Interesting to read Arts Council Chief Alan Davey's comments in Wednesday's The Stage about the need for the arts to make a rational argument in defence of their funding. And Davey's right: in these straitened times - with 'tough choices' being made all around - every penny of government spending is under the microscope, so the arts need to show what they're giving back besides a jolly good time.

If you checked out our recent blog about TV talent shows, you won’t be surprised that we pounced on this week's news about Rhydian Roberts’s defection. You might recall that Rhydian is the platinum blonde Welshman with the computer-generated face - aka ‘the opera singer’ - who rose to fame in 2007 on the UK’s X Factor.

With the UK in the grip of election fever, arts-makers and -lovers alike are anxiously combing the news for clues about the fate of arts funding after 6 May. Thanks largely to semi-legal shenanigans in the finance sector, which has long been the UK economy’s iron lung, the belt-tightening rhetoric grows ever-louder leaving many of us in the arts sector holding our breath till this Friday when the election results emerge.