Politics Week

Where is the real opposition? The arts and media: a new home for politics?

Parliamentary politics seems increasingly irrelevant and dull, and there is little excitement about the impending general election, but does this mean the public is hopelessly apathetic?

Increasingly, others seem to be occupying the ground where politicians fear to tread. The media have been hailed as the new opposition, with the Today programme taking on the government over Iraq, theatres featuring plays about the war on terror, the transport system and education, and satire on the comedy cIrcuit becomIng more scathing than Questions In the House.

Do the arts and media offer a viable new home for critical engagement. or does this reduce politics to a product to be consumed by passive audiences? Can the creative energy of the arts inspire a new kind of politics?