The Big Smoke

Love theatre, hate the prices? If you’re a cash-strapped theatre buff who fancies a year’s free entertainment in London, then head down to the Olivier Awards site and apply online to be one of their London panellists.

The ladies and gents behind London’s most prestigious performing arts gong are on the lookout for dance and opera fans too: if you’re selected, you’ll get to see about 20 of 2010’s best productions and vote for your favourites. Forms can also be requested by emailing awards@solttma.co.uk. Closing date is Monday 30 November.

‘When you look in the mirror/Do you see yourself?’ asked the divine Poly Styrene on X-Ray Spex’s ‘Identity’ back in 1978, and, aptly, mirrors are one of the defining themes of the Wellcome Collection’s mind-boggling new exhibition on ‘Identity’.

There are reverse mirrors that allow you to see yourself as others see you; mirrors fitted with a time lapse camera so you appear as a slow-motion ghost after you have stepped away from in front of it; and mirrors that are just that, mirrors, lining the outside walls of eight rudimentary rooms that have been built inside the suddenly rather large temporary exhibition space.

Each room examines a different facet of identity. Big Brother fans will want to get down there quickly to check out the lurid Big Brother chair, which will be in the exhibition’s diary room for a week before it is returned to the house in time for ‘Celebrity Big Brother’.

This room is devoted to the diary-writing process, with one exhibit following the progress of Tony Benn’s recollections from dictaphone to published work, showing how much gets edited out in between. There's also a fascinating little collection of 'ordinary' people's diaries, which a British Museum curator has rescued from second-hand shops and house clearances. I particularly liked the entry in one from the 1920s under the heading 'entertainments I have seen', in which the young scribe had written indignantly: 'I do not do such things. I am a good minister's daughter'.

Elsewhere, the exhibition takes on topics as wide-ranging and complex as DNA, gender reassignment, acting, fingerprints, twins, phrenology and the photographic self-portraits of Claude Cahun. There's lots of fascinating stuff here but far too much to take in on one visit (it's free and open till April, so I will be back). So I decided to shut down my brain and play with the machine in the corner that determines where people with your surname lived in 1881 and where they live now. Watts, I discovered, is most common in Bath, then and now. How boring. Sadly, my mother’s much funkier maiden name – Camenzuli – doesn’t show up because there aren't enough of them on the database. Not even the Wellcome Collection can help with that part of my identity.

London boroughs that have signed up to the 10:10 campaign. llustration: Sim Greenaway

London, as the one-time hub of the empire responsible for the first industrialised economy, arguably owes a greater carbon debt than any other city in the world. Which is part of the reason Time Out has joined 10:10, the innovative campaign to cut the UK's carbon emissions by at least 10 per cent during 2010 - and why we're encouraging the rest of the capital to do the same.

Here we'll be reporting on which local authorities (see map above) and other leading London organisations have also signed up to 10:10. We'll also be updating you on our progress as we honour our own commitment to reducing Time Out's carbon footprint over the coming year.

To join 10:10 yourself, or to sign up your company or organisation, visit the campaign's website here.

And you can read an interview with Franny Armstrong, 10:10's inspirational founder and director of 'The Age of Stupid', here.

Local authorities
Fourteen of London’s 32 boroughs have joined 10:10 so far. Is yours one? For full details, scroll to the bottom of the page or click here - if your local authority is still dragging its civic heels, click on its name to take you straight to its online contact page, where you can help convince your council to get involved.

The GLA
Unlike in Westminster, where 10:10 enjoys broad cross-party support, the Greater London Authority seems divided over the campaign along party lines. Leading the charge to sign up inside City Hall is leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, Mike Tuffrey. He tabled a motion for the GLA to join 10:10 back in October, but it was rendered inquorate when the Tory GLA members walked out of the debate, apparently because they were 'too busy' to take part.

Mike Tuffrey had this to say: 'The London Assembly Tories should be ashamed of their disdain for the future of our planet. City Hall should be taking the lead in London for the 10:10 campaign, not dragging its feet. Politicians making pious statements of support for goals some 50 years away is frankly not good enough. We need action straight away to tackle climate change.'

A new motion is being submitted at a plenary session of the London Assembly on Wednesday December 9, just after the climate change conference in Copenhagen kicks off. Watch this space for news on how that goes…

The Mayor
Boris has pledged to 'sign up City Hall' to 10:10, though he hasn’t joined personally. When pressed by leader of the Lib Dems in the GLA Mike Tuffrey about what this actually means - 'Which parts of the GLA family can fulfil the 10:10 criteria? Which parts of the GLA family are not signing up and why not?' - Boris's response was:

'I have pledged to sign up City Hall to 10:10.  My officials are in discussion with the 10:10 campaign and GLA family about the potential of signing up either fully or parts of their operations to the initiative. I expect to be able to announce which parts will be signing up in the near future.'

Still fairly vague, then. The Mayor has done his bit, though, in his own gallant way: as has been widely reported, three weeks ago he happened across a gang of girls in the street threatening a woman with a metal bar. The woman happened to be Franny Armstrong, the director of climate change documentary 'The Age of Stupid' who came up with the 10:10 campaign in the first place. Boris chased them off on his bike, then returned to make sure Franny was all right, insisting on walking her home. According to Franny, Boris in full battle-cry mode was ‘a lot less scary than a bunch of girl hoodies straight out of a cheap BBC drama’.

London boroughs signed up to 10:10
Greenwich (Lab, pop 228,000); Hackney (Lab, pop 203,000); Haringey (Lab, pop 217,000); Lambeth (Lab, pop 275,000); Lewisham (Lab, pop 262,000); Waltham Forest (Lab/Lib Dem, pop 218,000); Kingston (Lib Dem, pop 160,000); Richmond (Lib Dem, pop 180,000); Southwark (Lib Dem, pop 278,000); Sutton (Lib Dem, pop 188,000); Islington (Lib Dem minority, pop 176,000); Brent (Lib Dem/Con, pop 271,000); Camden (Lib Dem/Con, pop 228,000); Hounslow (Con/Independent, pop 223,000)

Boroughs yet to sign up

Westminster (Con, pop 236,000); Kensington & Chelsea (Con, pop 180,000); Hammersmith & Fulham (Con, pop 172,000); Wandsworth (Con, pop 284,000); Tower Hamlets (Lab, pop 221,000); Ealing (Con, pop 309,000); Merton (Con, pop 201,000); Croydon (Con, pop 342,000); Bromley (Con, pop 303,000); Bexley (Con, pop 223,000); Havering (Con, pop 230,000); Barking & Dagenham (Con, pop 169,000); Redbridge (Con, pop 258,000); Newham (Lab, pop 250,000); Enfield (Con, pop 288,000); Barnet (Con, pop 332,000); Harrow (Con, pop 216,000); Hillingdon (Con, pop 253,000)