I've battled the pop-ups to bring you this list of important stories from local news websites, county by county. Bedfordshire: "Idiotic" driver crashes after showing off during car meet Berkshire: Independent pasta restaurant changes its name after one year Bristol: 'Bonkers' wiggly road markings removed from seafront Buckinghamshire: Aylesbury pub to give away free Pot Noodles this weekend Cambridgeshire: Cows get GPS collars to stop them from falling into river Cheshire: Pendant reunited with man after being found underground in village Cornwall: Cornwall Christmas lights switch-on event is cancelled Cumbria: Three people left upturned kayak at Thirlmere and 'lied about it' Derbyshire: Woman saw ghost on Ryanair flight, and he saluted her Devon: Month-long one-way system for traffic in town centre amid gas pipe upgrade Dorset: Brass horn blown again to celebrate 140th anniversary of railway Durham: Kylie Minogue heads to Seaham beach 'unnoticed' by fans East Sussex: Grandmother threatened with eviction unless she reverses garden makeover Essex: Swarm of bees descend on Brentwood high street Nando's Gloucestershire: Update on £6m Ribena factory electricity revamp plans Hampshire: Adorable "suffering" cats "crying" for their mum who died saved Herefordshire: Huge webs festoon hedges in county countryside Hertfordshire: High Street altercation allegedly damages estate agents window Kent: Mini estate could be built on land currently used as cemetery depot Lancachire: Grey bins could only be emptied once every three weeks under new plans Leicestershire: Pothole blamed for drink-driver swerving in Narborough Road London: Jail-dodging paedo postman caught with corpse and trout porn blames 'disgusting WhatsApp joke' Lincolnshire: Woman told she would 'never make it' wins major Co-op deal Manchester: Robot with Northern Irish ‘Dalek voice’ is shouting threats at walkers at beauty spot Merseyside: Mum calls for supermarket balloon ban after almost being killed on Asda visit Norfolk: Man banned from touching cars that do not belong to him Northamptonshire: Opening date confirmed for newly-renovated tennis courts Northumberland: A busy Tourette Syndrome Awareness Month ahead for Berwick resident Nottinghamshire: Officer allegedly ‘interfered’ with colleague’s trouser zip Oxfordshire: E-scooter seized after being ridden into dead end Rutland: Reading to pets and ‘whole-class teeth cleaning’ praised by school inspectors Shropshire: Patient leaves hospital on same day as hip replacement surgery Somerset: Morrisons CEO sends gifts to Taunton six-year-old Staffordshire: Hamster thrown out with rubbish with a note reading 'do not destroy' Suffolk: Plans for flat above shop in town centre quashed AGAIN Surrey: Exact date Surrey's newest splash pad is set to open Warwickshire: Pig who fathered 70 piglets after jumping farm fence finds a new home West Midlands: Family 'trapped' as Midland street invaded by a million bees West Sussex: Comedian furious after his son is put in school on other side of town Wiltshire: Town park toilets closed after damage caused by wildlife Worcestershire: Bizarre moment traffic in Worcester brought to a halt - by a swan Yorkshire: Huddersfield shop closing after taking £1.20 on a Saturday (sorry for not linking to any of them, but you can always Google)

33 facts you never knew about London's boroughs Barking and Dagenham: Barking and Dagenham has the highest proportion of overweight 11 year-olds in London [data] Barnet: Barnet has 60 miles of 'A' Roads, more than any other London borough [data] Bexley: 1.6% of Bexley residents had a stroke in 2019/20, the highest figure in London (but lower than the national figure) [data] Brent: Last year the London Fire Brigade attended three fires in Brent caused by Hotpoint tumble dryers [data] Bromley: Bromley has 569 miles of public roads, the most in London, of which 6 miles is dual carriageway [data] Camden: 36% of adults in Camden feel lonely always, often or some of the time, higher than in any other borough [data] City of London: Over three quarters of a million jobs are based in the City, that's 66 jobs for every resident [data] Croydon: 44,000 families claim child benefit in Croydon, more than in any other London borough [data] Ealing: 7.8% of Ealing's workforce are employed in manufacturing, the highest proportion in London [data] Enfield: Ethnically Enfield has more Greeks, Turks, Kurds, Albanians and Bulgarians than any other UK district [data] Greenwich: Within London, Greenwich has by far the highest number of physical visits to libraries per 1000 population [data] Hackney: Hackney has the highest number of people cycling to work in London (in the UK only Cambridge has more) [data] Hammersmith and Fulham: About 90% of homes in the borough are built on a floodplain, by far the highest proportion in London [data] Haringey: Haringey sells the most litres of alcohol per