On London Latest: Bomb damage

Plus Charles Wright on trains and short lets, Lewis Baston on two telling by-elections and more, more, more from OnLondon.co.uk

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The approach of the 80th anniversary of VE Day, marked by yesterday’s Red Arrows Buckingham Palace flypast, has served as a reminder of how London and Londoners suffered during World War II, and also underlined for me how much my childhood perceptions of London, formed mostly in the 1960s very far from the capital, were created by images and stories of the Blitz.

Today, even having been a Londoner for more than four decades, I continue to find my understanding of the city deepened by insights into that desperate period of its past. Some that were new to me were provided by Westminster councillor Paul Dimoldenberg in his detailed history of attempts to better manage traffic on Oxford Street, which I published at On London on Sunday.