Tom WATSON has become the latest figure to back a growing campaign to save independent music venues, including a significant number in London, battling for survival in the pandemic. “There has never been a more important time to support the capital’s venues that have launched the careers of global stars ranging from Ed Sheeran to Stormzy,” Watson, the chairman of UK Music, told the Londoner.
The campaign, launched this week, is being run by the Music Venue Trust and hopes to save more than 550 venues across the country through artists performing “at-home gigs”. Singer Frank Turner is leading the charge and says he’s happy to have already helped Nambucca in north London raise funds. “It is my hallowed ground. I started my solo career there, even lived in a hallway for a while,” he told us.
He added that though lots of musicians were doing their bit, some weren’t pulling their weight. “I’d like to see some more big names step forward for this. It makes such a big impact.” Some of the other London venues under threat include MOTH club in Hackney, the Lexington inIslington, and the Windmill in Brixton. The race is on for another part of London’s history.
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David Hare no longer laughs at those who suffer delusions during Covid-19 fever after his own experience. When the playwright was ill, he writes in the New Statesman, and his wife asked how he was, he replied: “One of my bodies is fine, but the others aren’t great… Rightly, Nicole suggested that at that moment I forfeited the right to mock others.”
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A SQUASH club near Croydon has emailed members apparently saying they have resumed play, but with a strict set of rules. “Each player shall use their own ball,” the code says, adding: “All balls will be sanitised between games.” Another regulation reads: “Heavy breathing is not allowed under any circumstance.” We foresee some slow motion squash games.
SW1A
IF RISHI SUNAK’S swift rise needed a cherry on top, it’s arrived. He is to be the subject of a biography written by Lord Ashcroft, working title Going For Broke, due in late autumn. But won’t Sunak still be dealing with the defining crisis of his career?
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TORY MPs are trying new hobbies in lockdown. Tom Tugendhat posted a photo of his child’s liberally painted toes, while Johnny Mercer showed off his own sparkly set: “I’m not gonna lie. Had these since Saturday. Quite like them.”
It’s been a long day, pet… time to relax
It was relaxation stations yesterday as famous types came up with creative uses for their pets. Model Kaia Gerber employed her pooch as a pillow, while reality TV star Georgia Toffolo cradled her dog like a baby, claiming it had been “a long day”. Meanwhile singer Nicole Scherzinger cut a seductive pose as she tended to a laden casserole dish. Grub’s up.
