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LONDON (AP) — London finally honored the late Princess Diana Wednesday with a blue plaque at the place she called home in the two years before she married Prince Charles and her life in the goldfish bowl began.

For Diana, 60 Coleherne Court, an apartment near London’s fashionable King’s Road, was the start of a new adventure. Settling in the capital on reaching her 18th birthday, Diana shared the apartment with a number of friends from 1979 to 1981. It was there that she first started to court Charles.

One of her roommates then, Virginia Clarke, helped unveil the English Heritage plaque during Wednesday’s ceremony.

“Those were happy days for all of us and the flat was always full of laughter,” she said. “Diana went off to become so much to so many. It’s wonderful that her legacy will be remembered in this way.”

According to Andrew Morton’s 1992 best-selling book “Diana, In Her Own Words,” Diana described her years at the property as “the happiest time” of her life.

Diana, who died in a car crash in Paris in 1997, is the highest profile former member of the monarchy to be bestowed the honor. She was nominated by the London Assembly in 2019 after the body ran a campaign asking Londoners to suggest women worthy of a blue plaque.

“Diana had, and still has, a very special place in the hearts of Londoners and we are thrilled to see her blue plaque formally placed as a monument to her work for others,” said Andrew Boff, chairman of the London Assembly.

The honor comes in the year when she would have celebrated her 60th birthday.

“Diana was one of the world’s most famous women and she used her fame and influence to raise awareness of issues such as homelessness and landmines,” said Anna Eavis, the curatorial director at English Heritage.

“It is fitting that our blue plaque remembers her at this place where her life in the public eye first began,” she added.

The renowned London blue plaque program began more than 150 years ago. The plaques commemorate people who achieved something worthwhile in their lives and who made London their home at some point. There are more than 900 official plaques in the capital.

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BRIGHTON, England (AP) — The leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party took aim Wednesday at a Conservative government that has presided over empty gas pumps and one of Europe’s worst coronavirus death tolls — but still holds a lead over Labour in most opinion polls.

That sums up the dilemma for Labour leader Keir Starmer, who has struggled to break through to a largely indifferent public despite the many problems besetting Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s administration.

Starmer sought to change that with a speech Wednesday at the party’s annual conference, arguing that Labour is “back in business” after a decade of election disappointments. He argued that his personal story — a working-class lad who went to law school and became a public prosecutor — made him a better leader than posh, blustering Johnson, whom he dismissed as “a trickster who has performed his one trick.”

“I don’t think Boris Johnson is a bad man,” Starmer said. “I think he is a trivial man. I think he’s a showman with nothing left to show.”

Labour has been out of office since 2010, a decade that has brought the country three Conservative prime ministers — David Cameron, Theresa May and Johnson.

Johnson’s Conservatives won a thumping 80-seat majority in Parliament in December 2019 by winning over voters in post-industrial northern England towns that had voted Labour for decades but feel neglected by successive governments.

Starmer wants to win them back. In his speech, he tackled many voters’ biggest concern about Labour — that the social democratic party will hike taxes and hobble the economy.

“Too often in the history of this party, our dream of the good society falls foul of the belief that we will not run a strong economy,” he said. “But you don’t get one without the other.”

He promised to improve workers’ conditions and the economy with “the blessing of British business,” in a step back from the class-conflict rhetoric of the party’s left wing.

A former national chief prosecutor, Starmer was elected Labour leader in April 2020 to replace hard-left leader Jeremy Corbyn, who had led the party to two heavy election defeats in 2017 and 2019 — the latter its worst result since 1935.

Yet Starmer has struggled to make an impact while the country’s attention was consumed by the coronavirus pandemic, which has left at least 135,000 people in Britain dead — the highest death toll in Europe after Russia. In recent days a fuel-supply crisis triggered by a truck-driver shortage has shut down thousands of gas stations and led to long lines of frustrated motorists around the country.

He also leads a party that is deeply divided after a decade out of power and was tarred by allegations of anti-Semitism under Corbyn.

Starmer is caught between two wings of the fractious party. Many Labour members think the party must veer to the center to win, as it did under former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who won three successive election victories. Yet Corbyn’s still-numerous supporters loathe Blair and want Starmer to stick to his predecessor’s socialist policies of nationalization and spending hikes.

The splits were clear as Starmer was sporadically heckled during a speech that lasted well over an hour. Starmer spoke beyond the room to the wider British public, taking aim at both the Conservative government and his own party.

