Listen, I beleive in the power microdosing viruses to keep your immunse system on its toes, but the viral load on the Mildmay is off the charts.

Every journey my poor immune system has to beat away multiple threats, bolstered only by the daily vitamin D I injest to to keep the frontline troops supplied, albeit meagerly.

When will it end? Its been about 3 weeks or more since id say about 30% of the trains passengers were coughing and spluttering. I feel I will fall too eventually, it is only a matter of time. The viral load is climbing

Hell of a sesh.

Ooh time outs and telling offs, that'll teach em. All feels very primary school.

Hopefully their chocolate milk isnt cold too.

Hey fellow Redditers and Londoners.

I love abit of jazz, especially live jazz! But like many mid 30 year olds, all of my friends are married and have kids, they don't really leave the house. As such I've gotten used to doing things alone (get the violins out right?!) Anyway, I really want to go Ronnie Scotts at some point but was wondering if anyones gone alone before and if it was awkward. I can imagine it to be a romantic type of establishment... So makes me feel maybe like a weirdo

I was on the central line yesterday and I have no idea how ppl do it 😅. And i thought the northern line was bad…

I’ve been on my fair share of trains but I’m praying I never have a journey that requires me to use that line regularly

The Banksy statue in Waterloo Place has been left there by Westminster council. It is now guarded by private security, presumably after some other street artists added their own graffiti.

They say they work for McKenzie and Old (although maybe I misheard - could they mean McKenzie Arnold?) but they don't know who is paying for them. Does anyone else? Is it Westminster council? If so, is it a good use of public money? Whoever is paying, what interests are they protecting?

Kind of funny how establishment Banksy has become. They create an instant pop-up museum around everything he does. He'll be up for a peerage soon...

Feeling under the weather so can't make it. Can transfer through app

I've started a project where I'm photographing quirky/old/traditional shopfronts of London and would be grateful for any suggestions for ones I've overlooked or ones you could personally recommend, they DON'T have to be in central London, I'm happy to travel!

So far these are the ones I've photographed

1. Lock & Co Hatters (1676) – 6 St James’s St, St. James’s, London SW1A 1EF
2. Ede & Ravenscroft (1689) – 93 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1DU
3. Berry Brothers & Rudd (1698) – 63 Pall Mall, St. James’s, London SW1Y 5HZ
4. Twinings (1706) – 216 Strand, London WC2R 1AP
5. Fortnum & Mason (1707) – 181 Piccadilly, London W1A 1ER
6. Floris (1730) – 89 Jermyn St, St. James’s, London SW1Y 6JH
7. Swaine Adeney Brigg (1750) – 7 Piccadilly Arcade, Jermyn St, St. James’s, London SW1Y 6NH
8. Hamleys (1760) – 188-196 Regent Street, London W1B 5BT
9. James J Fox (1787) – 19 St James’s Street, London SW1A 1ES
10. Hatchard’s (1797) – 187 Piccadilly, London W1J 9LE
11. Henry Poole & Co (1806) – 15 Savile Row, Mayfair, London W1S 3PJ
12. James Smith & Sons (1830) – 53 New Oxford St, London WC1A 1BL

Thanks London Redditors!

More coming out about this guy which all sounds very suggestive of guilt. Will be curious to see how the criminal case pans out.

Edit: Sorry that archiving hasn't worked. Full text below.

Monster or gentleman? Battle for legacy of Putney Pusher suspect

Some of the many women in Nicholas Brandram’s life describe a darker side to the banker found dead after his arrest last month

David Brown, Chief News Correspondent Friday October 09 2026, 9.40pm, The Times

Until Nicholas Brandram was publicly linked to the notorious case of the Putney Pusher he appeared to enjoy a gilded life as a distant relation of the royal family.

Active service in one of the army’s most distinguished regiments was followed by a successful career in the City. He was worshipped by a devoted family and loved by a succession of beautiful, wealthy girlfriends.

However, some of the women close to Brandram describe a darker side to his life, including the torment of suicides among those he loved, drug use and disputed allegations that he was a “monster” to some of his ex-partners.

The wealthy banker killed himself last month following his arrest nine years after a female pedestrian was pushed in front of a bus on Putney Bridge, west London.

In the aftermath of his death, a battle has been fought by his family, ex-partners and those who knew him over his legacy.

At the same time, the Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said his force had “new information” that “led us to treating that man as a suspect”.

“We need to continue with that,” he added. “It could be the person we’re investigating. So let us work it through.”

Did he crack and let the demons from his past erupt on the bridge in an outburst of uncontrolled rage? Or was Brandram, as his family insist, an innocent man driven to suicide by police who failed to take account of a rock-solid alibi?

