"London has become the creative capital of the world. There have been times when that accolade would have gone to Paris, or Berlin or to New York. Now it belongs here." That's what the prime minister, Tony Blair, said in his speech about the arts at Tate Modern last week. And, despite the fact that this bold assertion came from a man whose main cultural activity is watching the occasional DVD, and whose last trip to the theatre last year was to see The Sound of Music, it happens to be perfectly right.
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Message of hope or vote-winning exercise? Michael Billington argues that the last ten years have seen real achievements in the arts in Britain, but Lyn Gardner finds no reassurances about their long-term survival.
