We are the office block persecution affinity

Over on the LUP's group blog, we're talking about favourite buildings, ahead of this weekend's Open House Weekend events.

It feels like almost everywhere else is talking about the launch of Dan Brown's new book, though, and the combination reminded me of something: Freemasons. Specifically, Freemasons’ Hall in London, which is an imposing art deco building near Covent Garden, and the headquarters of the oldest Grand Lodge in the world.

You might be surprised to hear that this secret society offers free public tours, but they do, so if Dan Brown's fictional account of Freemason ceremonies has piqued your interest, you can get inside the Grand Temple with no subterfuge required.

Down by the Thames, lights that sparkle like gems

Planning ahead - the BFI London Film Festival will be running through the second half of October, and ticket bookings open soon, not just for the film screenings, but also for the range of talks, workshops, and other events that go with them.

Also, confirmation that the Trafalgar Square screening will run again this year - free, fascinating short films from the BFI National Archive and London's Screen Archives, in London's living room.

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In less long-range planning news, it's the Thames Festival this weekend, which offers loads of free events to get involved in, like the Feast On The Bridge and the Night Carnival

Follow Friday, aka twitter resources

Two of my colleagues have started using Twitter as a way of getting timely info to students this semester, and as a result a bunch of students have joined Twitter for the first time.

(This Telegraph blog post is a decent general run through of how to get started on Twitter.)

'Follow Friday (or #FF) is a Twitter 'tradition' where users post recommendations of people they follow. Personally I don't find a list of just account names particularly helpful, so I'm going to take a whole blog post to put together some suggestions of accounts our new-to-Twitter and new-to-London students might want to check out:

General

The BBC, the Guardian and the Times all do a range of feeds, from just the big breaking news stories (eg @bbcbreaking) to more in-depth subject focussed feeds like @bbchealth or @guardiantech.

@DowningStreet - official account for the UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown

London

@londonist - if you're not reading this site regularly, the twitter stream is a great way to keep an eye on London news and upcoming events

@londonwestend for West-end focussed updates, including lots of free events

Museum and gallery accounts in cultural areas you're interested in - @BarbicanCentre, @Tate, @V_and_A, @Sadlers_Wells, @RoyalOperaHouse etc etc

@londonweather for your daily forecast

@towerbridge (see this Londonist post for the best summary of why, or why not)

@BBCLondonNews - London news from the BBC

@gigsinlondon - gigs in London, including the free and the 'secret'.

Libraries

@nd_lup_library for updates on the LUP library (shameless self promotion - check)

@WCClibraries for news on Westminster Library events and promotions

@SenateHouseLib to keep up to date with the building works if you're thinking of taking out membership there

@BritishLibrary - Britain's national library.

Personalities

@stephenfry In the words of the song 'thou shalt not question Stephen Fry' - there is a very good reason that he's one of the most followed people on Twitter.

@EddieIzzard - comedian, currently running a ring of back-to-back marathons around the UK.

@neilhimself - author Neil Gaiman

@JohnCleese - the man himself

@MayorOfLOndon - Boris Johnson

Readers who are on Twitter: who or what would you add to this list?

Up and down the City Road, in and out the Eagle

On the one hand, there's an argument to be made that the demise of thelondonpaper, scheduled for the end of this month, is a good thing for London's streets. There's the opposing argument, though, that it's the wrong half of the free-evening-paper brigade that's going, and there's no question that it's a loss for everyone who works on the paper.

They are at least going out with a bang, though - their Headliners mini festival gives you over 50 acts, in 13 central London venues, over two days (16th and 17th Sept) and it's not too late to get a ticket. Check out the website for venues, line-up, and ticket info : http://thelondonpaperheadliners.com/