As an investigation ordered by the police watchdog into the case continues, The Times has spoken to friends and family to build a picture of Brandram.

Royal connection Brandram’s father, Paul, was the only child of Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark, who was a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria. His mother, Jennifer, 75, was the daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Steele.

Advertisement His parents separated when he was young and he remained “exceptionally close” to his mother and his sisters Alexia Hicks, 40, and Sophie Voelcker, 45, a family friend said.

Brandram was asked to leave Harrow School after an incident with drugs but thrived in the more liberal atmosphere of Stowe, the friend added.

He later described being traumatised by the suicide of a young girlfriend. “He had a girlfriend back in school who sadly took her life. That was a terrible thing,” the friend said.

Brandram studied philosophy and psychology at Newcastle University, and took a post-graduate law diploma but, instead of pursuing a legal career, enrolled in the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 2004, a year before Prince Harry and two years before Prince William.

He was selected to join the Scots Guards, whose colonel of the regiment at the time, the Duke of Kent, was a distant relative.

Sandhurst sorrow While the Guards were based in Münster, Germany, he began dating a woman he had met at university. She recalls the young officer being “utterly devastated” when a member of this regiment killed himself.

“His men were relatively young, straight out of school, and he was a father figure to them,” the former girlfriend said. “He was incredibly caring and took great care of his boys.”

Brandram served in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan. When on leave he lived with his mother in west London.

A year after leaving Sandhurst, a close friend from the academy, 2nd Lieutenant Ralph Johnson, 24, was killed in a Taliban ambush in Afghanistan in August 2006.

Five years later, his former second-in-command, Colour Sergeant Alan Cameron, 42, died from injuries caused by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan. Brandram said at the time: “The sadness with which I mourn his loss is only matched by the joy and appreciation I had in working with and knowing him.”

Brandram was still serving in the army when he met Katrina Davis, now 48. They married in September 2011. He left the army and became an investment manager at Killik & Co, a wealth management company. The newly married couple lived in an £850,000 terraced home in Fulham, west London.

Hit and run In March 2013 Brandram committed a “hit and run” on a female cyclist while riding his motorbike at Hyde Park Corner in central London. When asked later if he had a good day, Brandram allegedly complained: “No, I just hit somebody on a bike, bloody girl deserved it.”

Brandram was traced by police through the number plate of his Harley Davidson. He admitted his guilt, telling magistrates of his regret as an “upstanding member of society”. He was fined £200.

During a holiday in the Mediterranean later that year, a toddler allegedly suffered a facial injury while alone with Brandram. The boy’s mother believed Brandram struck the child with the back of his hand. A photograph of a bruise on the boy’s cheek has a striking similarity to a watch face. Brandram denied any wrongdoing.

His marriage was short-lived. A week before their second wedding anniversary he told his wife he was leaving. Friends said it later emerged that Brandram had maintained a profile on Grindr, the gay dating website, during the marriage and had used drugs.

In 2015 Brandram joined Bank Leumi UK as an assistant vice-president based in Bond Street, London.

The Pusher incident Video of the Putney Pusher incident in May 2017 shows a jogger running southbound over the bridge at 7.41am as a 33-year-old female pedestrian walks towards him. The runner appears to slightly divert his route to deliberately shove the woman into the road.

The driver of a double-decker bus travelling in the same direction as the jogger swerves and passes inches from the woman’s head. The victim believed she saw the jogger running back 15 minutes later, suggesting he lived on the north bank of the Thames.

A former friend of Brandram claimed that some people commented at the time of the Putney Pusher incident that he had a similar stooped running gait to the attacker.

A woman who had been close to Brandram during his first marriage recalled: “We said ‘that bloody well looks like Nick’ and he was walking like that because, don’t forget, in the army they run with the backpack.”

A former girlfriend added: “All I know is someone who has known him for quite some time thought he looked similar to the pusher.”

Email alibi At the time Brandram was living alone in a flat in Notting Hill, west London, just over four miles from Putney Bridge. His work address, on Bond Street, was almost five miles away.

At 8.17am on the day of the bridge assault Brandram appears to have sent an email to his sisters and girlfriend from his Bank Leumi account, which his family says he could only access from his desk at work.

Also, Brandram’s then girlfriend, who lived close by, does not recall any discussion with him about the Putney Pusher incident.

In January 2018, Brandram joined HSBC Private Banking as a director and his girlfriend moved in to his £1.1m Chiswick home.

The relationship ended soon after on good terms. The former girlfriend, now a chief executive, does not believe Brandram would have been involved in the Putney incident. She has described him as “a real gentleman and very kind”.

Another former girlfriend, a very successful business executive who dated Brandram for three years at the start of his military career, said she never saw him push or act aggressively towards any woman.

