Pride and joy seem to emanate from the Arts Minister, even over the telephone. Margaret Hodge is a lady who takes our pleasures seriously – now that the “tyranny of the red box” which she experienced in her previous ministerial roles has been replaced by a red box full of arts issues, she says “I’m in seventh heaven, really.” In fact, she’s even learning to play the harp. She says she is proud of the way that Labour has “brought arts back into the centre of people’s consciousness”.... more