The Londoner: Ronnie Scott’s banks on help to beat Covid blues

In today's Diary: Ronnie Scott's and the 100 Club fear for future | How Sporty Spice impresses her daughter | Writer Bolu Babalola on love after lockdown | Football managers "more experienced" than cabinet ministers | PMs put through their paces | Amber Heard potters about in Turkey
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27 August 2020

West End music venues Ronnie Scott’s and the 100 Club have warned their future hangs in the balance of the Government’s Cultural Recovery Fund.

Ronnie Scott’s MD Simon Cooke told The Londoner: “We could very much do with financial help. We hope they smile on us.” He added: “We’re more than just a jazz club. It’s part of the cultural fabric of the country.”

The venue in Frith Street is set to open for concerts from September 19, but for only five days a week, at half capacity. Tables have been fitted with discreet perspex barriers. It had been set to reopen at the start of the month until rule changes the day before meant they had to cancel a show.

Jeff Horton, who has run gig venue the 100 Club in Oxford Street for over 35 years, told us: “The future of the club will depend on our application being successful. We are located on some of the most expensive real estate in the world and pay a rent accordingly.”

The Government announced a £1.57 billion package to help the arts last month. Around a third of that is the CRF for arts organisations. One application deadline was last week, while the final deadline is in early September. Who gets help will be decided in October.

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Spice Girl Mel C has an unusual way of impressing her daughter. Having a famous mum “got on her nerves”, the former Sporty Spice told the Table Manners podcast — until she watched the girl group perform at Wembley Stadium last year.

Mel C
AFP via Getty Images

“But that’s kind of subsided, so the Spice Girls need to go back on tour for my daughter to remember that I’m cool.”

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What can we expect from love after lockdown? Bolu Babalola, whose book Love In Colour is out this week, tells us we will need to be conscious of “the commitment and trust that comes with even holding hands with someone” post-Covid.

“Kissing a stranger at parties? I’m gonna need a proposal first buddy, and a certificate saying that you’re healthy.”

SW1A

Despite recent outrage at Cabinet ministers who won’t resign, analysis by the New Statesman magazine finds the trend is in the opposite direction, with heads of government departments changing more regularly than in decades past.

Data shows that in the 2010s, ministers changed every two years, meaning Premier League football managers now “have more experience” than those around the Cabinet table. The trend has not shifted much under Boris Johnson, with six ministers swapped in his first year. How reassuring.

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Boris Johnson was spotted jogging with coach Harry Jameson yesterday.

Boris Johnson and his personal trainer, hired to help him lose weight
Evening Standard / eyevine

He’s not the first: Tony Blair’s gym guru once told of his “press-ups, chin-ups and dips” to rock music, and Theresa May’s trainer was said to run sessions until she felt sick. It’s not easy being PM.

Amber potters about in Turkey

Amber Heard
Instagram

Amber Heard had fun trying out pottery in Turkey — a perfect stress reliever as she’s waiting for the result of her libel battle against ex-husband Johnny Depp, expected next month.

Musicians Nitin Sawhney, Anna Phoebe and Jools Holland were back in the studio.

David Beckham snuggled with a dog, and Maya Jama did likewise with a glass of wine. We know which we prefer.

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