A squatted courthouse, a group calling itself ‘Occupy Justice’ - all of this sounds eerily familiar to old time SchNEWS hacks. But enough dwelling in the past – Occupy London have branched out again and taken over Old Street magistrates at 335-337 Old Street.

The building itself feels as if it’s just been abandoned and squatters have the run of the place – most of us have probably seen the cells once or twice but if you ever wondered what the view from the bench was like then now’s yer chance.

New Year’s Eve was apparently a blast - according to one happy party goer still in residence ‘the place was full of rappers, musicians, girls on stilts ...everything really’.

Despite the fact that taking the building actually involved the use of a tank, Occupy have now reached a gentleman’s agreement with developers Mastcraft Limited to stay until 23rd January. Given that breathing space Occupy Justice are now going to put on trials of the 1%. One Occupier told SchNEWS “Given the failure of the CPS to bring war criminals and bankers to trial we’re going to do it ourselves”

Meanwhile the Bank of Ideas closed a few days to ‘re-focus’ after a Christmas and New Year that was perhaps a wee bit too hedonistic. However the doors will be opened to the public again this Saturday: Following a convoluted legal battle (UBS employed a top level legal firm to get a back-door eviction via injunction rather than use the conventional eviction procedure) Occupy look to be in possession of the building ‘til the beginning of February.

Saturday sees the launch of Occupy’s own Criminal Investigations Unit a crime fighting unit dedicated to the pursuit of the 1% (and of course those pen-pushers up at City Hall will just have to lump it).

And of course there’s still the abiding presence outside St Pauls – slightly tattered round the edges thanks to the recent storms but busy and welcoming. See http://occupylsx.org