The Londoner: Jason Atherton: I won’t cook at No 10 again any time soon...

Michelin-starred chef Jason Atherton, who cooked for Theresa May and David Cameron, has told The Londoner he won’t be cooking for Boris Johnson over his Government’s mishandling of the restaurant industry.

Calling the 10pm curfew “insane”, Atherton, who used to work for Gordon Ramsay before setting up a series of restaurants around the world, said: “I won’t be cooking at Number 10 again any time soon.

“I’m not impressed with how the Government is handling things. They’ve lost control of London.

“Central London is a ghost town. They have to take another look at everything they’re doing. Thousands of jobs will go and restaurants will not reopen. I normally stay out of political stuff but I am starting to lean towards [Labour leader Keir] Starmer more and more.”

Atherton cooked for Mrs May and Donald Trump at a Downing Street reception last summer and a number of times for Mr Cameron when he was PM.

Atherton invested £600,000 in making his premises Covid-safe but is struggling with the new rules. Other chefs have agreed with him.

Michel Roux Jr, chef patron of Le Gavroche, told The Londoner this week the curfew was “ill thought through” for an industry “already on its knees”.

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The row over J K Rowling’s views on trans issues grows. First, author Amanda Craig was dropped as a judge from the Mslexia prize for signing a letter defending the author (right) from “hate speech”. Now a second open letter, expressing “love and solidarity for the trans and non-binary community”, has been signed by 200 authors, including Malorie Blackman.

One that will rumble on.

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Tommy CORBYN says it’s “brilliant” that actor Brian Cox, above, spoke about his marijuana use. Earlier this week Cox, 74, revealed he has been smoking cannabis daily since he was 50. Corbyn, son of Jeremy, whose shop sells legal CBD products, told The Londoner: "The pandemic has made people more curious about the science of healthy living. With all the stress caused by such a massive disruption to our daily lives a lot of people are taking the initiative and trying it out now.

“I’ve consumed a huge amount of CBD (and vegetables) myself lately and I’m the healthiest I’ve been in years!”

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Model Jourdan Dunn has posed as part of a campaign for Black History Month to raise the profile of black Brits in online dating spaces. Dunn is working with the app Bumble, whose research found a majority of black people in this country find images and stories about dating unrelatable. Fighting the good fight.

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SW1A

THE Londoner was intrigued to find official rules don’t require face masks across most of Parliament, except for those in canteens and public areas. One MP explained to us: “They have employed an army of people across the estate who frequently stop us and tell us to remain two metres apart from people. We can’t congregate in communal areas and can’t even have a conversation with one other person.” It’s tough at the top.