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At the first possible opportunity, and even before the new transition arts funding body comes into being, Peter Hewitt has taken the opportunity (p1) to remind Government of the value of the arts to society, and told them in no uncertain terms that their meddling in affairs of the art are about as welcome as Tony Banks at a meeting of the Countryside Alliance.

This is a timely reminder, given the interesting spat currently taking place in Wales between the Arts Council of Wales (ACW) and the National Assembly for Wales (p3), which is merrily riding roughshod over the arms length principle and putting noses out of joint big time by allocating to direct funding of the arts and bypassing all the usual mechanisms for distributing cash to arts bodies - and apparently doing so in ignorance of its own standard procedures.

But of course, governments have to be accountable to the electorate, so it?s only reasonable to expect some form of monitoring and evaluation to take place when they dish out their cash to various quangos. And given the track record of the Arts Councils of England and Wales in their management of Lottery Capital funding ? both organisations having had their knuckles firmly rapped by the Audit Commission in recent years ? it would be somewhat surprising if the DCMS does anything more than raise an eyebrow at the suggestion that it should place its trust in the reincarnated Arts Council of England. Trust has to be earned, and only time will tell whether the new organisation proves to be more reliable at managing its funding than the last.

U-turn if you like

It is over 10 years since the end of Margaret Thatcher?s reign and her influence is clearly starting to wane, as this has been a big week for U-turns in the arts: the aforementioned National Assembly for Wales is frantically trying to save face by reversing its initial grant offer of £150,000 to the Chamber Orchestra of Wales, and instead is to be sharing its cash amongst a group of lucky but as yet unnamed arts organisations. Before Robert Hutchison?s hot seat at Southern Arts has even cooled down, the Acting Chief Executive at Southern Arts has declared herself to be filled with enthusiasm for the new funding structure ? the very reason her predecessor left; and Metier (p3), last year vociferous in its opposition to the whole idea of joining forces with any of the other NTOs operating in the cultural sector, has thrown its hat in with CHNTO, the same organisation it opposed when the benefits of such a merger were first suggested. What are the odds now on another last minute change of heart ? ACE and 10 RABs anyone?