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>I don't think that I agree with that at all - the-brits-are-coming view? Nor >is it sniping neither in the metaphorical sense nor the actual. It seems >that what is being said here is that the BC is getting it wrong. The attack >is upon them. As I recall, the strongest that has been said against poets is >an expression of incomprehension regarding Armitage. Just goes to show you shouldn't get up and reply to a mail without first waking up. So I would reiterate that in many cases the BC get it right, but yes I accept that there are other omissions which lead you to wonder what bureaucrats have to do with any form of the Arts. But whatever you do, at some point someone is making a value judgement based on whatever criteria is in use at that time, after all it is tax money that is being used and we expect some criteria to be applied. Don't we? I would like someone to suggest what criteria should be used to determine what should be supported and what should not. > >|There has always been a flourishing reading scene, but I could equally >|complain (because I live in Liverpool) that if you do not live in London or >|Oxford or Glasgow or wherever and unless the editors of specific magazines >|think your face fits, you end up with five minutes at an open mike to get >|noticed. > >It isn't clear to me what you are talking about - readings, publications or >both? Or something else? I know little or nothing about Oxford except where >the bookshops and pubs are in the centre or not to go there by mistake when >boarding a train at Reading, but it seems to me that there is precious >little going on in Glasgow. There isn't that much going on in many places. Yes this is the point. In most of the major town there are isolated groups of poets having poetry nights, open mikes, all sorts of events which are well supported and keep the flag flying. But there is little or nothing done to publicise the fact. In Liverpool last month there were 14 open-mike events and three readings, only one of which was associated with a book launch. At grass roots, in pockets poetry is thriving, but no one seems to know. The Dead (Good) Poets Societies hosts readings in the Everyman Bistro twice a month with other special events, Quite often there are people unable to get in due to the numbers attending. While I was in Glasgow recently I made enquiries at the local tourist Information and was told there was nothing on. Asking round at the University pulled up two open floor events and an invitation to read. There is plenty going on but the publicity for these events seams at best hit and miss and at worst non - existent. > >Editors exercise editorial choice. What we need is more outlets and more >editors to go with them. If they are basing their choice on prejudice, then >they are doing it wrongly - and if they are having an influence beyond their >magazines then that is likely to be wrong. Ok. I can follow that argument and I agree fully about the need for more outlets. It is the kind of corruption that >affects the British Council - which is not to say that all that the BC does >is bad, only that they are overly venial in their approach. > Well Ok I don't think I can argue with that, because it is probably true. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%