To John Harris’s misgivings about the affordability of pop culture (Pop music was a great leveller, 16 November) might be added misgivings about who’s making it. The children of the rich are increasingly dominating the popular arts. The writers of the popular culture explosion of the late 50s and 60s came from the backgrounds that they wrote about, and its musicians, photographers and stylists grew up with one foot in the street and the other in art school. Even grammar school products like Mick Jagger were a bit of a rarity. If this continues, we will end up with a fossilised popular arts scene dominated in drama by modern-day Cowards and Rattigans, and in music without the periodic kick-starts provided by the Beatles and punk.
David Redshaw
Gravesend, Kent
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