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| Blake Morrison adds voice to criticism of Sajid Javid appointment | Blake Morrison adds voice to criticism of Sajid Javid appointment |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| The writer Blake Morrison said on Friday that the job of culture secretary should be given to politicians with a passion for the arts, citing the "dismal" record of previous incumbents. | The writer Blake Morrison said on Friday that the job of culture secretary should be given to politicians with a passion for the arts, citing the "dismal" record of previous incumbents. |
| The comments came after children's writer Michael Rosen criticised the appointment of Sajid Javid to the post in an open letter questioning his qualifications. Rosen said he was "not holding out any hopes" that the new culture secretary would be different to previous ones. | |
| Morrison said: "The truth is there hasn't been a culture secretary with an interest in the arts since Chris Smith. | Morrison said: "The truth is there hasn't been a culture secretary with an interest in the arts since Chris Smith. |
| "Once upon a time politicians seemed to read books and even write them and I guess it is symptomatic of present-day Westminster politics that they can't find culture secretaries who are interested in culture or know anything about it or for whom it is part of their life to go to the theatre or exhibitions. There just don't seem to be those people around. | |
| "People can mug up and learn quickly but it is not what you want. You want passion and you want it to have been part of their life." | "People can mug up and learn quickly but it is not what you want. You want passion and you want it to have been part of their life." |
| He added: "The record of culture secretaries is dismal. It seems to be a job they give to people when they can't think of what else to give them but they want to encourage their career. It doesn't count, so give them culture. It's all a bit grim." | He added: "The record of culture secretaries is dismal. It seems to be a job they give to people when they can't think of what else to give them but they want to encourage their career. It doesn't count, so give them culture. It's all a bit grim." |
| Others in the arts community were less quick to raise alarms but said they remained cautious about the appointment. The playwright David Edgar said the best and most memorable culture secretaries were passionate about the arts. "The arts are such a weird business, basically looking at life and expressing life in another form. If you've no sense of enjoyment of that and no experience of that being transformatory then it would be like having a pacifist defence secretary." | |
| Many in the sector were dismayed by Maria Miller's first big arts speech in which she said culture needed to be seen as a commodity and the argument for it needed to be made on economic grounds. | |
| The actor Samuel West, who chairs the National Campaign for the Arts, said he hoped to see Javid "at lots of the UK's brilliant cultural events". He said Javid's Treasury background should ensure he understood "how much the tiny fraction of our public spending invested in the arts does for the country, both here and internationally". | |
| But he added: "I hope Sajid Javid's first speech doesn't ask the sector to prove the 'financial value of the arts' again – I can send him at least 18 recent reports that have already proved exactly that. What's needed is a more far-sighted vision that sees the creative industries as not just profitable financially but good for people's physical and mental health, their continuing education and their sense of self. As things which bring joy." | But he added: "I hope Sajid Javid's first speech doesn't ask the sector to prove the 'financial value of the arts' again – I can send him at least 18 recent reports that have already proved exactly that. What's needed is a more far-sighted vision that sees the creative industries as not just profitable financially but good for people's physical and mental health, their continuing education and their sense of self. As things which bring joy." |
| The playwright David Greig said in Scotland they were "very blessed" to have a culture secretary, Fiona Hyslop, who had a knowledge of the arts and was a regular at theatre and arts events. He said it was plain she was interested and that this was reflected in her speech that the arts should be valued because they are "our heart, our soul, our essence". | The playwright David Greig said in Scotland they were "very blessed" to have a culture secretary, Fiona Hyslop, who had a knowledge of the arts and was a regular at theatre and arts events. He said it was plain she was interested and that this was reflected in her speech that the arts should be valued because they are "our heart, our soul, our essence". |
| He said New Labour and the Tories had "corporatised" culture. "Nothing in the new guy's CV suggests he is going to change any of that but I don't think it's reasonable to judge anybody on what they arrive with, you have to judge on what they do." | He said New Labour and the Tories had "corporatised" culture. "Nothing in the new guy's CV suggests he is going to change any of that but I don't think it's reasonable to judge anybody on what they arrive with, you have to judge on what they do." |
| In his open letter, Rosen questioned Javid's affinity with the arts. "You're an ex-banker who made millions during the fatal bubble of the early 21st century. You were at a bank that has been fined for rate-fixing … The fact that people like you got up to all sorts of greedy lending and fiddling is why we're in the crisis." | |
| He added: "Perhaps you're mad keen on culture. Perhaps in between making all that money, you were hanging around galleries, theatres, cinemas, concert halls, comedy clubs, libraries, dance studios, painting classes. Perhaps you've seen how people manage on a shoe string, perhaps you've seen the awful conditions backstage in many theatres, perhaps you know about the crap wages that most people in the arts work with. Perhaps you know about the terrible crisis we have in libraries, depriving people of access to knowledge and culture. | He added: "Perhaps you're mad keen on culture. Perhaps in between making all that money, you were hanging around galleries, theatres, cinemas, concert halls, comedy clubs, libraries, dance studios, painting classes. Perhaps you've seen how people manage on a shoe string, perhaps you've seen the awful conditions backstage in many theatres, perhaps you know about the crap wages that most people in the arts work with. Perhaps you know about the terrible crisis we have in libraries, depriving people of access to knowledge and culture. |
| "If you do, you'll know it's a very, very different world from the outrageous, lavish, crazy world you lived in while you were at Chase Manhattan and Deutsche banks." | "If you do, you'll know it's a very, very different world from the outrageous, lavish, crazy world you lived in while you were at Chase Manhattan and Deutsche banks." |