Dame's Largess

London's Tate Britain and the new Museum of Liverpool, which opens on 19 July (above), are two of the eleven institutions which will benefit from a total of £8.2m which philanthropist Dame Vivien Duffield is donating in order to create learning areas for children and young people. My first thought is that there is something radically wrong with our taxation system when someone, no matter how well intentioned, can give away £8.2m during a recession. My second thought is that Dame Vivien is out of date. Her largess would have been better spent on attracting young people into the UK video games industry, which appreciates real art and needs support for research and development. The Chancellor did signal a token £7m in R&D tax credits for the industry in his budget, but TIGA says more is needed (CLICK).