“He had two sisters and a very strong mother,” she said. “Boys who grow up with sisters have a completely different way of handling women.”

The woman remained close to Brandram and his family and he was the godfather to her son.

Father took his own life In May 2020 Brandram’s life was again scarred by suicide when his father shot himself aged 72. His father left £8.66m in trust for his second wife, Katherine, his three children and a stepson.

Last year Brandram gave a talk about suicide at HSBC on “men’s day”.

“He knew the pressure of life and how some people can not just handle it and that is why he felt so strongly about talking about it,” a former girlfriend said. “He tried to highlight that the suicide was not something to be underestimated, the struggles that we often don’t see. That is why I find it so difficult to come to grips with what happened.”

Weeks after the first anniversary of his father’s suicide, Brandram announced his engagement to Sophie Ferguson, who was ten years his junior. The wedding took place shortly before Christmas in the Guards’ Chapel at the Wellington Barracks, close to Buckingham Palace.

This marriage was also short-lived. Ferguson moved out of the Chiswick home and the couple were embroiled in an acrimonious divorce.

Brandram was in a relationship with a new girlfriend when he was arrested three months later at his Chiswick home by police investigating the Putney Pusher incident.

During the search of Brandram’s home, police found Class A and Class B drugs — left over from a music festival — resulting in an informal police community resolution order. Brandram feared he would lose his job because of HSBC’s strict policies on drug use.

Although Brandram’s bail restrictions were lifted in August he formally remained under investigation while inquiries continued.

The former girlfriend said: “It got too much and ultimately he reached that point where he said the pressure was getting unbearable.”

Social media suffering Although the mainstream media did not name Brandram as the suspect until after his death, speculation about the identity of the arrested man circulated on social media sites.

“There were all kinds of links and comments,” the former girlfriend said. “I was shocked to the extent this was spiralling out of control. They were saying, ‘This billionaire banker deserves it’ … It was a witch-hunt.”

Brandram checked himself in to the Priory hospital. His solicitor wrote to senior Metropolitan Police officers to warn he was “experiencing suicidal thoughts and had been admitted to a psychiatric hospital”.

Brandram discharged himself on the Sunday before his death, a source said.

Putney Pusher suspect’s inquest will not look at criminal guilt He was found in an upstairs room at home by his brother-in-law after failing to attend a family dinner. He was 44. The cause of death was described at the opening of his inquest as caused by a ligature.

Scotland Yard said in a statement after his death: “Investigations of this nature, particularly those involving complex evidential and forensic work, can take a number of months to complete as officers gather and assess all available evidence.”

His former girlfriend said: “Nicholas’s name was important to him, he was such a proud man, he served his country. To be treated like this was terrible. He was army through and through, very well trained and could take pressure. But eventually you crack.”

My friend booked tickets to this concert that’s tomorrow night and asked if I wanted to come.

Surprise surprise tonight she texts me and is like ‘omg I’m so sorry I just realised the event is 18+’

She turned 18 back in September, but I’m not 18 until December

As far as I can tell, the only reason the event is 18+ is because of alcohol, but I’m not buying any. Also never got around to having a fake ID because I never saw the need for one.

Does anyone think QoH will let me in if I have a sticker or other <18 signifier? Do they definitely check ID at the door?

The band is super niche and this is their first tour so it seems ridiculous that I can’t go see them because I was born two months too late.

P.S. I’m not blaming my friend in this, she’s been SO stressed lately and these things slip through the cracks so easily. Especially since she bought two tickets not knowing I’d be the one to take the second.

Thank you for any help!!

So I commute to and from London and usually when leaving work and get on the thameslink going through the city, theres frequently a homeless person going from carriage to carriage asking for money. They all use the same kind of lines like “Sorry ladies and gentlemen for bothering you this evening, i’m homeless and trying to get off the street for a night, i need £10/£20 to pay for a place, if you have any spare change it would be appreciated”

Now i was on the train going home and there was this homeless man saying the same thing etc, then moved up to the next carriage. Then a SECOND man comes along to the carriage saying the same story, then the original man sees him and gets angry & ultimately gets off at the next stop. I found the whole ordeal slightly strange but wondering if this is actually a scam as these people smelt bad, had dirty clothes etc and seemed in need of help. Does anyone know if these are people who need real help and if thameslink/TFL does anything to help/stop them if they’re scamming?

EDIT: I should’ve clarified the term ‘scam’. I’ve heard rumours about them saying its for a shelter but actually is for other means/they work in gangs to get money and they aren’t actually ’homeless’. The scam part being the money is not actually going towards a genuine homeless person like they portray.

Believe in them!