Londoner’s Diary: Broadcasters ‘need to tune in to racism battle,’ says Marcus Ryder

ZARAH SULTANA is unashamed to share her slightly uncool most-played Spotify list, topped by BTS, One Direction and Taylor Swift. “I think that is a radical act,” the MP tells Huck magazine. “Capitalism profits on our insecurities. It’s really radical embracing … my music taste”. The Londoner is grateful for this new excuse.

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TRISTRAM HUNT has some advice for Keir Starmer: leave the “truly terrible” offices given to the Leader of the Opposition. The V&A boss tells The Spectator: “For more than a decade, these rooms have reeked of defeat, futility…  lethargy and unhappiness. Keir should demand a power-hungry suite in Portcullis House.” That’ll fix it.

Cat Deeley is doing lockdown-lifting the right way. “Yesterday I had oysters for the first time in however long,” she told the Londoner last night. That was over champagne at the AllBright club in Mayfair — not bad going for three days in. And Amber Le Bon, who DJed at the event on Perrier-Jouët’s Wild Jardin terrace, was equally excited to be out, though lockdown had its silver linings: she relearnt to play the ukulele.

Graham Coxon knows success comes at a cost. “I was really into indie stuff in the late Eighties … and then Britpop just bulldozed through it. I thought I had almost helped kill one of my favourite [genres of] music,” the Blur guitarist tells Blank podcast. Embracing a life of hedonism didn’t help much either: “You get to know your limit on partying. You’ve got a tour manager but you’re ignoring him. You’re in a room with free booze, free everything, every night of the week.” He added, sighing: “Then you wonder why you can’t stop crying after three weeks… It’s really weird.”

Classical music must strike a new chord on diversity, says pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason, left. “You can’t be what you can’t see,” she tells us, adding that a broadcasting change could help: “It would be really good to occasionally have it on Radio 1.” The musician, who is releasing her album Summertime in July, concludes: “People think classical music stuffy, which can be true but that’s the environment it’s in rather than the music itself.” Encore to that.

Russell TOVEY and his mum know all about strong bonds. The actor, who has curated an exhibition called Breakfast Under the Tree, is looking forward to her visiting — though it may seem tame given he once took her to a BDSM and leather subculture fair. “She went up to everyone, no matter what they were wearing, no matter how many whip marks they had. She was having a chit-chat as if it was one of her neighbours having a cup of tea.” Fifty Shades of Earl Grey?

AUTHOR Marcus Ryder says broadcasters need to follow in the steps of the Film + TV Charity, which has announced an anti-racism funding strategy in response to the Black Lives Matter movement. As well as introducing a £1 million programme to support groups tackling discrimination, the charity, which supports behind-the-scenes workers in the industry, is ring-fencing 30 per cent of its future grants budget for black, Asian and minority ethnic people.

Ryder, who wrote Access All Areas with Lenny Henry, says: “Ring-fencing funds to ensure resources go to under-represented groups is essential.” He says since writing an open letter in 2014 “Lenny and I… have been making this argument. We now need broadcasters and other media organisations to follow the Film + TV Charity’s example”. A spokesman for the charity said the BLM movement had made them acknowledge they “had not done enough”.

“By announcing permanent changes we hope it helps to ensure words are matched by meaningful action.” Ryder adds: “I have not seen too many other media organisations respond in the same way.” Will this be the push needed?