Damage Limitation - The UK risks "self-inflicted economic and diplomatic damage" if it does not take action to strengthen its creative industries, a new report has warned. To combat this, the report has made a series of recommendations, including the creation of a ‘soft-power council’ representing "the diversity of British talent" in government and "making requisite changes across the visa system to ensure it is fit for purpose for the creative industries".
The report has been produced by University of the Arts London and Erskine Analysis and is designed to "examine the critical role of the creative industries as a source of economic growth".
Entitled Keeping the UK’s Creative Industries Globally Competitive: a Playbook to Protect Our Future Prosperity and Security, the report calls the creative industries "both a huge strength and in jeopardy". According to the report, the UK’s creative sector grew 60% faster than the wider economy, with provisional statistics suggesting that in 2022 it contributed £124.6bn to the economy, more than 5% of the UK’s gross value added.
It emphasises the positive impact of the sector on foreign policy, saying in its summary: "At their best [the arts] demonstrate Britain’s innovation, diversity, ambition and wit on a global stage, enabling conversations about a wide range of topics that can support the UK’s global ambition."
However, it identifies a "weakening" in the industries over the last decade due to factors including immigration policies leading to skills shortages, the underestimation of the arts as a soft-power asset and a lack of government investment compared to "key competitor nations" such as France and South Korea.
Jailed - A woman who ran a multi-million-pound touting business which bought and sold tickets on an "industrial scale" has been jailed. Maria Chenery-Woods was the driving force behind Norfolk-based TQ Tickets Ltd, which used dozens of identities to buy tickets for high-profile acts such as Ed Sheeran and Lady Gaga before reselling them online, often at highly inflated prices. The 54-year-old was sentenced to four years at Leeds Crown Court, alongside her employee Paul Douglas, who was jailed for two years and five months.
Judge Simon Batiste said Chenery-Woods, of Dickleburgh, had acted "out of greed". Chenery-Woods' husband, Mark Woods, and her sister, Lynda Chenery, who is also Douglas's ex-wife, were given suspended prison sentences for their part in the enterprise. They were found guilty of fraudulent trading by a jury earlier this year, while Chenery-Woods and Douglas had admitted the same charges. The court heard how TQ Tickets sold tickets worth more than £6.5m between 2015 and 2017.
Blackbird Bounty - Sir Paul McCartney has become the first UK musician to become a billionaire, according to the Sunday Times Rich List. The former Beatle boosted his wealth by £50m in the past year with touring, the lucrative value of his back catalogue and Beyoncé's cover of the classic track he wrote in 1968, Blackbird, helping him achieve the status. Sir Elton John, Lord Lloyd-Webber and Richard Branson were among some of the well-known names on the list. This year’s list of 350 individuals and families together held a combined wealth of £795.3bn, which the Sunday Times said was a larger sum than Poland's economy.
Then Play On - Beach Boy Mike Love has said he hopes his cousin Brian Wilson will still be able to make music with the band after he was placed under a conservatorship. A judge last week granted the conservatorship – to oversee Wilson’s personal and medical affairs – due to ill health. Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Love said Wilson, 81, had good long-term memory and still had his “musical abilities” but needed help with “medical supervision and care”. The move to apply for a conservatorship came after Wilson's wife of 28 years, Melinda, died in January.
Farewell - Frank Ifield, who scored four UK number one hits in the 1960s, has died at the age of 86. The country singer, who was known for incorporating yodelling into his songs, also gave The Beatles an early break by booking them as a support act in 1962. He scored his first number one in 1962 with a cover of I Remember You - originally written by US songwriter Johnny Mercer about his love affair with Judy Garland. RIP
(Jim Evans)
21 May 2024
