Things have changed in the 10 years since I last sat behind the wheel of a car

An 84-year-old man has admitted killing his nephew after mistaking him for a burglar.

Three restaurants and a top nightclub in central London have been shut after inspectors found a catalogue of food hygiene failings.

The story of 13-year-old Ghanian immigrant, Harri Opoku, whose new home is a gritty London estate and whose fate bears echoes of Damilola Taylor's murder, caused a publishing sensation and ended up on the Man Booker shortlist.

Sitting on my friend's sofa, drinking wine a couple of weeks ago. "Don't you sometimes wish," said my friend, her dog's head nestled happily on her knees as she gently frotted her stuffed rabbit (the dog, not my friend), "that you could just be a nice person's dog? That you didn't have to worry about being the nice person, but you could just rely on them being there to look after you? And not worry about them judging you if wanted to frot your teddy in public?"

Tory majorities were slashed in the latest council by-elections which saw Labour go ahead over the month.

Paperback reviews of the week

Paperback reviews of the week

In 1991, a sculpture by Patricia Finch called Golders Hill Girl was unveiled in a north London park. Dressed in bronze flip-flops and hot pants, the work is arresting for its unusual mix of glamour and informality. The same might have been said of Helen Scott Lidgett, née Finch, who sat for the piece for her mother and has died of ovarian cancer at 63.

The Labour peer Andrew Adonis, aka Baron Adonis of Camden Town in the London Borough of Camden, was a Secretary of State for Transport who loved trains. He spent five days touring the country by train soon after his appointment. And he left behind a £33bn plan for a high-speed rail link from London to Birmingham, which survived the transition from a Labour to a Coalition government.

A police officer has been arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice following allegations over inaccuracies in crime reports.

Where are you now and what can you see?

Amy Winehouse's father has said he decided to put his late daughter's home up for sale "with regret".