He depicted Johnson’s administration as a chumocracy that awarded its friends with contracts while inequality in British society grew — something he linked to the country’s high coronavirus toll.

“There were cracks in British society and COVID seeped into them,” Starmer said.

He took on his hecklers by asking delegates whether they preferred “shouting slogans or changing lives.” Starmer set out a series of election-style promises to improve social care, education, working conditions and innovation.

Conference leaders’ televised speeches are one of the few chances politicians other than the prime minister have to address the public directly outside of election campaigns. Britain is not scheduled to hold a national election until 2024, though many expect Johnson to call one at least a year earlier than that.

Party conferences are an annual fixture of British politics, though they were curtailed in 2020 by the pandemic. This year, it’s back to business.

Labour’s conference ends Wednesday in the English southern seaside city of Brighton. The governing Tories hold their own four-day shindig in Manchester starting Sunday.

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Drivers beware: Part of 17th Street between Northwest and Southwest D.C. is closed Wednesday to test the installation of a levee there.

Smack down the National Mall, 17th Street is closed between Constitution Avenue NW and Independence Avenue SW until 4 p.m. Wednesday.

The National Park Service said drivers, pedestrians and cyclists should plan alternative routes.

Below is the impacted area:

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Colorado’s newest congressional district, covering the north Denver suburbs, would be its most competitive under a map approved by the state’s independent redistricting commission late Tuesday.

Commissioners came to an agreement just before midnight after seven rounds of voting and six hours of debate during which commissioners argued over splitting up certain communities and about how competitive the map should be.

All that’s needed to make the eight districts official is the approval of the Colorado Supreme Court, expected in November. (The court can also send input, and possible changes, back to the commission.)

As it stands, the map gives comfortable advantages to each of Colorado’s seven incumbent members of Congress — Democrats Joe Neguse, Jason Crow, Diana DeGette and Ed Perlmutter and Republicans Ken Buck, Lauren Boebert and Doug Lamborn.

But recent election results suggest the new 8th Congressional District will be a close race in 2022 — Democrats may have a slight advantage. Colorado was awarded the new district due to its population growth since 2010. It’s projected to have the highest concentration of Latino voters of any U.S. House district in the state, with its boundaries set south of Greeley and north of Denver, encompassing Thornton, Brighton, the Adams County portion of Westminster, Commerce City, Longmont and Mead.

The map was drawn using Census data that shows Colorado is growing, increasingly urban and diversifying. That data arrived months later than originally expected, forcing a rushed mapmaking process that commission staff director Jessika Shipley said “made us all a little anxious.”

The commission planned for about five months of deliberation and completed the work in closer to two months.

“We’ve been building a bicycle while riding it,” said Commissioner Paula Espinoza, a Democrat.

The commission is made up of four Democrats, four Republicans and four unaffiliated voters — a setup that Colorado voters asked for when they approved a pair of 2018 ballot measures meant to remove partisan advantage in redistricting. In order to adopt a map, state law required votes from at least eight of the 12 commission’s members, with at least two from the unaffiliated members.

The group finally reached that threshold in the seventh round of voting Tuesday. Two other maps — including one that would have split the Western Slope, created a huge district across southern Colorado and left the state with three competitive districts — also received strong consideration.

Commissioner Bill Leone, a Republican, said of the approved map: “I think this is a better map than would have been drawn by a partisan legislature, by far … I do think it was a productive debate that resulted in balance.”

Unaffilated Commissioner Moussa Diawara said the commission was careful not to “protect any incumbent candidate or parties and it was not drawn to dilute the electoral influence or voting rights” of any groups.”

The new lines for state House and Senate districts will come from a different independent commission, which is expected to approve its maps by Oct. 11.

Class 5A

No. 2 Cherry Creek (4-1) vs. No. 8 Cherokee Trail (4-1)

When/where: 7 p.m. Friday at Legacy Stadium

Last meeting: Cherry Creek 49, at Cherokee Trail 7, Oct. 16, 2020

The two-time defending 5A champion Bruins open league play against a Cougars team riding a three-game win streak. The Bruins have won 26 straight against Colorado teams and five in a row vs. CT. Creek’s stout defense will be challenged by a Cougars attack anchored by CU-bound tackle Travis Gray and an array of weapons that include QB Logan Brooke (1,242 passing yards, 16 TDs), WR Jack Pierce (31 receptions, 506 yards) and RB Ciaran Hyslop (97 carries, 639 yards).

