Arts Council England a victim of ‘London-centric’ media coverage, CEO says
The chief executive of Arts Council England has launched an impassioned defence of the organisation, claiming it has suffered because of “London-centric” media coverage.Darren Henley, who saw in his 10th anniversary as Arts Council England CEO last week, told the Guardian there was an imbalance in media coverage.He said London-based figures were able to get newspaper coverage while regional arts leaders to whom ACE has redistributed funds were not getting the same access.ACE is charged with distributing public and lottery funds to arts organisations in England.Henley said: “I observe the London-centricity in our media.
I go around the country, and the people who lead in those places don’t get the half-page columns in our national newspapers as easily as the people who are London based,“There’s a power dynamic there … there’s a sort of imbalance,Maybe the role I have to play when I’m sitting in the corridors of power in London is to be representative of all those places who don’t have a seat at that table,”His comments come after several high-profile London-based arts leaders heavily criticised ACE after the classical venue Wigmore Hall announced that from 2026 it would no longer take public subsidies,Instead the venue has secured £10m in pledged donations, with John Gilhooly, the artistic and executive director of Wigmore Hall, saying he was grateful for ACE’s support, but adding that “it has lost its way”.
Henley said: “I absolutely respect people who have a view that says we’re doing something that isn’t for their liking or their taste,That’s perfectly reasonable for a public body to be challenged that way … but there are lots and lots of people who I meet who say something different,“You’ve got a lot of groups who are very passionate about all the things we do and maybe negative voices shout louder than positive voices,”The former Classic FM boss said that ACE was “not waging war on classical” after the Wigmore Hall withdrawal and criticism from several figures in the sector,One high-profile broadside came from the former English National Opera artistic director David Pountney, who said ACE “had it in” for opera.
Henley said: “It’s really important that we have world class opera at the Royal Ballet here in London, in our capital city that is as good or better artistically as anywhere else in the world.It’s really important.But I also think it’s equally as important that we have a network of grassroots live music venues in towns across this country.”Henley also dismissed suggestions from former National Theatre artistic director Nicholas Hytner, who argued that ACE funding should follow a UK Sport model and pursue “excellence”.Henley said: “UK Sport is absolutely ruthless about winning gold medals, and if you are one of the sports teams that suddenly does well and wins lots of gold medals, you get more funding next time.
If you don’t do well, you get less funding.So under his model, if the RSC had an amazing run and the National Theatre had a not-so-good run, money would be taken away from the National Theatre and given to the RSC.“I think that is not really what he’s actually arguing … I think there’s a little bit of misunderstanding there.”The government has ordered a review of ACE, which distributes more than £500m of public money and more than £250m of national lottery money annually, and employs more than 650 people.Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, said the review would be the first step to restore “people’s connection with the arts and culture in every region of the country”.
Keir Starmer welcomes ‘clarity’ of UK supreme court’s gender ruling
Keir Starmer has welcomed what he termed the “real clarity” of last week’s supreme court ruling on gender recognition, saying it was important now to draft guidance to help organisations deal with the repercussions.In his first comments since the court’s definitive ruling that “woman” in the Equality Act refers only to a biological woman, the prime minister called it “a welcome step forward”.Starmer has in the past taken a different view on the subject. As a Labour leadership candidate he signed up to a pledge “that trans women are women”, and he later criticised the then Labour MP Rosie Duffield, who now sits as an independent, for saying only women could have a cervix.Asked by ITV West Country if he would repeat that trans women are women, Starmer replied: “I think the supreme court has answered that question
Keir Starmer to seek to bolster defence ties as he hosts New Zealand PM
Keir Starmer will seek to strengthen the UK’s defence ties with New Zealand when he hosts the country’s prime minister on Tuesday.When he meets Christopher Luxon, Starmer will discuss extending a training programme for Ukrainian troops run by the two countries and agree a new £30m weapons deal.The meeting comes before a London gathering of British, French, German, Ukrainian and US officials on Wednesday. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, is also expected to attend.French officials said the five countries held an “excellent” day of talks in Paris last week, with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, urging those present to put pressure on Moscow to end the fighting
Reeves to make case for free global trade at Washington IMF talks
Rachel Reeves will fly to Washington this week to argue for global free trade in the face of Donald Trump’s punitive tariffs, amid continued international economic turbulence.The UK chancellor will use the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund, which is attended by top finance ministers and central bankers, to make the case that free trade is in both British and global interests.One senior official said: “We’re facing a new economic reality, but we’re a heavily trading country, with the value of our exports the equivalent of 60% of GDP, so it’s always in our own interests to promote free trade.”Reeves will urge the Trump administration to cut punitive tariffs on UK car and steel exports and step up negotiations for a trade deal when she meets the US Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, for the first time, allies said. He is seen as one of the less hardline US voices on trade
One more hard-hat photo opportunity for Rachel Reeves | Brief letters
Your pictures of Rachel Reeves in various hard hats, such as the one in Saturday’s paper, threaten to erase the memory of photos of Theresa and Philip May exiting church. Perhaps you could furnish us with a photo of Ms Reeves explaining to a group of benefit recipients why she proposed to cut their annual incomes by thousands of pounds, an encounter which would produce yet another hard-hat photo opportunity.Roderick MacFarquharEdinburgh Will UK universities follow France’s Aix-Marseille University in offering US-based researchers threatened by Trump’s crackdown on academia a “safe place” to undertake their work (Report, 17 April)? Will the government support such an initiative, or will they worry about upsetting the possibility of a UK-US trade deal?Rhiannon JonesSheffield I’d like the government to explain how we got into a situation where the wronged party pays the fines of those who broke the law (Water companies’ pollution incidents in England increased by 30% in 2024, 16 April).Marc Smith-EvansBagabag, the Philippines Things can get better (The death of customer service: why has it become so, so bad?, 17 April). The Passport Office recently renewed my passport in under a week
Some British MPs spending equivalent of a day a week doing second jobs
A total of six MPs have spent on average one working day a week on second jobs since the start of the 2024 parliament, with additional gigs as TV presenters, lawyers and consultants.A Guardian analysis of self-declared working hours found the six had worked at least 300 hours since July – the equivalent of eight hours a week, in outside employment averaged across the parliament – totalling almost 3,000 hours between them. A further seven MPs had worked at least five hours a week on a second job.Nigel Farage has made more money than any other MP from additional jobs in this parliament so far. The Reform UK leader has declared an average of about 24 hours’ work a week as a cameo creator, GB News presenter, media commentator, public speaker, Telegraph journalist, brand ambassador and social media influencer
Ten assaults a day on asylum seekers in Home Office care, figures reveal
The Home Office is recording an average of 10 assaults a day on asylum seekers in its care, according to internal government data, amid harsh government rhetoric on those crossing the Channel.Figures reveal that there were 5,960 referrals of assaults upon asylum seekers while in the care of the Home Office between January 2023 and August 2024. There were also 380 referrals of victims of hate crimes to their internal safeguarding hub during this period.The data, obtained using freedom of information (FoI) laws, shows that the Home Office received 11,547 reports that people in its care were victims of trafficking and 4,686 reports that they were victims of torture.Ministers have introduced a series of harsh measures against people who arrive in the UK on dinghies, such as increasing forced removals back to their home countries, the deprivation of British citizenship, and exploring returning them to France or to Balkan countries
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