I will be taking part in the CornerHOUSE One Acts Festival with a play I have written called The Temp and one I am directing called Changes.

I encountered the characters in The Temp as a student in my holidays from university. In the world of the receptionist I learned you underestimate the power wielded by the click of acrylic nail on keyboard at your peril. A scenario that could unpick their self-assuredness was tantalising.

The Temp is the first play I have written – the daughter of fringe impressario Brian McDermott, who started the Bush Theatre.

Tickets are £8 (£6 concessions). There is an additional booking fee for using the Ticket Source website. Tickets can be bought on the night too (subject to availability) at the cornerHOUSE box office. Cash only. Clink on this link to book your tickets.

Italy’s deputy prime minister Angelino Alfano called him “one of the most dangerous fugitives”, but to his neighbours he had been an “ordinary”, “caring”, “lovely” neighbour.

A suburban cul-de-sac of semi-detached maisonettes in west London might seem an unlikely place for a Sicilian Mafia boss to be living.

But in August last year the residents of Manor Waye in Uxbridge discovered the man they thought was Marc Skinner was actually Domenico Rancadore.

The Italian police say he headed a family involved in extortion, racketeering and drug trafficking.

‘Ordinary person’

Joan Hills who lives next door, said she never suspected the double-life Rancadore was living.

“He’s just an ordinary person, a lovely person who I’ve always known,” she said.

She did say, however, that his strong Italian accent and surname did seem to be at odds with one other.

“We used to say Skinner wasn’t a very Italian-sounding name,” she said. “My husband once joked, ‘I think you must be in the Italian Mafia’.”

Continue reading here.

Filipinos in the UK have spoken of their desperate attempts to contact loved ones back home in the wake of typhoon Haiyan.

At least 10,000 people are feared dead and thousands of survivors desperately need food, fresh water and shelter.

More than 120,000 people from the Philippines live in England and Wales, with 44,000 in London.

They have described the heartache and sleepless nights caused by the “national calamity”.

Continue reading here.

This weekend the doors of some of London’s most creative, intriguing and historic buildings will open to the public for free for the 21st year.

But in 1992 when Victoria Thornton started Open House London and looked for participants the response was “No, no, no”, she says.

Today the concept has “snowballed” to include 20 cities around the world.

And even that most famous of houses 10 Downing Street opens later.

Continue reading here.

(Published 21 September)

Evidence from Jack the Ripper’s murders, death masks, the first truncheons and vintage police cars could be brought together for the first time under plans to create a Metropolitan Police exhibition.

With New Scotland Yard being sold and its private collection from crime scenes needing a new home, the Mayor of London is championing the idea of a new Met Police museum.

At the moment, artefacts from the Met’s 184-year history are in a warehouse, and small, scattered pockets across London largely closed to the public or only viewable by appointment.

Continue reading here.

The Duke of Cambridge’s steed stands foundering with a set of wooden planks at its knees.

Prince George should be holding a Field Marshall’s baton but it was snapped off by a naked man last November.

While his sword is bolted back into his left hand he wears the same irrepressible expression he had when Dan Motrescu sat on his head.

Soon repairs will put this chapter of the bronze commander’s 107-year history behind him.

Continue reading here.