The Overlooked Took Centre Stage

Quote of the Week - “It’s not always a misfortune being overlooked.”-J. Tolkien

Good Evening, London. In this last edition of The London Palette for August, the city spotlights everything it usually walks straight past. Hackney gives its migrant residents a genuine seat at the policy table, with its newly appointed Migrant Champion. While over in South West London, Richmond swaps its usual weekend for a taco and tequila passage to Mexico. And there is no need for a boarding pass. At MPB Gallery, a single photograph from its World Press Photo Exhibition forces you to stop scrolling and to actually look. This year, Notting Hill Carnival celebrates its Diamond Jubilee by turning sixty. And, finally it is crediting the hands that built it. Lastly, the Trinidadian word of the week reminds us that doing absolutely nothing, together, might be the most underrated art form we forgot we needed. Consider this your guide to London in full, overlooked bloom. Continue enjoying the summer sun!

PS: The next edition of The London Palette will be on Thursday, September 3 2026.

Snatched highlights from this edition:

1. 57,000 Photos Don’t Want You to Feel Comfortable

2. Forget the Flight, Richmond Just Became Your Mexico

3. London's First Single Dish Cafe Proves Less Really Is More

4. Live Music - Kenny G, Patrice Roberts, Stonebwoy & lots more!

Let’s dive in.

—Bybreen Samuels

COUNCIL CANVAS

Hackney Just Gave "Migrant" a Seat at the Table

Councillor Manal Massalha is one of those councillors who did not run for office to manage a problem. The whole focus of her campaign was to represent neighbours. She succeeded because now she has been elected as Hackney’s first Migrant Champion. The role is new for local government in that it is designed to instruct the council machinery to integrate the real lived experiences of migrants into everyday decisions. You may think the title sounds ceremonial, but it is not. Hackney’s decision makers are putting political weight behind this population that is often discussed as a statistic. This means the lives of real people who have experiences, expertise, dreams and rights, are hidden.

The change in policy ties in with Hackney’s recent status of being the Borough of Sanctuary. Its action plan was actually co-produced with Sanctuary Ambassadors who have lived through the asylum system themselves. More than five hundred Ukrainians have found safety in Hackney, since the invasion. And around seven hundred asylum seekers live in the borough at any given time. Their presence shapes services like housing, schools, ESOL classes, and libraries. Migration in Hackney is tangible which means it moves from policy to practice.

In her role, Manal will work through Welcome Hackney. This is the council’s dedicated refugee, migrant and asylum seeker service that embeds the needs of migrants across statutory services. Her background as an urban ethnographer, community organiser, and visual storyteller, signals something specific. Her appointment is designed to make listening a part of the structural process and definitely not just make the council's language appear kinder.

As progressive as this sounds, there is a ceiling. No borough can rewrite immigration law or decide asylum claims. These are the problematic areas that migrants come up against. However, Manal can help to stop residents falling through administrative cracks. Hackney's grant fund for immigration advice is a good start. Whether the Champion role survives tightening budgets is the real test. Representation is more than who sits in the Chamber. It also has a lot to do with whose knowledge gets to shape the agenda. Manal cannot promise sanctuary alone. But she can expand the meaning of welcome to the point where residents actually feel it.

Find out more here - https://news.hackney.gov.uk

CITY PALETTE

Forget the Flight, Richmond Just Became Your Mexico

Starting tomorrow and for the rest of the weekend, Richmond Athletic Ground becomes the closest thing London has to a flight to Mexico, without a passport. All you have to prove is that your travel documents are a tortilla and your cabin baggage is a timely margarita. The Tacover Taco and Tequila Festival makes a persuasive case that our capital’s most exuberant cultural exchanges increasingly happen around a tasty plate of food and not in galleries or concert halls.

The organisers bill the event as Europe’s largest taco and tequila festival. There are more than forty traders competing for distinctions. They include Best Taqueria and Best Margarita. But the more interesting detail is the scale of the invitation. Alongside tacos and agave spirits, you can sample and savour tequila and mezcal tastings, mariachi, Mexican folk dancers, roaming masked wrestlers, competitions and a craft market. This really is a huge celebration of Mexican cuisine and performance.

We are very good at consuming international culture. But sometimes our problem is that we are less consistent at making room for its context. That is the tension worth holding onto between the tasty food. One of the things that a festival format can do is flatten a cuisine into a colourful weekend spectacle. Yet, it can also give independent traders, diasporic voices and regional cooking traditions an audience far beyond the usual restaurant crowd. So bring your curiosity while you are hunting for the hottest taco. You could ask vendors questions like, what is regional? Who are the chefs? And, what are the stories behind the recipes?

As a culturally restless Londoner, this is a reminder that the city’s summer calendar does not have to mean another rooftop or vaguely Mediterranean spritz. Richmond offers a more playful proposition. It is time to gather your hungry friends, pace yourself, and let a humble folded tortilla become a small lesson in how a global city tastes. Allow the flavours to introduce themselves.

