The Art of Being chipper

We're not up for plagarism, but this excerpt from the Hospital Club publication rings so true, we felt compelled to share it...


It's a critical time for the creative industries. The gloom and doom of the credit crunch, the redundancies, budget slashing, ring fencing, cost cutting - this vocabulary of financial misery is surrounding us. As Auden said 'For nothing now can ever come to any good.' Glooooomy or what?

But hold on a minute - isn't this the language of 20 years ago?

Following the 1980's Black Monday, Dim Tuesday, Darker Wednesday, Very Gloomy Thursday and Could-it-get-worse-than-this? Friday, something extraordinary happened in the creative industries.

A positive reaction. Bands from nowhere began making lots of noise, the new generation fashion designers back-lashed, artists took control - there was a renaissance in British creative attitude and the following decade became Cool Britannia. Blur, Damien Hirst, Pop Magazine, Alexander McQueen, Oasis, John Galliano, the Turner Prize, Isabella Blow, the Brit Awards, Portobello Road, St John's Restaurant, White Cube and Moro.

All over the place people took creative risks; the underground pushed its way into the mainstream and drove a stake into the heart of the Yuppie filled world of Neighbours, Wine Bars and Stock, Aitken and Waterman. It was a turning point in British Culture.

With a little less in the bank, how does the creative future pan out this time round?

When the cost of paper went up during The War, Penguin simply made their books smaller. Adjust, rethink, take risks and be creative. Welcome to 2009.