Much of the media like the political establishment are bounded by the rationality of the past. The first past the post system is now an anachronism. Labour is entrenched in its old ways. The Conservatives foisted on the nation a needless referendum and will be hard put to extricate themselves from the mess of their […]
On the 2nd April I wrote to the Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport. My letter is printed below. “Dear Mr Whittingdale Re: The Culture White Paper I read the Culture White Paper and I have a number of comments that I trust you will find helpful. Perhaps it might help to […]
On the 28th August 2015 I wrote to the BBC regarding the lack of diversity in the music programming of the Proms. My complaint was: “It was impossible to glean Tony Halls contact details from the BBC website but the BBC Trust was more transparent. The BBC publicity states “While the Proms celebrates its 120th […]
February 19, 2016 – 8:45 AM
Darren Henley’s article in the Guardian on the 17th February, “The ENO must evolve for its own sake”, is disingenuous and highlights the problem with the Arts Council and arts funding; a lack of an art form policy that holds the organisation to account for its funding decisions. Before the last funding round in 2015 […]
January 9, 2016 – 12:57 PM
Mark Brown’s article in the Guardian on the 4th January 2016, “Stage set for drama as ENO faces the financial music” demonstrates in graphic detail the problem with the Arts Council and arts funding; a lack of an explicit art form policy that holds the Arts Council to account for its funding decisions. Before […]
January 9, 2016 – 12:48 PM
On the 24th December 2015 there was an article by Simon Jenkins on London’s ability to drain resources from the rest of the UK. Simon Jenkins highlighted the problem of a metropolitan mafia and celebrities with vanity projects that drain scarce resources from the regions and underfunded art forms such as jazz and folk. London […]
December 31, 2015 – 11:17 AM
More news in The Guardian on the proposed £278 million concert hall for London (17.12.16). This a prima facie case of the metropolitan cultural mafia at work. The problem with the arts in England is there is no concrete policy for the arts that distributes public funding in an equitable, structured way. Not a squeak […]
November 28, 2015 – 12:56 AM
There was an article in The Guardian, “No kites, no music, no politics on our garden bridge – we’ll be watching you” on Saturday 7th November 2015 concerning the proposed garden bridge over the Thames. The garden bridge, a vanity project, where private benefit would appear to far outweigh any public benefit, coupled with no […]
October 22, 2015 – 12:39 PM
On Saturday 17th October 2015 there was a leader article on the UK steel industry, “Where’s the entrepreneurial state when it’s really needed”, For years Governments of every political stripe have ignored the deindustrialisation of the UK and held themselves in thrall to the city and the service sector. In 2010 the Coalition announced it […]
October 10, 2015 – 8:10 PM
The current BBC charter is set to expire at the end of 2016 and the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) is carrying out a fundamental review of the BBC. To assist this review the DCMS has published BBC Charter Review – Public Consultation. The BBC has responded with the first in a series […]