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The new Culture Minister is Maria Miller. Her background is in marketing (Texaco and an ad agency) which means she’ll be in heaven when blather is required. She was born in Wolverhampton and is MP for Basingstoke, both places whose connections to Culture are so obvious they don’t need repeating here. She joined the Conservative Party aged 21 when Mrs Thatcher was PM – the year after the miner’s strike. Not surprisingly, therefore, nothing in her constituency notes suggests even the remotest interest in art, though she is instrumental in the Campaign for a Phosphate Free Basingstoke. We recommend she begins her job by inserting a hand grenade firmly up Ed Vaizey’s arse and watching closely for signs of life.

http://www.culture.gov.uk/news/news_stories/9320.aspx

Peter Bazalgette, the television auteur who brought you Big Brother, has been appointed Chairman of the Arts Council. He will probably do nothing at all and replaces the previous person who did nothing at all next January. A monkey could be an effective Chairman of the Arts Council. Let’s face it, how difficult is it to give money to the same recipients every year?

http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/news/arts-council-news/sir-peter-bazalgette-new-chair/

David Lee

The Jackdaw September 2012