Spy in the…
It can’t be a coincidence that the week before the culture secretary was in hot water for allowing himself to …
It can't be a coincidence that the week before the culture secretary was in hot water for allowing himself to be digitally inserted into a photograph, he had been addressing a conference entitled Shaping Places and Communities.
"A sense of place is key," he told a group of councillors and local government officials. "And culture and sport are the magic ingredients in creating that alchemy. Culture, sport and Photoshop."
Actually, he didn't say that last bit, which is a shame, because it would have woken everyone up. It was 10.30am, the audience had just endured a session on the implications of the Comprehensive Spending Review, breakfast was a long-distant memory, and there was only a five-minute tea break to look forward to before the pre-lunch sessions. The mood in the room was distinctly sombre. It needed something dynamic, delivered with passion and a joie de vivre.
Instead, like his doctored image, James Purnell's speech contained little of genuine substance. He mentioned a 10-year youth strategy. Not, as it turned out, his career plan, but a scheme to get young people to "do things". Apparently, only 14 per cent of media stories about young people are positive. Still, more than beleaguered secretaries of state, one imagines.
Then a few words about devolution to local government, a beautifully mangled piece of English about "unringfencing" local authority funding, a couple of deftly avoided questions from the audience, and, like that, he was gone.
A cut-out with a tape recorder behind it could have delivered the speech with more conviction. In retrospect, he could have done us all a favour by just pretending he had been there. We would have found a way to cover his tracks.
"A sense of place is key," he told a group of councillors and local government officials. "And culture and sport are the magic ingredients in creating that alchemy. Culture, sport and Photoshop."
Actually, he didn't say that last bit, which is a shame, because it would have woken everyone up. It was 10.30am, the audience had just endured a session on the implications of the Comprehensive Spending Review, breakfast was a long-distant memory, and there was only a five-minute tea break to look forward to before the pre-lunch sessions. The mood in the room was distinctly sombre. It needed something dynamic, delivered with passion and a joie de vivre.
Instead, like his doctored image, James Purnell's speech contained little of genuine substance. He mentioned a 10-year youth strategy. Not, as it turned out, his career plan, but a scheme to get young people to "do things". Apparently, only 14 per cent of media stories about young people are positive. Still, more than beleaguered secretaries of state, one imagines.
Then a few words about devolution to local government, a beautifully mangled piece of English about "unringfencing" local authority funding, a couple of deftly avoided questions from the audience, and, like that, he was gone.
A cut-out with a tape recorder behind it could have delivered the speech with more conviction. In retrospect, he could have done us all a favour by just pretending he had been there. We would have found a way to cover his tracks.