In 1997, the Labour government set out to strengthen funding for the arts - and achieved it.

The success of the arts has come through a mix of public subsidy, substantial private support, and good box-office receipts, but central to Labour's post-1997 programme has been a determination to increase access as much as excellence.

Once, the arts were opera, ballet, classical music, and everything else deemed highbrow.

I have written favourably in support of subsidy for the arts since the 1960s, and I continue to believe absolutely in subsidy, as I do in the BBC licence fee.

The arts stimulate imagination. They provoke thought. And then, having done that, all sorts of other things happen.

The BBC does a sterling job, but I'd like to see it do more. ITV does four arts programmes a year; it used to be 28. At least Sky, with its two arts channels, is trying.