London 2023 in 10 photos - tragedy, strikes, protests, AI and Stormzy

There's no such thing as a quiet year but it's fair to say that 2023 had its big moments.

War continued in Ukraine and broke out in the Middle East, leading to tension and division among Londoners. Let us hope for better from 2024.

In the capital, which also had its own tragedies, the expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone beyond the North and South Circulars dominated the headlines. While Labour celebrated gains in the polls and in by-elections around the country, a loss to the Tories in Uxbridge, in west London, was put down to anti-ULEZ anger.

This prime minister Rishi Sunak took as a sign that the environment wouldn't win any votes, while being 'well into cars' might. We'll see.

Sunak also decided to unleash his inner 'tech bro', gathering media from around the world to Bletchley Park ("we invented it") to talk about what he'd read about artificial intelligence, getting to meet X-man Elon Musk in the process.

Sunak also made an appearance at the Covid Inquiry, where he was predictably upstaged by former London mayor Boris Johnson, who definitely understands numbers.

For normal folk, the numbers on their payslips feature somewhat fewer zeros than those of prime ministers. With the cost-of-living crisis continuing, strikes were a regular feature as workers called for wages to catch up with prices.

And if it wasn't strikers on the streets, it was environmental protesters begging the country's leaders, present and future, to make responsible decisions for the long term, not just the election cycle. And, to coin a phrase, to follow the science.