The Latest Breaking News from Londoner

BRITISH theatre companies have been warned that collaborating with Russian state-backed partners is not “appropriate” for at least a year following the invasion of Ukraine.

LONDON’S top Russian restaurants have hit out at the war in Ukraine and promised to donate takings to appeals.

NOVELIST Ben Okri tells us he is “really furious” about a false claim from a ghostwriting agency that they had written parts of his Booker prize-winning novel The Famished Road.

LORD Ashcroft is “a bit baffled” by criticism of his forthcoming biography of Carrie Johnson, The Londoner understands.

DESIGNER and artist Osman Yousefzada says despite the progress the fashion industry has made on diversity, “I still code-switch” — a term for using a different way of speaking in different places.

THE FIGHT to save poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Highgate grave from “benign neglect” has entered a new phase, The Londoner has learnt, following a £20,000 donation to the trust concerned.

THE TATE has defended itself after it was accused of “relying on unpaid labour to deliver its queer history programme”.

LONDON’s smaller presses are struggling to get books into Europe due to rule changes in the wake of Brexit.

POLITICAL programme wars are back. Sophy Ridge has added a Wednesday evening show to her repertoire — the same day Robert Peston broadcasts his show on ITV. “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” a source at the Peston show told The Londoner.