No. 3 Columbine (4-1) vs. Arvada West (4-1)

When/where: 7 p.m. Friday at NAAC Stadium

Last meeting: Columbine 34, vs. A-West 10, Oct. 16, 2020

A resurgent Wildcats program gets another crack at one of the top 5A teams in the state two weeks after hanging with No. 2 Cherry Creek for a half. A-West’s 21 points in that 53-21 loss were the most scored against the Bruins in 14 games. While Columbine’s defense isn’t quite as dominant, the Rebels appear to once again be among the 5A elite. Their lone loss of the season came at top-ranked Valor Christian (35-21) last week, and that was a one-score affair entering the fourth quarter.

No. 4 Ralston Valley (5-0) vs. Mullen (2-3)

When/where: 7 p.m. Friday at de La Salle Stadium

Last meeting: Ralston Valley 21, vs. Mullen 3, Oct. 15, 2020

Don’t let Mullen’s record fool you. No team in the state has played a more difficult schedule. The private school Mustangs have faced four of the top eight teams in the current CHSAANow.com 5A poll, beating one (No. 7 Legend). Things don’t get any easier with Ralston Valley up next. The public school Mustangs have allowed only 9.2 points per game through five weeks — an effort they will need to replicate as they begin the 5A Jeffco League gauntlet.

4A No. 2 Pine Creek (5-0) vs. No. 7 Legend (4-1)

When/where: 7 p.m. Friday at EchoPark Stadium

Last meeting: Legend 21, vs. Pine Creek 20, Nov. 7, 2020

The Eagles began playing up a classification in league play last fall, and paid the price with a heartbreaking loss to Legend that began a string of three straight defeats to end last season. They now return to the scene with a red-hot QB (Josiah Roy, 1,177 total yards) and defense that has more tackles for loss (57) than points allowed (49). Legend running back Bryce Vaz (101 carries, 700 yards, nine TDs) should expect plenty of resistance.

Class 4A

No. 4 Montrose (5-0) vs. No. 1 Palmer Ridge (5-0)

When/where: 6 p.m. Friday at Don Breese Stadium

Last meeting: Palmer Ridge 42, vs. Montrose 20, Oct. 30, 2020

The top-ranked Bears face their stiffest test yet with the Indians set to visit Monument. Montrose has held all but one of its five opponents to a touchdown or less, which should make for an intriguing matchup against a Bears offense that averages 40.8 points and 446 yards per game with three pass catchers with more than 200 yards receiving in Anthony Costanzo (15-246), Ayden Snow (6-258) and KC Fackerell (20-269).

Bear Creek (4-1) vs. No. 3 Dakota Ridge (5-0)

When/where: 7 p.m. Friday at Jeffco Stadium

Last meeting: Dakota Ridge 48, at Bear Creek 14, Oct. 15, 2020

Since surviving a slugfest in Jacksonville, Fla. (23-20 over First Coast), the Eagles have been a force of nature, outscoring teams 187-36 over four games. Junior RB Noah Triplett has 740 total yards and 15 TDs, while senior QB Adam Graves has 817 yards and 10 TDs on 48-of-75 passing. The Bears, who possess an explosive offensive of their own led by QB Jaedon Minter (1197 passing yards), will likely have to match Dakota Ridge’s fireworks to have a chance.

Class 3A

No. 8 Eagle Valley (3-0) vs. No. 5 Frederick (3-0)

When/where: 7 p.m. Friday at Frederick High

Last meeting: Eagle Valley 14, vs. Frederick 8, Nov. 7, 2020

Eagle Valley has come a long way from a winless 2017, with first-year coach John Davis guiding the Devils to a pair of overtime victories and their best three-game start in seven years. Now comes a date with the fifth-ranked Warriors, who have been impressive in outscoring opponents 152-41 so far this season, but have only played once in the past three weeks (53-12 over Palmer).

George Washington (3-1) vs. No. 7 Evergreen (4-0)

When/where: 7 p.m. Friday at Evergreen High

Last meeting: Evergreen 59, at George Washington 36, Oct. 12, 2019

The Patriots carry the DPS banner into their final non-conference game of the season, fresh off a dramatic 41-34 win at Monarch. Junior RB Cellus Honeycutt is a big play waiting to happen with a touchdown run of 91 yards and an average of 11.1 yards per carry (47-522). Running room will likely be harder to come by against an Evergreen defense that has allowed just 22 points through four games and dropped ball carriers for a loss 29 times this season.