Cultural Capital

What was Creative Britain? Was it the "golden age" that Tony Blair vaunted in 2007, or a neoliberal nirvana? In the 21st century, culture - the visual and performing arts, museums and galleries, the creative industries - have become ever more important to governments, to the economy, and to how people live. Cultural historian Robert Hewison shows how, from Cool Britannia and the Millennium Dome to the Olympics and beyond, Creative Britain rose from the desert of Thatcherism only to fall into the slough of New Labour's managerialism.