In America the biggest crime is not larceny but to be poor. In the UK you hear loose talk from the right wing press about having an American style health service. What these people neglect to understand, is that if you have no medical insurance you are consigned to the human scrap heap. They ignore […]
Author Archives: Chris
Peter Bazelgette on empathy and the arts
March 2, 2017 – 1:48 AM
In the Observer (22nd January 2017 Peter Bazalgett’s wrote an article “The power of culture – what I learned after four years at the helm of our arts”, this was a plug for his book “The Empathy Instinct”. You can read reviews of the book elsewhere. However for all his talk of “empathy” and the […]
Letter to America
March 2, 2017 – 1:21 AM
A friend of mine wrote to Barrack Obama to congratulate him on his tenure as President of the USA. The letter is a superb, succinct summary of Barrack Obama’s achievements. I have redacted the name and address. President Barack Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington DC. USA January 6 2017 Dear President […]
Banging your head against a brick wall – again and again and again
October 18, 2016 – 12:38 AM
In 2010 the Culture, Media and Sport Committee held and enquiry into the Funding of the arts and heritage. I submitted two reports to the enquiry, from Jazz Services and the Association of British Jazz Musicians. They were published on 22 March 2011. There were 239 written submissions and apart from Jazz Services and the Association of British Jazz Musicians […]
Something I forgot to mention about the Arts Council of Wales
October 17, 2016 – 8:17 PM
I wrote to the chief executive of Arts Council of Wales (ACW) on 5 August 2012 to make a formal complaint about the way it dealt with the requests he made for information over the preceding 20 months. ACW’s chief executive responded on 15 August 2012. I was not satisfied with the response, so I wrote to the […]
Does history repeat it self when you are dealing with the BBC?
October 16, 2016 – 1:54 AM
I was searching on the web for music organisations for suitable “links” for an appendices in my forthcoming publication Where do you want to be – a business planning manual for jazz music students and musicians and up popped a response I had made to the BBC Trusts Review of Radios 3,4 and 7 in 2010. I thought […]
What goes around remains the same
October 14, 2016 – 8:21 PM
On the 20 May 1999 the Culture Media and Sport Select Committee were looking into the Performing Right Society and the abolition of the classical music subsidy. Jazz Services, the Association of British Jazz Musicians and English Folk Dance and Song Society had made written submissions to the enquiry led by Gerald Kaufman who was the […]
A point of view
October 11, 2016 – 8:31 PM
On the 1st September 2010 I received an email canvassing for the party leadership from my MP, Mr Virendra Sharma. It had been sent by one of his employees. I replied to the email with the following questions: “How my e-mail address was obtained , especially in view of the data protection act. What is […]
No taxation without representation
September 27, 2016 – 6:45 PM
Extensive coverage in The Observer, 25th September 2016, of the Labour Party leadership and the debate over who should elect the shadow cabinet. It seems that a number of people have failed to grasp a few simple facts. At the last general election 232 Labour MPs were elected with 9,347,304 votes that was 30.4% of […]
Radio 3 locked in the past and they have lost the key
September 27, 2016 – 6:39 PM
Charlotte Higgins ran an article in the Guardian on the 24th September 2016, saying that after 70 years Radio 3 needs a rethink . The rethink, whereby composers would be put in charge, reminded me of a rearguard heroically defending a lost cause. The BBC gave us the iplayer internet streaming catchup service and yet is […]