If there is a better example of the capital’s ability to combine a global character with neighbourhood intimacy than the Palm 2 shop beside Clapton Pond in Hackney I have yet to find it.
Palm 2 has been there for almost as long as I have lived in the area, which is well over 30 years. And for the second year in a row its first floor function room was the venue for the On London Christmas Party, featuring food, drink, a little speech by me and a brilliant London quiz.
Those present included a City Hall deputy Mayor, a borough Mayor, other eminent London political and governance figures, assorted influential consultants, advisers, journalists, historians, civic society leaders and academics, a lovely bunch of On London supporters and several members of my family, including grandchildren and their whippet.
Quizmasters Robert Gordon Clark of LCA and PlayGC Theatre Company and Professor Tony Travers from the London School of Economics, provided a magnificent test of guests’ London knowledge, with questions covering everything from the original colour of Tower Bridge to the distance between Catford Bus Garage and the Greenwich Meridian, to the relative population densities of London boroughs and Leeds, to the longevity of London bus routes.
There were also two “connections” rounds involving names associated with the London Underground. These had me totally baffled despite seeing them in advance, but their mysteries were solved by James Cracknell, editor of Enfield Dispatch, and Sheila Fitzsimons, who as well as being my very fabulous wife, does On London the great service of fixing everyday tech issues I am too dim, intimidated and generally useless to cope with on my own.
In my little speech I was pleased to report that during 2025 On London has become wholly financially self-sufficient from its income from my now twice-weekly On London Extra newsletter. That happened partly because I became an OAP, meaning I could afford a pay cut, partly due to a (very limited) trimming of outgoings, and partly because there are now more subscribers to On London Extra supporting this no-ads, no-paywall website and its writers than ever before.
I would like to thank every single one of those supporters and encourage others to join them. The easiest and best way to subscribe to On London Extra is to do so through my personal Substack. Do that, and you too will be able to come to On London Christmas Parties!
Finally, special thank yous to Patricia Brown for saying some lovely words about On London after I’d finished saying mine, to Matilda, age six, for handing out the chocolate coin quiz prizes, and to Orla Hill, currently appearing as Deborah Mitford in Outrageous, for taking the photos.
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