London Evening Standard arts columnist Norman Lebrecht is the latest journalist to announce his departure from the paper, after seven years in the job.
He said today: “I owe myself a short sabbatical and my desire for a break coincided with a change of direction at the Standard.
“The new editor, Geordie Greig, very kindly asked me to stay on, but I have a new series coming up on BBC Radio 3, a novel coming out next month and a sheaf of plans to continue writing about the arts in my own particular way, so it seemed a good moment to make a clean break.”
Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev bought a 75 per cent stake in the Standard from Daily Mail and General Trust earlier this year.
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