October 27, 2014 – 12:35 PM
The Observer ran a leader article on “UKIP has risen on the back of broken politics”. Sunday 12th October 2014. My response was published the following Sunday. “Sara Wollaston was elected MP for Totnes in May 2010 after winning the UK’s first American-style primary election open to every voter in Totnes for the conservative candidacy. […]
October 7, 2014 – 7:01 PM
It was reported in the Guardian on Saturday 4th October 2014 that Osborne told the annual convention of the Institute of Directors they had to get out there and put the argument for business as there were plenty of trade unions and charities putting the counter view. Apart from having a brass neck, Osborne is […]
October 7, 2014 – 6:48 PM
It was reported in The Guardian on saturday 27th September 2014 that Alan Davey currently the chief executive of the Arts Council is to take over as Controller of Radio 3. Peter Bazelgette was quoted as saying that “Alan has been a brilliant chief executive of the Arts Council. The BBC and Radio Three is […]
October 7, 2014 – 6:39 PM
Nick Cohen wrote an article in the Observer on the 14th September 2014 regarding “The privileged few are tightening their grip on the arts”. My letter was published in the Observer the following week and is reproduced below.
In the Daily Telegraph on the 17th July 2014 Ivan Hewett wrote an interesting analysis on funding of jazz by the Arts Council. A very useful article but the bigger picture required a little more attention which I have set out below. The Arts Council had a real opportunity in 2012/15 to shape the funding […]
In the recent National Portfolio Organisation funding round for 2015/2018 Jazz Services funding application was unsuccessful. There were a number of unhelpful comments and allegations on social media sites. These gratuitous comments brings to mind Edmund Burke’s comments on the publication, ‘The present state of the nation’ – “Well stored with pious frauds, and like […]
In the recent Arts Council funding round Jazz Services did not secure funding. To put the cut in context it is always useful for people to look at the work Jazz Services has undertaken by visiting the last Annual Report – a labour intensive exercise with two more are on the way http://www.jazzservices.org.uk/index.php/jazz-services-resources-reports/item/773 Jazz Services […]
The lead story in the Guardian on the 21st June 2014 – “Labour election anxiety grows” – concerned Labour fronbenchers expressing the risably titled “private fears” that Ed Milliband may not be a winner. One would have thought that Labour would have learnt something from Blair’s first election wins – a united front. Instead, its […]
There was an article in the Observer on the 15th June 2014 by Vanessa Thorpe “Arts in crisis – blame lies with council cuts”. For the chairman of the Arts Council to pin the blame on local authorities budgets is disingenuous at best. Finding a scapegoat reminds me of the the young aristocrat expaining to […]
The Arts Council is currently deliberating on the funding of the National Portfolio Organisations for the next three years 2015 to 2018. Dryden’s line from Absalom and Achitophel, “Beware the fury of a patient man” neatly describes the feeling of the jazz community in the England towards the appalling under funding of jazz. When Arts […]