A quite extraordinary article appears in today's Guardian newspaper. The mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, is objecting to the proposals for enlarging the Royal Ballet School premises in Richmond Park.

As planning permission has already been granted by Richmond council, I don't see how Mayor Livingstone can prevent the rebuilding from taking place, and to the best of my knowledge White lodge is a school primarily for boarders, so accessibility shouldn't be an issue here.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1426739,00.html

Thanks for this, Cassandra. It will be interesting to see how the public reacts to this - sympathy for students who will go on to be at the forefront of the UK art scene or posh people asking for special treatment.

While Ken has elitest tendencies when it comes to wine, (the entertaining at GLC events at party conferences, with Ken in attendance, is two levels above all the others) in the arts he seems to be a film fan.

Don't know whether Chris Smith, ex-Minister for the Arts and also on the left of the Labour Party, can intervene - he is someone who enjoys dance a lot. However, political allegiances are rarely straight-forward. As they say of the House of Commons, with the Labour and Conservative parties facing eachother across the chamber, your political opponents sit opposite you and your enemies sit behind you.

<small>[ 28 February 2005, 10:36 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>