Fully agree with you Peter, but Rupert, I am really struggling to understand why you do not see the same problem as Geraldine, Paul, Peter and myself. As i said before, i can appreciate to an extent why someone not that familiar with the Brit scene could misinterpret our take on this topic, but for someone such as yourself it is perplexing, unless that is you happen to be of that mindset that thinks there is nothing wrong in funders asking Glenn Storhaug to publish a quota of the young and ethnic etc., something which, by the way, is by no means an isolated occurrence.
If I was a young black or Asian writer i would want my work accepted for its merit, not because of my race or my age, and that is it. I don't give a rat's arse what colour or religion anyone is, its their poetry that concerns me, if that is what we are talking about, which we are. If i thought that someone said they liked my work and was publishing and promoting it because of my colour or whatever I would feel patronised and cheated and used - unless of course the issue was not the poetry. So, what is the issue - if the issue is not poetry then why is it the Arts Council who are asking Glenn to do a pointless exercise in social engineering. Someone has got to start talking about this stupidity openly. Good for you Geraldine.
Tim A.
