Poetic licence is being overused about the next Laureate, given that Andrew Motion has one more year in the job. The women’s lobby is almost demanding that the next holder be one of the sisterhood, even though several poets, including Wendy Cope, Fleur Adcock and Ruth Padel, have ruled themselves out, leaving Carol Ann Duffy as the female frontrunner. A fine poet, she was “runner-up” in 1999, but lost out - some say because she is a lesbian. But one reason Motion got the job was that the government wanted to boost interest in poetry, which he has done.

Early next year, the culture secretary, Andy Burnham, a sensible north country chap who specialised in 20th-century poetry at Cambridge, will give his nomination to the Queen. No disrespect to Duffy, but Burnham should put forward the versatile, media-savvy Simon Armitage.

Burnham has just borrowed for his office a north country scene by LS Lowry called Lancashire Fair: Good Friday, Daisy Nook, set in his own Leigh constituency. Meanwhile, the dear old Coop, another northern institution, is next month selling at Bonhams two it bought in the 1960s. Shame, as Lowry and the Coop seem like soul mates.

I bumped into our Tracey at the new Tate Modern exhibition of works by the American artist Cy Twombly, who has the tag of being the least well known of the greatest living artists. Emin revealed herself as a footie fan, supporting Turkey in Euro 2008. After all, her dad is a Turkish Cypriot. She rejoiced in Turkey’s amazing 3-2 win over the Czech Republic, after being 2-0 down. The only drawback was that she missed the match on telly as she had a dinner date with Twombly, who, as an American living in Italy most of the time, was delighted by his adopted country’s thrashing of France.

Emin is one of several big names who has been to the National Theatre in the past month to see the superb and witty Pitmen Painters, about coal miners in the northeast taking up painting. Other attendees have been Gordon Brown, Neil Kinnock and, more surprisingly, Richard Gere.

The play, scheduled for only 23 performances in the small Cottesloe, ends this week. Now I hear that the National’s much larger Lyttelton is to stage the play from January. I also hear that the producer Sonia Friedman would like to take it into the West End. All good news.

The Weinstein brothers have been banned from shooting their new film, Shanghai, set during the second world war, in China. The Chinese government is wary about the film, which will star John Cusack, following Ang Lee’s naughty Lust, Caution. So the city will be recreated inside the Thames-side Battersea power station. At least this remarkable listed building, crumbling for 20 years, will be put to use.

There is another unusual use next week for another Thames-side site. The cruise terminal at Tilbury will host the world premiere of Sun and Heir, which has been put together by the Royal Opera House education programme and Thurrock residents, schools and, intriguingly, six youngsters from the local Youth Offending Service. The opera is about a community who live in a swampland, devoid of sunlight. Sorry, but this sounds like unlovely Thurrock.

richard.brooks@sunday-times.co.uk

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