The energy of London is nowhere more reflected than in the shifting balance of power among its thoughtmakers, trendsetters and leaders. Every week, Gideon Spanier looks at who's in and who's out.

NEW ON THE LIST

RUNNING LONDON
Tim Parker, 52
FIRST DEPUTY MAYOR
The private-equity millionaire has a powerful role as Boris Johnson's chief of staff. A former Trotskyite, Parker will be responsible for the day-to-day running of City Hall on a nominal salary of £1. He has turned round a host of struggling companies, winning the moniker "the Prince of Darkness" from unions because he slashed staff. He is expected to use his business acumen to cut waste at the Greater London Authority.

David Ross, 42
MAYORAL OLYMPIC ADVISER
The multi-millionaire co-founder of Carphone Warehouse has been named as the Mayor's representative on the board of the London Organising Committee for the 2012 Olympics. The businessman, worth £873 million, will scrutinise the £9.2 billion budget for the Games on behalf of the Mayor to ensure it does not soar any higher.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

SPORT
PAUL DEIGHTON, 51
CHIEF EXECUTIVE, LONDON ORGANISING COMMITTEE FOR 2012 OLYMPICS
Plans for 2012 have got the approval of the International Olympic Committee, which gave London a glowing report after an inspection last week. Former Goldman Sachs banker Deighton's main priority has been to raise cash through sponsorship, tickets, licensing and broadcasting.

MAKING MOVES

LITERARY LIFE
Jason Cowley, 42
EDITOR, NEW STATESMAN
Cowley has quit as editor of literary magazine Granta, owned by heiress Sigrid Rausing, after less than a year to join the Left-wing magazine where he used to be books editor. Expect him to continue to have more influence in the literary world than politics.

OFF THE LIST

TV & RADIO
Fru Hazlitt, 45
GCap CHIEF EXECUTIVE
The savvy boss of Capital Radio owner GCap is stepping down after just six months following the £375 million takeover by Global Radio. Hazlitt, a former British businesswoman of the year, got a good price for shareholders and is walking away with an estimated £1 million pay-off. The former Yahoo executive, who recently got married, is unlikely to be short of job offers.

FINANCE
Rachel Lomax, 62
BANK OF ENGLAND DEPUTY GOVERNOR
Lomax surprised the City by quitting Threadneedle Street, deciding not to seek a second term. A Cambridge economics graduate and former civil servant, she was a moderate on the monetary policy committee, which sets the interest rate. She wants to try her hand at other projects in the private sector.

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  Sex, lies and the Stasi

  On this day in 1989 the Berlin Wall was finally breached, ending the reign of East Germany’s feared security service. Here Anne McElvoy, who spent much of the Eighties in the city, recalls her encounters with the spooks

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  The geeky-girl solo artists descending on the music scene

  Kookiness is what sells music these days and these opinionated artists have it in spades, says Jasmine Gardner

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Top Gun Val Kilmer's arty mission to save the world

The Iceman cometh to the arts. Val Kilmer has been in London this week on what he terms "an art safari"

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