Londoner's Diary:Grayling poised to green-light Garden Bridge

OLI SCARFF/AFP/Getty Images
AFP/Getty Images
25 August 2016

AS OUR new Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling’s job has been about building bridges, and what better way to kick off than with the Garden Bridge? The Londoner hears that he has his rubber stamp poised to grant a reprieve to the bucolic project. The concern was that the new Government would have no truck with romantic ambitions for London, so there have been sighs of relief from the Gardenistas.

The bridge will connect Temple to the South Bank but eyebrows have twitched over the price — £30 million from the Government and £30 million for Transport for London, of which £20 million is a long-term loan. Last Friday Mayor Sadiq Khan said more public money from TfL would be a bridge too far, but that he would like it to be built: “What I’m not going to do is pull the plug, what I’m also not going to do is spend more taxpayers’ money.”

New PM Theresa May had asked her Cabinet to re-examine infrastructure projects. Grayling, as Transport Secretary, has the bridge on his patch, with a particular mission to review its finances. After a month to consider, it now seems he is satisfied that everything is in order, which gives the project the green light to continue fundraising. The Garden Bridge Trust has to raise a £52 million shortfall from private donations to hit the £185 million total required for construction (delays so far have upped costs by £10 million).

The bridge’s acclaimed designer Thomas Heatherwick remains passionate about the project. He said last week: “How can it possibly be a bad thing to stitch the city together better, to create new views for all of us?”

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Unleashed from government and neutrality, Ed Vaizey has no doubt found time to watch his favourite shows on telly and pump out some controversial views. “I love Mrs Brown’s Boys — absolutely brilliant show,” the former culture minister tweeted in agreement with another suggestion on Twitter that “Mrs Brown’s razor-sharp thinking gave us the Brexit vote.” Hmmm, there are a lot of words to describe Brexit voters but razor sharp?

George shacks up with Mum and Dad

With great power comes the threat of great upheaval, or so George Osborne has found. For not only has the former Chancellor had to shuffle out of his office, he has also lost his two grace-and-favour homes at Downing Street and Dorneywood. But now he’s playing the prodigal son in Notting Hill. The Londoner learns that Theresa May’s night of long knives has not left the Osborne family without knives and forks. “George and his family moved in with his mum and dad,” we hear from a neighbour, “and very nice they are to have around.”The Holland Park house to which George has decamped was bought by his parents for £10 million in 2012, and places them squarely in the Notting Hill-set heartland. He’s also been seen looking casual in skinny jeans but it looks like it won’t be for ever. The Osbornes have a six-bedroom Westbourne Park home that has been rented out for the past six years — we now hear from a west London pal that the tenants are moving out. “The move happened over two weekends,” says the local. “It took ages for them to get out.” The rush is necessary: the Notting Hill Carnival route would make further relocations this weekend tricky. Or perhaps George wanted the house ready for a bank holiday welcome home party.

Quincy’s bone to pick with Picasso

CASH? Cheque? Or carcass? Last night music producer Quincy Jones was interviewed on Newsnight and shared his stories of a lifetime of friendships with stars such as David Bowie and Michael Jackson. But it was a lunch with Pablo Picasso, his neighbour when he lived in Cannes, that taught him the importance of knowing one’s own worth.“We had sole meunière,” he recalled. “After we’d finished he got the bones and pushed them into the light so that the sun could parch the bones. And then he took [paints] from his pocket and drew a design with them [the bones]. When the bill came out he just gave it to them. They were all along the walls. That’s how he paid for his dinner.”We’d hate to see how Tracey Emin pays her bill.

Scythes at the ready, Aidan...

“This is the BFI, ladies and gentleman,” a member of staff announced last night. “So keep it respectable.” Last night’s preview screening of the first episode of series two of Poldark came with topless mining and heaving bosoms aplenty.Afterwards, actors Eleanor Tomlinson and Aidan Turner, who play Ross Poldark and Demelza went on stage for a Q&A. Icelandic actress Heida Reed, right, who plays on-screen love rival Elizabeth, watched from the audience as one fan asked if the pair receive indecent fan mail. “Nothing too rude,” Turner blushed, “but people do send me their email address. And two phone numbers. And then add ‘but if I’m abroad it might be this number’.”Tomlinson receives flirtation by association. “I don’t get anything like that,” she said, mock-offended. “Maybe I should take my shirt off and get a scythe. I actually get a lot of letters for him, saying ‘Please, just get this to Aidan’.” How romantic.

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Former BBC political editor Nick Robinson was on top form on Radio 4’s Today programme this morning while speaking to Ukip leadership candidate Lisa Duffy. “You can’t agree on anything,” exclaimed Robinson, in reference to the battle over the party’s ill-defined factions, to which Duffy replied: “I disagree.” But the segment of the show that got The Londoner’s attention was how Robinson described “crates” of champagne, rather than the correct “cases”. An attempt to be seen as the man of the people? Someone get Nick a knighthood.

The curse of Gladstone

Is there room for only one Gladstone? The Treasury has named its black cat after the famous 19th-century PM, and it seems the feline has been an omen for his namesake: word reaches us that The Gladstone Arms may be set to close. The Borough pub, which has hosted gigs from artists such as Ellie Goulding and Noah and the Whale, had been saved from redevelopment but rent hikes mean its survival is in doubt. Could Ellie et al step in with a Band Aid-esque fundraiser?

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