From the BBC online

7 December 2010 Last updated at 17:40

Sir Paul McCartney comes to 100 Club's aid

By Kev Geoghegan
Entertainment reporter,
BBC News

Sir Paul McCartney on stage at the 100 Club

It is the first time Sir Paul has played the central London venue

Sir Paul McCartney has performed an intimate lunchtime gig at the 100 Club on London's Oxford Street, a historic music venue threatened with closure.

Around 300 fans were treated to a set lasting almost two hours, comprising songs by the Beatles, Wings and from Sir Paul's solo back catalogue.
It was the smallest gig the star has played in the UK for nearly 10 years.
He was met with cheers when he said: "Please Mr 100 Club, try and keep it open because it's a really cool place."
The club, which began life as a restaurant in the 1940s, has played host to the Sex Pistols, the Rolling Stones and Metallica down the years.
But rising rent in the centre of London has pushed the venue into the red. Unless a new buyer or sponsor is found, the club could close before the year is out.
A campaign to keep the 100 Club open has attracted support from Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie and Sir Mick Jagger.
Fellow Rolling Stones member Ronnie Wood played a benefit gig for the venue earlier this month.
Arriving on stage a few minutes later than expected, Sir Paul joked with fans that he had been stuck in traffic.
He then asked: "So, who wants to save the 100 Club?"

SET LIST

Matchbox
Magical Mystery Tour
Jet
Drive My Car
All My Loving
One After 909
Hi Ho Silver
Let Me Roll It
The Long and Winding Road
1985
Maybe I'm Amazed
Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying
Blackbird
Calico Skies
I'm Looking Through You
And I Love Her
Dance Tonight
Eleanor Rigby
Hitch Hike
Band on the Run
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Let It Be
Hey Jude
Yesterday
Get Back
Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

"He can't possibly be getting anything from this financially," said Myrelle Morris from east London.

"So he's obviously doing this just to help keep the club going and get people interested in its history and its future."
The £60 tickets had sold out in minutes and were rumoured to be changing hands online for thousands of pounds.
The lucky holders who had queued outside in snow showers were rewarded with some of the biggest hits in the Beatles' back catalogue
The gig kicked off with Magical Mystery Tour, Drive My Car and All My Loving.
Sir Paul continued with Wings hits Band on the Run and Jet, as well as such solo tracks as 2007's Dance Tonight.
"It was amazing, it felt like a dream seriously," fan Rafik Mediene told the BBC News website after the event.
"Never in my life did I think that I would see Paul McCartney like this. It's going to take me a few years to get over it."
Songs like Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da and Hey Jude inevitably had the crowd singing along.
And Sir Paul's solo acoustic versions of Blackbird and Yesterday were almost hidden from view due to phones and cameras being held aloft.
Between songs Sir Paul joked that "it was like being in an end-of-term school play".
The gig was something of a warm-up for the 68-year-old, due to play two Christmas gigs in Liverpool and Newcastle later this month.
Yet if he was nervous playing one of his most intimate gigs for more than a decade he did not let it show.

The small venue holds just 350 people

"People used to give us fag packets to sign back in the old days," Sir Paul told the audience. "This bloke's just said, 'Can you sign my iPad?'"
The gig was rounded off by a rendition of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band before Sir Paul's plea to save the 100 Club.
Matthew Willgress from north London said: "It's a great place, I didn't know it was here.
"Some other pubs and clubs round here have shut because of the new Crossrail station - it would be shame to lose another one."

Numbers claiming jobseekers allowance fall in Tower Hamlets

Thursday, 16 December, 2010
12:45 PM

Tower Hamlets has bucked the trend for rising numbers of jobseekers allowance (JSA) claimants in London according to the latest employment research.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that the borough’s total number of JSA claimants aged 16-64 fell by 0.1 per cent to 9,995 in November 2010 from 10,147 in the previous month.

That marks the first time the figures have dropped below 10,000 since April 2009.

Across London though, claimant numbers went up to 216,300 in November, a rise of 900 from October but down 11,600 on a year ago.

The number of unemployed people in the borough also dropped up to June according to ONS figures.

From 16,800 unemployed people in March, there was a fall to 14,500, equal to 2.1 per cent.

The unemployment rate of 12.4 per cent up to June remained above the London average though which was 8.9 per cent.

And unemployment has risen nationally in the last quarter, with 2.5 million people unemployed from August to October, up by 35,000 on the May to July period.

In Tower Hamlets, the amount of people in employment at both ends of the jobs spectrum saw slight dips, while numbers in administrative and secretarial positions increased.

Employees in managerial, senior official and professional roles dropped by 0.3 per cent between the March 2010 and June 2010 reporting periods.

A 1.0 per cent fall was also witnessed for workers in machine operative or process plant roles.

But numbers working in administration and skilled trades grew by 0.3 per cent, from 14,500 to 15,400.

The number of unfilled Jobcentre Plus vacancies also went up from 808 in October 2010 to 1,114 in November 2010.

Reacting to the latest jobs figures yesterday, employment minister Chris Grayling said: “It’s essential to create a stable environment where businesses can flourish and create jobs – with those on benefits at the front of the queue to take them up.

“That’s why we are increasing the support available to people through both Jobcentre Plus and our new Work Programme which will revolutionise the way in which we help the long term unemployed into sustained employment.”

1 comments

You need to be careful about your headlines. A claimed fall of 5 under 10000 to 9995 is ridiculous! Or have the CONDEM pluggers told you that it is an achievement to let 9995 people be jobless while going over the top with the reduction of 147 in the total jobseekers numbers? This sort of propaganda does the ‘statistical service’ no credit at all. It does the CLEGGED and CABLED CONDEM Collusion even more discreditable in the context of all that is going down in inner city boroughs typified by Tower Hamlets right now! 1420 Hrs Thursday 16 December 2010 KHOODEELAAR! the ECONOMIC Campaign against Big Biz agenda of carving up the East en d of London
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Thursday, December 16, 2010