Sunday

Gimme £215 million for an art gallery extension...

The famous art gallery money pit - formerly known as Tate Modern - has been holding its hands out for £215 million it says it needs for an extension. And the money keeps pouring in to enable it to spread out into 60% more space by 2016. Some artists and collectors feel it should use its resources to organise a fleet of skips and start tossing out a clatter of its "stock". Then it would have plenty of room for "the good stuff". And that £216 million could buy a few good pieces, build a few provincial galleries and support artists who are in terminal poverty due to the economic downturn. Perhaps a few pounds could be spent giving it some artistic atmosphere and making it less like a third world airport terminal.
They may say that - but I couldn't possibly comment.
But wait - there's more. Up steps Israeli shipping billionaire Eyal Ofer and offers £10 million - no strings attached. Well, the Tate Modern will name the level 3 east galleries the 'Eyal Ofer galleries" - so maybe just a little bitty string was attached. That's not knocking the Ofer family which is renowned for philanthropy. It's just that it would have been so much better if they had put the £10 million in a Israeli peace foundation - most artists would have applauded that much more.