The politicians and the great and good or equivalent were patting themselves on the back. Under the enormous twisting glass Medusa tendrils of Dale Chihuly's chandelier the crowd at the Victoria&Albert Museum hoovered up tasty canapes and drank nicely chilled white wine. London & Partners "the official promotion company for the capital" bash to encourage the press to get the message out: London's museums are more Googled than those of any place in the world. A video message from our blond bombshell mayor Boris Johnson Visitor numbers are way up. Americans are coming in droves. I like a good party but my response to this one was outrage. .
.The budgets for London's museums are being cut way back ==again. Much of the National Gallery is closed to visitors because its security staff has been on strike for months. Tough luck for all those millions who want to see Leonardo or Veronese. One or another of the British Museum's galleries are often shut because of staff shortages. The V&A, whose deputy director spoke at the party and which is launching an expansion into East London, has cut curatorial staff so severely that some departments feel they are bleeding to death.
Hey but why spoil the party? Well because the situation is terrible. Either the government must support the art institutions that are the pride of the country and bring millions of visitors and pounds sterling to the capital every year or it must alter the tax structure to encourage private individuals and corporations to take over their running costs. It is that simple.
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