CNJ COMMENT - Small independents are the lifeblood of democracy

Published: 19 May, 2011

IT doesn’t matter who has been in power over the decades, very little – if anything – has ever been done to help small businesses.

This is something none of the parties – even the Conservatives – would ever bring themselves to admit.

But most shopkeepers have a tale of woe about how the authorities make life difficult for them – and rarely lend a helping hand.

High rents, high business rates, blight small businesses. Elsewhere in Europe, this is less the case.

There somehow small businesses have a great chance of survival.

Large chains are allowed to dominate the High Street but cannot indulge in, effectively, underhand tactics of price-fixing which in Britain has helped to kill off independent bookshops, for example.

Equally, small independent newspapers – of which this is proudly one – are treated in the same manner as those owned by transnational groups.    

In France, the government intervenes to help newspapers survive – and this leads to a greater multiplicity of titles and a freer press.

In Britain the market place decides all. That is why dozens of newspapers and magazines have gone to the wall in the past year or so.

Blame cannot be wholly placed on the competition presented by the internet.

The Localism Bill, engineered by the Local government minister Eric Pickles, in some ways has set out to help local newspapers.  It has put a stop to municipal authorities publishing their own newspapers, thus creating unfair competition with mainstream weeklies.   As a result, two council-owned weeklies in London have – thankfully – been put to rest.

Democracy cannot thrive without a free press. This is something local authorities should be aware of.

Arts are for all 

ONE of the great institutions in Camden is the Weekend Arts College based at Hampstead Town Hall.

Parents who can afford to pay for ballet, acting or art lessons for their children may not be aware of the unique nature of WAC.

Here is an institution that holds out a hand to help low-income parents whose desire to let their children feel the warmth of the arts is as great as that of their better-off neighbours. The only difference – is money.

Anyone who visits their studios in Hampstead Town Hall would be aware of the amazing crowds of parents and children who are eager to enjoy the arts.

It is quite inconceivable that WAC should be starved of funds. Only a brutal failure to recognise its contribution to the arts can explain it.