This blog had over 11,000 viewers in the past month, another large increase on the month before.
If you fancy a drab, drizzle bound dullathon then get yerself down to the Green for a last chance to experience the Shepherd's Bush Fair, which has graced our Green since Boxing Day and runs till the 6th Jan 2010.
Hammersmith man Capt Ed Poynter, of the 2nd Battalion The Rifles, recently completed a six-month tour of Helmand province, where 40 comrades were killed or wounded and has come back on a dual mission - to raise much needed cash to support those who have come back from that place with horrendous injuries, and secondly to re-train as a school teacher.
The coming year will change the look and future of the Bush for generations to come. A bold claim, but true nonetheless. We have the prospect of the Green itself being ripped up and redeveloped beyond all recognition, more transport changes and an election which probably won't alter control of the Council - but it will decide who the next MP is, which will either slow down or speed up the changes they want to make - which will in turn change not only what the Borough looks like, but also in the long term who actually lives here.
Tory Leader David Cameron will be hosting one of his 'Cameron Direct' visits with local residents in W12 on the 5th January. Starting at 1900 the venue will be confirmed in the early part of next year but those wishing to attend are asked to email Hammersmith Conservatives at office@hammersmithconservatives.com or call 0207 385 1002
This bit in between Christmas and New Year is always a bit weird isn't it? That tree starts to look a bit out of place and the big day which we've all been building up to for the best part of a month is over in a flash! But what else has gone before? I started this blog in November 2008, and just for fun I thought I'd ape what the BBC and Sky are trying to outdo each other with at the moment with a review of the last 12 months, but this time of things from the Bush. So what were the highlights in W12?
Looking back on the last 12 months it's fair to say that a recurring theme has been, and there's no better word for it, poo.
Communist Bob tried to add to our snow-related transport woe yesterday and spectacularly failed. His EDF Energy power supply workers walked out in a strike over pay. They want more, obviously.
Loftus Road will be throwing its doors open to young fans and their families today at the inaugural Festive Family Fun Day. After this family day which we went to this summer I hope they've learned a thing or two about how to put a proper show on, but fair dues to them for organising this again.
Andy Slaughter has offered/threated (delete as applicable depending on whether you're a resident or a Council official) to intervene over this super-contentious planning decision which would transform Goldhawk Road and turn a green conservation area into a dense housing project. He says:
H&F Council have gone on the offensive over what they call the "super sewer crater", the Thames Tunnel project proposed by the Government, Thames Water and now supported by London Mayor Boris Johnson to deal with the huge sewage outflows into the Thames River due to our dilapidated centuries-old sewer system. This often results in properties in H&F being flooded with foul water and is therefore an issue that sparks strong local emotions, as in this meeting at the Town Hall recently.
Latest experience of the unfailingly crap sorting office on Ariel Way, W12. Two packages, christmas presents both, which were not delivered despite someone being inside my house on both occasions are still nowhere to be found.
Katie Piper, who was raped and then horrendously disfigured by an acid attack carried out by two of the Bush's most disgusting local criminals, will be giving this year's alternative christmas message on Channel4.
...and lo it came to pass. Shaun Bailey's campaign to become the next Conservative MP for Hammersmith took another almighty blow last night courtesy of H&F Council's infamous Planning Committee
After this incident no surprises that Jim Magilton has left Loftus Road, it was obvious from the point at which he started locking players out of the changing rooms that he had to go.
At today's session of Mayor's Question Time in City Hall Richard Barnbrook, the British National Party’s member of the Assembly, eventually got to ask his question about these events in Shepherd's Bush and White City which surrounded the appearance of Nick Griffin his party leader on the Question Time programme. In the event, and as the Mayor remarked in response, his question illustrated that the best way by far to deal with fascists is to allow the public to hear from them in all their magnificence and to make their own minds up.
The infamous Planning Committee of H&F Council is meeting tonight, and on their agenda is this little contentious item. 282 Goldhawk Road is at the moment a leafy green conservation area, and the locals want to keep it that way. The Council's friendly developers however, see pound signs and want to build a high density local housing block there instead.
You will all remember the events which surrounded the BBC's decision to invite Nick Griffin, leader of the BNP, onto the Question Time programme a few weeks ago. As predicted there was unrest outside the building and the BBC itself was briefly stormed by protestors, with the Police having to draft extra forces in to secure both the building and the area in which protestors were gathered.
