From Sue Lissenden.
IT was a very pleasant surprise to read your commentator Alan Le Breton’s article on 18 March on the value of the cultural elements in our life.
It was a surprise because such articles are rare relative to those on housing, waste disposal and tax; it was pleasant because he writes a creed in which I can join. As he records, this Island is rich in cultural output, but it is not well served by the Treasury; recent payments have been more token than appropriate.
While there is much political lip-service paid to culture, both here and in the UK, the words do not translate into cash, even when times are less critical than they are at present. We have to hope that the underspend in Education, Sport and Culture is not now exhausted.
In the context of the article, another item is ripe for addressing. It is a plea to all who write and speak on the subject to avoid the sloppy use of the ubiquitous and nonsensical phrase ‘arts and culture’.
(Mr Le Breton is innocent of this offence but the same cannot be said of all your contributors.) What does the phrase mean? That the arts are not a cultural item? Or that culture is a synonym for heritage? Like guns ‘n’ roses, love ‘n’ marriage, rock ‘n’ roll and health ‘n’ safety, the two items arts ‘n’ heritage are sometimes coupled. At least that makes semantic sense, though with a disappointing implication that there’s nothing more to culture than that.
It all comes down to the definition of ‘culture’, and the 2005 cultural strategy of the States did not help; and neither does the UK’s Department of Culture, Media and Sport. It has been said – and I like it – that culture is the way we were, the way we are and how we handle things; others may have their own definition.
Old man Confucius pointed out all those zillions of years ago that ‘if language is not correct, then what is said is not what is meant; if what is said is not what is meant, then what must be done remains undone . . . Hence there must be no arbitrariness in what is said. This matters above everything.’ Who will argue with that?
Ker Anna,
St Aubin.