adult in all of London, 35% more than the London average [data] Harrow: 10.5% of Harrow's workforce are employed in construction, the highest proportion in London [data] Havering: Havering has London's earliest sunset - 3.51pm on the day of the winter solstice [data] Hillingdon: Hillingdon has London's latest sunset - 9:24pm on the day of the summer solstice [data] Hounslow: The oldest Dutch Elm in Hounslow is on The Promenade at Dukes Meadows near Barnes Bridge [data] [location] Islington: Islington has fewer fly-tipping incidents than any other borough, fewer than 1500 a year [data] Kensington and Chelsea: Taxpayers in the borough have the highest mean income in London (over £200,000) [data] Kingston: Kingston has the lowest rate of gun crime in London, only 13 reported offences in the last year [data] Lambeth: In the last census 8.3% of Lambeth's population identified as LGBTQ+, the highest of any London borough [data] Lewisham: Lewisham has London's lowest local authority rent at £106 per week [data] Merton: Last year the London Fire Brigade rescued 19 cats in Merton, plus a group of kittens trapped in a ceiling [data] Newham: Over 38000 Newham residents are on a local authority housing waiting list, the highest in London [data] Redbridge: Last year the London Fire Brigade attended five lift rescues at retirement homes in Redbridge [data] Richmond: Richmond residents have London's highest healthy life expectancy - 69½ years [data] Southwark: Southwark has more vacant dwellings than any other London borough - last year 2348 [data] Sutton: Only 9 rough sleepers were reported in Sutton in the first three months of this year, the fewest in London [data] Tower Hamlets: Tower Hamlets has London's lowest household waste recycling rate at just 16% [data] Waltham Forest: 94% of enterprises in Waltham Forest are micro businesses employing fewer than 10 people. [data] Wandsworth: Only 13% of Wandsworth's residents are physically inactive, the lowest of any borough [data] Westminster: Westminster has by far the largest number of crimes reported annually, on average more than one per resident [data]

In a world of sprawling Mercato Metropolitanos, Market Halls and Arcade Food Halls, the miniscule Holborn Food Hub is a reminder that food courts come in all shapes and sizes. I'm sure they had very good reasons for filling a space the size of a mobile phone repair shop with fully 3 different food vendors and a ludicrously antisocial arrangement of table and chairs all seemingly piled up on top of each other, as whatever they're doing is working - most days the queue at lunchtime stretches down the street. But we were lucky - and early - enough on a Thursday to bag a small table and order a couple of bits from the 7 Floor Malaysia Tea Room (the name is a bit of a mystery - maybe they started on the 7th floor of somewhere else, as Holborn Food Hub is very definitely on the ground floor). Chicken wings arrived first - robust, healthy things, properly jointed (no wingtips here) and with a lovely bubbly, crackly exterior. Assam Laksa was a giant bowl full of pineapple-spiked seafood broth, topped with sticks of cucumber and pineapple and onion and with a mound of thick Udon-y style noodles (I'm sure there's a Malaysian word for them, sorry) hiding underneath. The aroma as it moved around the room was incredible - and triggered a long-forgotten memory of visiting a hawker still in Kuala Lumpur back when I was just fresh out of university. Back then I probably ended up with something more timid like, well, chicken wings - but it's amazing how long the memory of smells linger as more or less everything else gradually fades. Beef rendang was impeccable - probably the best the capital has to offer, and I've tried a few. There is a surprising amount of very bad rendang in London (the Roti King version is awful - particularly odd when you consider the rest of their offering is decent) but this was doing absolutely everything right, from the complex depth of flavour of the sauce to the beautifully meltingly tender chunks of beef. Also worthy of note was the accompanying sambal which added a beguiling whole new set of umami flavours into the mix. Some slices of cucumber added a welcome salad element, fried shallots (I think they were) added crunch and salty vegetal flavour, and finally a hard boiled egg (because why not) completed the dish. Just like the Assam Laksa, if you were served this from a hawker stall in Malaysia you would be more than happy. There was no printed bill - the girl behind the counter just offered the contactless machine having seemingly done the total in her head - but £41 seemed perfectly reasonable for the amount and quality of food, and I should also mention the service which was so lovely and friendly it was like being invited to eat in someone's front room. Albeit a front room with way too many closely-packed tables and chairs. 9/10