Some of you may have seen this report on BBC London about the councils across London who have decided to close their public services on boxing day - Saturday 26th December (on the grounds that its a public holiday) but have also decided to impose standard-day parking fines on the same day that are normally not in place on boxing day, because this year it falls on saturday and is not therefore officially a bank holiday. 
Excellent local blog Tamarind and Thyme has posted this review of what looks like a cafe well worth visiting on the Askew Road. I'll let their review, which helpfully has pics of the dishes themselves, do the talking, but this blog looks like well worth adding to your favourites if you're into food.
Eeek - a remnant of a gift left to the Bush by the Third Reich, a collection of live mortar bombs, was discovered this week and thankfully disposed of in a controlled explosion on the Scrubs. 
Demolition crews are busy as I type knocking the former Sawley Road Primary Care Trust buildings down to nothing, and burning much of the debris with a large fire. It's a sad end to a site that used to serve our area well, I remember health visitors coming to see us from there to do post natal check ups.
A rapist who managed to get away with his attack for nearly a decade has been sent to prison after being tracked by DNA after being arrested for something different. Pole Kazimierz Sadowski, 32, from Barking, east London, attacked the Shepherd's Bush woman after offering her a lift home with another man from central London. Among other things this degenerate threatened to "break your neck" when the woman tried to escape, eventually dumping her in the Bush.
I've posted before about our hidden neighbours in W12, and the total lack of contact we have with them. This report in the Ealing Gazette which appeared on friday carries the tragic and very sad news of a prisoner who was driven to suicide behind those walls. Daniel Heath, 32, hanged himself in July last year just 10 days after having been sentenced, an inquiry into his death has been told.Queen's Park Rangers have suspended manager Jim Magilton after this frankly bizarre episode where he locked one of his best players out of the changing rooms. Akos Buszaky eventually had to go and hide in a public toilet, in the cold of Watford still in his kit! Londonist is reporting that a furious Magilton headbutted Buszaky, and that the player is now considering legal action as a result.
On tuesday evening BBC Newsnight featured a proposed new school based in Acton which, if it gets off the ground, would start to recruit children from some of W12. The proposed school has caused quite a stir locally, since the establishment of a new school would imply a criticism of existing local schools - especially Acton High Scool - its fair to say its not gone down particularly well with them. And yet the Board of the new school claim to have 250 local parents already signed up in support.
Transport for London, TfL, has launched an online "consultation" for Londoners who have views on the future of the western extension of the zone. You can see it here. It's clear that TfL don't want the zone to go and they mean to find ways to keep it. Mayor Johnson now also appears to have abandoned his pledge to be rid of it, which has caused no small amount of controversy recently.
If you, like me, are doing last minute internet Christmas shopping can I suggest you avoid Play.com like the plague.
I have been talking to a very senior source indeed at Thames Water recently, who is to use the old cliche, "in a position to know" all about the Thames Tunnel project, or 'super sewer crater' as it is dramatically referred to by our Council.Coming back from the shops yesterday I realised that I was going to need to try to park in our street on a match day at QPR. Big mistake. Its usually crammed with cars from both home and away fans and its usually suicide to leave the house on match day if you fancy being able to park anywhere near your front door again.
In the past year I have lost three close friends to cancer, and another close relative is very ill with it at the moment. You will all know someone in a similar position because one in three of us will get cancer at some point in our lives.
Excellent news from the Council - our Market is set to expand eastwards to cover a bigger area, and get a refurb in the process. The plans have been hatched by the Council with landowners the Peabody Trust and Broadway Centre.
I have just spoken at a screening we hosted of this film. It is the story of a group of Liberian women who came together to end one of Africa's longest, most intractable and brutal armed conflicts. We had several of the women on the panel who answered questions from the audience.
You will by now have read about Shaun Bailey's somewhat less than convincing performance on the Politics Show. I described Thames Water's representative at that encounter as being a "sharp media operator" - but one of you pointed out to me that there was a reason for that.
The new library at Westfield has had rave reviews, and is apparently running out of books it has been so popular. The building is indeed very impressive but I have to qualify the rave reviews bit by saying I read that in the propaganda-dressed-as-news so it might not be quite right.
Figures released today by the Environment Agency have revealed record amounts of poo being disgorged into the Thames as a result of the rainiest November in years. I can't reproduce the entire table here because its a cumbersome spreadsheet but the key result for us is that a record 12.75 million cubic metres of untreated sewage flowed into the Thames during last month.
A housekeeping post this one, really.
