Tim Donovan
BBC London, Political Editor

Image source, Getty Images

In London, Covid-19 hasn’t just disrupted the practicalities of campaigning in the mayoral race.

Virtual hustings, crowdless rallies and weedy stunts.

It has also affected the substance by distorting key campaign issues.

The main responsibilities of the mayor have all been touched by the pandemic.

Transport is hobbling on with the help of short-term government bail-outs to compensate for lost fares.

A key mayoral lever rusted.

And the sting has been taken out of the candidates’ debate on what’s best for the capital’s usually over-burdened network.

Nearly every kind of crime has fallen - blurring the arguments on policing.

And remedies for the acute shortage of affordable housing in the capital may have seemed less pressing when people have been doing less moving (of all kinds) - and rents in the private sector have fallen.

It has though, been an opportunity for a big over-arching theme to emerge: how to get London back on its feet.

Candidates have vied to be seen as most able to build back dynamically and best able to capture the spirit of the time.

But with resources controlled so tightly by government, it’s difficult to know how much difference voters will believe a mayor can make.

And if - as seems likely - many Londoners are currently preoccupied with resuming their lives during this slow release from lockdown, it feels like there is a distinct lack of enthusiasm all around.

Shaun Bailey says having grown up poor and been homeless in London, politics does not phase him.

The Metropolitan Police Federation warns a group of pranksters they risk being shot by armed police if they persist with controversial stunts.

BBC London’s Marc Ashdown looks at the issues the next mayor of London will face when it comes to housing.

Luisa Porritt, the Lib Dem candidate for mayor of London, on how she would channel Beyoncé in office.

As well as social distancing, the PM also suggested there could be some relaxation of foreign travel rules on 17 May.

Joaquin Garcia jumped into the water with Folajimi Olubunmi-Adewole who died trying to rescue the woman.

Folajimi Olubunmi-Adewole, who died trying to save a woman, deserves recognition, his fellow rescuer says.

Residents in an area of Hounslow are being urged to take a Covid-19 test.

But Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross says he will wait for answers from the three investigations taking place.

Boris Johnson says the UK will "be there for India in its time of need" as he pledges extra support.

Prosecutors should reassess their decision not to charge the ex-officer, the girl's solicitor says.

The foreign secretary refuses to speculate on the reviews being carried out into the refurbishing of Boris Johnson's flat.

Police are searching for the newborn after her parents did not take her to A&E for assessment.

BBC London’s Katharine Carpenter looks at the mayor of London’s role when it comes to policing the capital.

Sadiq Khan on the pandemic, recession and his spat with former US President Donald Trump.

The PM's attitude to facts is based not on what's real, but what he wants there and then, say sources.

Tomasz Waga was found with fatal injuries in Cardiff on the day he travelled from London in January.

The son of a former attorney general was among those who shouted at staff on the plane, a court hears.

When it opened, the museum on Cable Street was criticised for glamorising violence against women.