Gail Cartmail blog

Artless cuts

I love visiting art galleries.

When my daughter was much younger we spent hours wandering about with a bag of crayons and scrap paper stopping to copy something that took our fancy, always under the watchful eye of gallery assistants.

Dropping in to galleries and museums is so much more possible for families in the UK compared with other countries where admission fees are still in place. Regrettably I think the coalition will reverse that policy.  

In the meantime all is not well at the National where loyal gallery assistants are walking off the job in protest against staff cuts that they say will put priceless artworks at risk. 

The National’s budget was reduced by 15% in the early days of the coalition government resulting in a £1.5m cut in staffing costs. The strike action by PCS members has drawn attention to the introduction of ‘doubling up’, one assistant having to cover two exhibition rooms.

It beggars belief that in 2012 when visitor numbers will soar as London hosts the Olympics gallery assistant numbers are being reduced.  

Any early years' educationalist will tell you that expression through art is a valuable step in learning.

We know throughout history that while many artists relied on patronage from the establishment of the day many others produced great work in support of humanitarian causes, peace and justice.

I defy anyone not to be moved by Pablo Picasso’s great work ‘Guernica’, an abstract portrayal of the fascist air strike against a Spanish Republican stronghold.

Public access to art and its safekeeping is important. The cuts to gallery funding yet again proves the coalition knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. 

The income of a National Gallery assistant is modest (up to £17,000 a year) but their wisdom far exceeds the Cabinet millionaires who would have us believe “we’re all in this together”.   

Less spin, more opposition

During the Christmas holidays I watched the box set of ‘In the Thick of It”, a TV series parodying media spin as practised by the last Labour government.

Towards the end of it the Tory ‘spin doctor’ equivalent was introduced to the cast who was, not surprisingly, equally awful.

But the spin continues in real life from all sides of the political spectrum about the phone-hacking scandal in the Murdoch papers, while they keep up the pretence that they are non-partisan when it comes to party politics.

The latest example is a poll from the Murdoch stable about whether  Ed Miliband is “too ugly”to be prime minister, vacuous and silly nonsense but still damaging if what matters is image.

The problem now faced by Labour is that, having lived by the sword, they may have to die by it. Preening as if the next general election is just round the corner, talking about “difficult decisions” seems to miss the obvious point of opposition, namely to oppose.

When the coalition was formed, many of us warned that low and middle income families would bear the brunt of austerity and that trade unions would face the fight of their lives in defence of working people. We were right on both counts.

That’s why, not unreasonably, many expect Labour to articulate in opposition what is wrong with policies that create joblessness, starve the economy of growth and line the pockets of the richest and most influential in society.

But attack is not enough. We also need - and expect - a configuration of defence against the coalition’s worst excesses that hit the poorest hardest, from the official opposition.

Sadly, far too many Labour MPs are drawn from professional occupational groups with life experiences that are miles away from low income families and the working poor. 

Ed Balls says he backs the coalition’s public sector pay policy, including pay cuts on top of reductions in real income arising from zero pay increases, 20% VAT, higher cost of living including fuel and food prices.

The most pertinent reaction to this nonsense was the public sector worker I read about who invited Ed B to “walk a mile” in her shoes.

Like many Labour supporters, I want a solid alternative to austerity, a reversal in wealth distribution, respect for the role of public service and a Labour opposition that is four square on the side of the majority. 

Is that too much to ask?

Time to apologise?

At last two men have been convicted of the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence. Others complicit in the racist attack are still at liberty.

My daughter was born the year Stephen was killed at a bus stop in south east London. As a parent I can barely imagine the pain borne by Stephen’s family at all that has been lost, with the nagging certainty that other culprits have still to be brought to justice.

2012: The battle of ideas

I have really enjoyed the Christmas break. It was lovely spending precious time with family and friends and generally messing about.

Yet like many I am apprehensive about the year to come. It was good to hear the leader of the Labour Party, Ed Miliband, emphasise the need to articulate an alternative to the current government’s policy of austerity in his New Year message.