Book tickets here - https://www.designmynight.com

The Year's Biggest Stories, Frozen in a Single Frame

There are some images you see that pull you closer and pauses your habit of just scrolling on. For nearly six weeks starting August 21 to September 30, the World Press Photo Exhibition brings that kind of pause to MPB Gallery. Inside are the striking winning images from one of photojournalism’s most important annual contests. The photographs will not gently hold your hand through this cultural detour. Instead, you are brought to contemplate the stories that have shaped our world, face to face.

This year’s exhibition curates forty two winning entries chosen from more than fifty seven thousand photographs. They were submitted by photographers from one hundred and forty one countries. At the heart of it is Carol Guzy’s Separated by ICE, the World Press Photo of the Year. It is an emotionally charged image of a family forcibly separated by US immigration enforcement at a courthouse. There are also images of famine in Gaza, and survivors of sexual violence seeking justice in Guatemala. These subjects make it clear why this exhibition matters beyond photography circles. They are powerful records of how power is being exercised, resisted and survived.

The exhibition’s strength and discomfort are held simultaneously, which maybe on purpose. Over the last couple of decades our culture has trained us to absorb catastrophe between sips of coffee and the next notification. Whereas, here we are being asked to slow down and consider ethics. For instance, who took this picture? What relationship did they build with the people in it? And what responsibility do we as the viewer carry afterwards? Many questions for us to ponder and our answers may take a moment to emerge.

The World Press Photo Contest says its jury assesses visual excellence, storytelling and commitment to diversity. They have placed an emphasis on local voices. Consequently, the show ranges beyond conflict to social, political, environmental and everyday stories. By doing so, they give us the chance to see a fuller picture of the world than the usual ones shown in breaking news cycles. The most lasting image may not be the one you expected to see. It could be the one that increases your understanding of somebody else’s life, which makes it difficult to ignore.

Book tickets here - https://theexhibitionists.co.uk

Peak Power Hour | Leo Eclipse Edition

Yesterday evening, I saw the solar eclipse live from Greenwich Park. As an astrologer, it was awesome to watch a tool of my trade unfold in real time.

You know you’re ready for a new chapter. But you’re not clear where to be visible, or what to let go of. Plus, you’re not sure how to show up as who you naturally are.

This Leo solar eclipse is a window of change. It plants a seed wherever Leo sits in your chart. It’s a sign to have the courage to be seen, and to lead with an open heart. This one hour Astrology Peak Period Power Hour is designed to give you targeted clarity for your chart and your next season. This is not a generic horoscope reading.

In our session, we will:

• Pinpoint where the Leo eclipse is activating your chart and what new chapter it’s asking you to start.

• Identify what needs to be released over the next eighteen months to make space for a more honest, brighter version of you.

• Map practical ways to show up. This will clarify how, where and with whom you can be more visible and impactful, without abandoning your integrity.

This is a one hour, focused and practical session that will move you from vague restlessness to a clear, courageous next step. Now is the time to shine.

Nine Peak Power Hour sessions are available until August 31 2026. Book your 2026 Astrology Peak Period Power Hour here:

stan.store/bybreensamuels

UNDISCOVERED GEMS

One Dessert at Soho's Boldest Cafe Bet So Far

A dessert that has spent decades arriving as a polite afterthought is about to become the main event. London welcomes its first cafe devoted to tiramisu. Marrone opens on August 15, in Soho. Having one item on the menu is a tiny indication that we are welcoming specialists in one area. Founder Giancarlo Fanigliulo, a seasoned Italian entrepreneur, has built the concept around a simple conviction. He believes a properly made tiramisu should not be an afterthought on a menu, it should be reason enough to leave the house.

The one item dish on the menu is called Original which is layered with Estate Dairy cream and dark roasted espresso. This is a version of a DOP Pistachio using Bronte pistachios from Sicily and Dark Chocolate with Maldon Sea Salt, made with Valrhona chocolate. You can choose whether to have your tiramisu with or without alcohol. Giancarlo has given us this option because he recognises that the pleasure of the coffee, mascarpone and savoury biscuit, should not depend on Marsala or rum. The selection shows that Marrone is selling confidence in its product. It is not trying to please everyone by having a novelty menu.

Marrone does have competition in the form of other Italian restaurants and tiramisu specialists, like Pompi. However, this new Soho cafe does have an edge in that they are creating a physical ritual around dessert. You now have permission to intentionally leave your home to enjoy pleasure, one Italian mouthful of tiramisu, at a time. This could become your regular slice of indulgence, which could turn into the pick me up you need.

