Editorial: Government's peripheral vision for creative Britain.(Editorial)

The Tories set up a taskforce to look at how London can be transformed into the creative capital of the world.

But no ad industry figure sits on it. Political heavyweights mount the podium at the Digital Britain Summit to laud the country's creative geniuses and stress their import- ance in driving the UK towards online nirvana. Yet not a single adperson sat on any of the summit discussion panels.

On the face of it, their absence seems odd. After all, isn't UK advertising creativity a world leader? And isn't it the work of London agencies that gave it such a status? What's more, how can Digital Britain become a reality without the content that advertising will play a large part in funding?

In the circumstances, it might be easy to conclude that advertising is being marginalised by politicians who dislike it or don't understand its relevance. That, however, fails to take into account the distance the industry needs to travel to get itself heard in political circles. When ministers talk of the creative industries, they are thinking mainly of design, music and fashion. Government has long-held relationships with these sectors because all, at various times, have needed government money to sustain them. The ad industry has never had to go cap-in-hand to Whitehall or ...