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The news that Tessa Jowell has stamped on resistance by the Community Fund to a merger with the New Opportunities Fund is bad news all round (p3), and the DSC is right to be concerned about the threat to the autonomy of Lottery distributors.
The Minister has already made clear her leanings towards establishing a single Lottery distributor influenced primarily by public opinion, and the prospects for the arts under such a scenario would be grim. As Sarah Blomfield points out (p5) there is little that whips the Great British Public into more of a frenzy than reports of the ?scandalous? use of public money for cutting edge art. What chance would the arts have of retaining their share of the Lottery pot if the decision-making were to be passed over to public vote?

There are two ways of persuading governments to refrain from disempowering irritant quangos. One is to mirror government policy so closely as to avoid being noticed; and it?s no coincidence, of course, that social inclusion, education and regeneration have risen so rapidly up Arts Council England?s agenda since the present government came to power. The other is to whip up such a noisy lobby against a potentially disastrous strategy that only the deafest of Government ears could fail to react to it. And on that note, congratulations to the Musicians? Union, whose incessant nagging (and a petition of over 76,000 names) now looks set to change the flavour of the impending Licensing Bill going through parliament. A significant climb down on that would be good news indeed.