Find out more here - https://www.studiomarrone.co.uk

LONDON BUZZ

Carnival Celebrates More Than Sequins and Steel Pan

Before the feathers, bass and paint fill West London, take a moment to remember that Carnival began as an act of creating community, in a hostile climate. This year, Notting Hill Carnival celebrates sixty years. Organisers have created a Diamond Jubilee programme that invites you to look beyond the spectacle. Expand your gaze to take account of the people and Caribbean cultural heritage that made Europe’s largest street festival possible. The main celebrations run from Panorama on Saturday, August 29 to J’ouvert, Children’s Day. Then the main parade happens across Sunday and Monday.

But, the most rewarding anniversary events start before Carnival weekend. On Tuesday, August 25, Walk & Pub Grub offers a ninety minute guided journey through lesser known parts of Notting Hill’s history. Yvette Reinfor leads the way and the tour ends at the Ladbroke Arms where you can discuss your discoveries over some food and drink. Tickets are priced at £6 and proceeds from the tour are donated to support More Curricular CIC’s education and community programme.

On the following day, Notting Hill Carnival: Past, Present & Future brings the bigger question into the Conservatory at Mason & Fifth, in Westbourne Park. The premise asks, after six decades who built Carnival? Who sustains it now? And, who gets to decide what comes next? The panellists navigating these questions and answers are Carnival figures, Leslie Palmer MBE, Rosita Lynch, Linett Kamala and Alexander D Great. They will be delving into these alongside screenings of three short films. One includes Rosita’s documentary on her godfather, steel pan pioneer Russ Henderson.

The questions are pressing because this year, the Mayor of London’s £4.66 million funding intervention ensured the 60th anniversary could go ahead. The investment exposes a familiar cultural tension namely, London celebrates Carnival as an international symbol, that’s instantly recognisable. Yet, the community that built the infrastructure that makes it possible must repeatedly fight for security and recognition. Go for the walk or the panel discussion before you join the crowds over the bank holiday weekend. Afterwards, you will hear the sound systems differently. Notting Hill Carnival is definitely filled with joy. But it is a joy filled with memory, a politics and a future that is worth protecting.

Find out more here - https://nhcarnival.org/who-we-are/organisers

LONDON SOUNDSCAPE

Boisdale of Canary Wharf - August 26

There's freaky, and then there's disco night in Canary Wharf. Boisdale hosts Le Freak, an electrifying tribute to Nile Rodgers and Chic, fronted by Hazel Fernandes and Valerie Etienneboth. Their pedigrees span Jamiroquai, Tina Turner to Kylie Minogue. You'll get non stop funk anthems like Le Freak, Good Times, Everybody Dance, they are backed by an all-star funky band. You’ll love this masterclass in rhythm guitar and joyful hooks. The dance floor is calling your name!

Book tickets here - https://www.boisdale.co.uk

Fox and Firkin - August 14

Lewisham's beer garden becomes a bass temple this Friday, when jungle's original architects come home. Fabio & Grooverider land at Fox and Firkin. They’re the pioneers that literally invented the sounds that generations continue to dance to. This is a night of heavyweight bass, jungle pressure and drum & bass history in the making. On the night they’re supported by DJ Essence keeping the energy razor sharp until 4am. If you've ever wondered where the genre's DNA came from, this is the source. It’s raw, relentless and unmistakably London.

Book tickets here - https://foxfirkin.com

Koko - August 28

KOKO's iconic Camden stage is about to get a full soca takeover, and it's way overdue. Trinidad's Patrice Roberts headlines I Am Woman: Always Us, her first major London show since rising to prominence with Bunji Garlin back in 2005. Two decades on, her powerful vocals and commanding presence have made her one of soca's defining voices. You can expect hits celebrating power, presence and pure Caribbean energy. This is a homecoming celebration if you have loved soca from a distance.

Book tickets here - https://www.koko.co.uk

OVO Arena Wembley - August 15

Ghanaian fire takes over OVO Arena when Stonebwoy brings the BHM Festival to life. You are witnessing a milestone because the BET Award-winning reggae and dancehall star becomes the first Ghanaian artist to headline this venue. His blend of Afrobeats, dancehall and hiplife joins a guest bill featuring Samini, Stylo G, Mista Silva, Jux, Mr P, DopeNation, Kwabena Kwabena and Ofori Amponsah. Doors open at 6pm for an evening of bass, celebration and pride in the diaspora.

Book tickets here - https://www.ovoarena.co.uk

Royal Festival Hall - August 23

You know the sound before you know the name. That smooth soprano sax has been the soundtrack to a million quiet moments since the 1980s. On August 23, Kenny G brings five decades of smooth jazz mastery to the Southbank with over 75 million records sold and 1.5 billion streams behind him. You'll hear instrumental hits that created memories for weddings, dinners and Sunday mornings, for generations. This is smooth jazz’s greatest ambassador, live and distinctively himself.

