to-day testimony at the 7/7 inquests. Today we've had some very moving tributes to the 7 people who died on the Aldgate train.

Oh and, in case you're wondering 'The Only Way is Essex'*.

See you at six,

Ben & Nina

* It's a new series on ITV2 featuring a group of real people from Essex. Apparently, a few other people in Essex are really not big fans...

LONDON TONIGHT TONIGHT

Thursday 14th October

Once again, good afternoon to you all,

Hope you are all enjoying your Thursday afternoon. Good news is the weekend is almost here. As for the bad news, well, onto tonight's show...

A month it seems dogged by the possibility - and reality - of more strikes. Today we hear from the Fire Brigades Union as they have balloted with a resounding 'Yes' to strike action in the ongoing fight against proposed changes to their shift pattern. Are these strikes going to be warmly received by the public when many are experiencing job losses? We put that question to the Union.

We've been following the July 7 Inquests every day this week - and there's more new CCTV picture that's been released today.

And something that came in last minute, but its a good one - a tale of public good over individual malice. An extraordinary tale of courageous acts from ordinary Londoners. This morning, five masked robbers approached a jewellery shop in Central London and grabbed goods worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.....but they didn't get away with it. Wait and see what happened.

At the other end of the news spectrum, Nina was lucky enough to chat to American soul singer John Legend about his upcoming album, and Sugababe Jade Ewen tells us why she's supporting World Sight Day.

See you at six,

Ben and Lucy