Book tickets here - https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk

The Jazz Cafe - August 20 and 21

Forget the flight to Havana because Camden is about to give you the same heat, but without the jet lag. On August 20, Sambroso All Stars take the stage for Havana Música, London's beloved tribute to Cuba's musical soul. Feel the driving percussion, punchy brass and tight rhythms that fuse salsa, rumba and Latin jazz. This is the perfect combination for you to hit the dance floor. Celebrate Cuba, London style.

Some voices don't age, they just get smoother, and George Benson's guitar and vocal groove is one of them. Jazz Cafe throws open its doors for Give Me the Night, with leading man Nat Augustin and a full house band. On August 21, they are recreating George's jazz-funk mastery. You'll hear Never Give Up on a Good Thing, In Your Eyes, Love Times Love and Lady Love Me, sung to perfection. This is the kind of Friday night set that makes you close your eyes and simply glide.

Book tickets here - https://thejazzcafe.com

Toulouse Lautrec - August 29

Kennington's basement jazz club has smuggled in a slice of pre-revolutionary Havana, and it's staying till at least the end of August. Buena Vista Live returns to pay tribute to the Grammy-winning 1997 album that reunited Cuba's greatest musical elders under Ry Cooder's watch. You'll hear son, bolero, danzón and cha-cha-cha performed by some of the UK's finest Cuban musicians. They are ready with their soulful trumpet, intricate guitar, and vocals filled with nostalgia.

Book tickets here - https://toulouselautrec.co.uk

BUSINESS SCENE

A £7 Billion Wardrobe is Hiding in a Peckham Building

For one weekend, the fashion economy steps out of the apps and comes back into a warehouse. Fashion Thrift Society arrives in Peckham on the penultimate weekend in August. During Saturday 22 and Sunday 23, they are bringing vintage, pre-loved, designer and archive pieces into a live marketplace. They have been discerning in their selection. Online shopping might be convenient but it is also exhausting. You spend too much time trawling through endless listings, uncertain measurements and dubious notes about the condition of the item. You are not sure whether the excellent vintage blazer is a tired looking polyester jacket.

Having a curated physical market restores the pleasures the feeds cannot deliver. You love touching the fabric, then trying on the next addition to your wardrobe. Plus, you want some guidance from the seller who can give you the personal backstory to the item, in a way that an algorithm cannot. Thrift Society’s model also allows you to buy, sell, donate and rent clothes. It moves beyond the simple retail transaction towards being a part of a circular wardrobe ecosystem.

The commercial story under the rails is serious because estimates place the UK resale market at more than £7 billion. Roughly one in four fashion transactions are now second-hand. Forecasts suggest it could represent about 10% of UK fashion spending by 2029. As a cost conscious consumer you want value for money and you want to find a rare item. For independent sellers they want an alternative to platform fees and the constant admin associated with digital resale. Physical markets meet all of these needs at once. Particularly, in neighbourhoods like Peckham, where cultural capital is made through discovery as much as through purchasing power.

If you are a small trader, the opportunity is clear. Bring a sharply edited rack of clothes, be transparent with the price, and know the story behind the pieces. Treat the stall as a relationship building exercise rather than a one-off sale. If you are coming to spend money, arrive early and take your time to inspect the condition of the clothing. Once you are satisfied, buy the piece you will wear repeatedly. Now is the time to recognise value before someone else does.

Book tickets here - https://fashionthriftsociety.co.uk

LINGUISTIC TAPESTRY - WORDS OF THE WEEK 

English Word:
Entente
Pronunciation: /ɒnˈtɒnt/
Definition: A friendly understanding or informal agreement between nations, groups or individuals, typically falling short of a formal alliance. Borrowed directly from French, it describes cooperation built on mutual goodwill rather than binding obligation. 

Cultural Note: Entente comes from the Old French entente, meaning intention or aim, rooted in entendre, to direct one's attention. The word entered English around 1854, but its defining moment arrived through entente cordiale meaning a cordial agreement. A phrase first used in 1843 by British Foreign Secretary Lord Aberdeen to describe warming Anglo-French relations.

Trinidadian Word:
Lime
Pronunciation: /laɪm/
Definition: Both a verb meaning to lime and a noun, a lime, meaning to hang out, socialise or gather informally with friends, family or neighbours. Often accompanied by food, drink and unhurried conversation. To "bus a lime" is to organise a get together, to say "we liming tonight" is to announce plans for one. 

Cultural Note: Liming's exact origin is contested, which is fitting for a word about unstructured time. One definition traces to the colonial era when friends were invited over for lime juice on the verandah at sunset, where conversation and small talk became inseparable from the drink itself. Liming has become one of Trinidad and Tobago's most treasured cultural exports. Not laziness, but a deliberate, communal art of doing nothing together, it’s prioritised as seriously as any appointment.  

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